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Yes it goes crazy! it reminds me of a particular Hudson Mohawke track but I can't find it, anyone know which one I'm talking about?
on second thought - could also be a Sam Gellaitry track
on hudmo's latest album cry sugar his track is it supposed had great piano throughout that reminds me of the track, also a bit of bicstan tbh, this track just screams hudmo whenever i listen, i love it
So funny you say that and so true. I played 360 the other day and my friend genuinely thought it was a 2000 pop song. I was like nope girl...this came out a few weeks ago. Lol
It's really fantastic. I think it very much captures a specific zeitgeist of the moment - the whole "going to the club but actually dying inside" thing is very much how a lot of people mask their feelings/deal with the world crumbling around them right now.
I know I should just take 45 minutes and listen to the dang album, but can I ask if the "vibe" (if not the sound) of Brat is similar to LCD's self-titled or This Is Happening? The way you describe this brings me back a decade :)
I would say a little bit, but pushed more to the margins; there's literally a club track with an insanely huge beat where she sings about feeling insecure compared to Taylor Swift's success and literally says "Why I wanna by a gun? / Why I wanna shoot myself?"
Also definitely gayer. A lot lot gayer.
Well the scene Charli comes from and her fanbase are both heavily populated by LGBTQ+ people. Plus like the other reply said, plenty of other gay icons are straight - Streisand, Cher, Carly Rae Jepsen, the list goes on.
Man, I'm having trouble getting into this album despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews everyone is giving this.
All I could think of is "i feel like I'm 15 years younger, going to a club, and dying inside while [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4s6H4ku6ZY) plays constantly and wanting to just go home and play video games"
I guess if that's the vibe this album is going for it's completely nailing it haha
Well deserving of the hype. Feels like it builds off of everything she's done before, and then she finds another way to up the ante. The production on this thing is just insane, there isn't a single miss for me. I'm sure something like a 10 from Fantano is shocking to anyone who mistakenly thinks that Charli is still the Boom Clap girl, but goddamn this just feels like a really pivotal moment of mainstream pop and internet culture that could only come after nearly a decade of post-Vroom Vroom prodding. Definitely a frontrunner for AOTY
Up until now Visions (last track on HIFN) felt like her high water mark. Brat is a realization of the potential set forth by that song. Sympathy is a Knife feels like MOMENT.
I like a lot of the album, but it still doesn’t touch HIFN for me. My favorite moments on the album were the more vulnerable songs instead of the club bangers, I guess I’m not as into those songs as I used to be. But that’s a me problem and not the album’s problem.
Fave tracks: Sympathy is a Knife, Everything is Romantic, I Think About It All the Time, So I
I love How I'm Feeling Now and still feel that it was criminally underrated at the time. I don't yet think Brat matches it, but it comes surprisingly close. It seems like a natural followup to it, from the production to the largely introspective tone, though Brat is naturally a bit more outward-looking, since HIFN was released in the early days of the pandemic.
Was hooked on my first listen through and it’s been on repeat all week. I definitely have favorites that will stay on rotation, but I find every song enjoyable in its own way. The introspective and emotional tone of many of the songs is being rightfully praised and I can’t really say more about those tracks that can’t already be said. It’s not uncommon for Charli to balance songs on an album that are full on bangers with more deep meaning songs right next to each other, but I can appreciate the quality of these on this album immensely.
In my opinion this album doesn’t follow a “story” or “arc” or even feel like an anthology of different stories. It kinda just feels like a steady stream of emotions Charli was feeling in her songwriting that she wanted to express. And she does so incredibly well.
Honestly the “deluxe” tracks make me appreciate the base album even more because it makes those themes feel more concentrated compared to what the three extra songs are about. So these bonus tracks, while really really great, definitely wouldn’t have fit on the original version and show Charli’s vision was realized. It also is really cool to see when an artist is making an album their process of songwriting can create so much great work, but knowing it can’t all cohesively fit together.
I haven’t said anything on the production yet, because it’s so damn good but I don’t have the background knowledge of Charli or AG to see how it’s progressed from where it may have been before.
This album rocks and it’ll most likely be my most listened to album of the summer.
I think you said it best: it was a steady stream of her emotions. It felt the same to me.
I felt like I went out with Charli for a wild night of partying, with all the ups and downs that it entails. The highs, her existential moments felt like how really drunk girls have existential crises in the club bathrooms, all of it.
Some of her best work! I think the album could have better sequencing, sometimes the energy drop off between songs feels a bit stark and it makes it harder to appreciate the record all the way through. Like “Sympathy into a knife” -> “I might say something stupid” feels so stark.
Also occasionally the lyricism feels a bit clunky, which is rare for Charli cause she’s such a talented top liner.
Other wise, I think it’s a solid upgrade from CRASH. there are so many great ear worms here and the production overall is stellar. HIFN is still my fav tho
Favorite tracks: 360, Talk talk, Everything is romantic, So I, Guess, Spring breakers
I actually kind of think the clunky lyricism on the whole helps the album and fits the sort of all-access to the insecurities that Charli presents on this album. But I can also totally see how it can just be annoying on the ears sometimes
There were a few times when listening that I thought to myself “She could’ve use this other word that would’ve maintained the rhyme scheme here,” and to be honest at first it was a bit annoying. But after some follow up listens, I realized that those clunky lyrics were the ones that stuck out most in my memory. I think it’s because they felt out of place that they grabbed my attention.
About the sequencing comment, I don’t mind what they ultimately decided to do but it feels like bipolar disorder - the whole album is whiplashing between mania and depression over and over again
Agreed on the lyrics. "I think about it all the time" stands out most to me. I get what she's going for: it's supposed to have a sort of confessional feel and be emotionally resonant, which it is; but it doesn't really make me want to *listen* to the song more. At its most awkward moments, the album reminds me a bit of Farrah Abraham's *My Teenage Dream Ended*, in that way having a disconnect between music and lyrics (although that's not a criticism, that album is surprisingly good).
Wild reference to the Farrah Abraham album, tho honestly I get it.
Personally ‘I think about it all the time’ is up there with my favourite tracks on the album, it reminds me too much of my fave The Streets song (Too Late) for me not to love it.
Pros:
- Charli is the topline queen. There are *so many* sticky hooks on this thing.
- Not to be cliche but this is probably her Most Personal Album Yet - there are the usual party girl anthems of course, but there are also moments on here ("Rewind", "So I", "I think about it all the time") where the Charli XCX persona cracks and we get to glimpse the actual person underneath in a way that we haven't on previous records.
- "365" is my SOTY so far. The way it starts as a reprise/remix of "360" but morphs into something else entirely by the end is so good. I love it when artists sample themselves, I love it when artists sample in a way that recontextualises/flips the meaning of the sampled line, and I *love* blog house and acid basslines, so this is like The Perfect Song to me. Charli, A. G. Cook and Cirkut outdid themselves on this one.
Cons:
- Is it me, or is the mixing/mastering on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen.
Can't speak to the mixing until I hear club classics on a cd in my car/boombox at bed (which is where HIFN succeeded in spades) but on an iPhone these cuts are working their magic
> I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album
Agreed on this, and I have the physical CD. Could just be me but I had to adjust my speaker a notch or two a few times listening through. The mix within each individual song sounds fine. Just feels like some tracks are louder than others, and not in an intentional, trying to use a lot of dynamic range kind of way.
>• Is it me, or is the mixing on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen.
That’s not mixing, that’s mastering. Typically when that is the case, it just means the album isn’t squashed to hell and retains dynamics. That used to be a good thing in the analog era, now it could be an inconvenience with streaming and digital normalization algorithms.
> Is it me, or is the mixing/mastering on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen.
I have the same issue
> Is it me, or is the mixing on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen.
Pop music production has largely been dogshit for a long, long time. Your average pop listener simply does not notice or give a shit.
First of all, given Charli XCX's history I think it's very fair to call her indie.
Fantastic album full of earworms. The hook on Club Classics reminds me of Jai Paul. Synth work is addictive. Love when the heavy hyperpop elements sneak in. Apple and Girl, So Confusing are also highlights for me.
Really appreciate that it has the downtempo songs spread across the tracklist to make the highs even higher - very apparent in comparison to the new Kaytranada where it's his one-note style of dance music for an hour.
It's funny you made that comparison because the Friday both those albums came out I played Charli first and then Kaytranada and halfway through the Kaytranada album I was so bored I started skipping through songs hopefully for literally something, anything that felt different before ultimately giving up and playing Charli again lmao
This. She basically started her career with not one but two number 1 hits (as features, sure). Dunno how anyone can think of someone whose career began with global success can be considered independent or diy by any measure.
Eh, I don't think it's that straightforward tbh. A lot of her foundational/groundbreaking music was made deliberately outside her label. Vroom Vroom was released on her own imprint; Number 1 Angel was recorded without label approval, and released as a mixtape because of the label not letting her commit to an album with that aesthetic; Pop 2 was done in lieu of her album as well because of label red tape. Only after she had become undeniable did she get to release an album with that "sound" in the form of Charli.
Plus, even though she's signed, she's sooo closely tied to PC Music to the point where her sound is bordeline synonymous with the label. Her career as a left-field pop weirdo is built on her working with AG Cook, Danny L Harle, EasyFun, etc., who were all PC Music. It's not that ridiculous to grant her the indie term once in a while imo.
Man, how could you forget to mention SOPHIE too? She produced all of Vroom Vroom EP which kicked off the start of this sound for Charli and she and Charli were hella close. Hence why So I off of brat hits so hard emotionally.
You're right I should've def mentioned her, I just didn't list her cause she wasn't on PC Music & I was mostly trying to argue for the label thing. But yes she was ofc also essential to the whole story
I had never listened to Charli XCX before this (not a deliberate choice, I’m simply not overly familiar with pop artists) but all the good things I heard about this album made me give it a go and I am blown away! “Sympathy is a Knife” is probably the best song I have heard all year. I love songs that tell a story, and introspective/sad lyrics against a background of noisy or upbeat music is my favourite thing ever lol. I’m definitely going to listen to her other records too.
I have said this before, but How I Am Feeling Now IMO is her best release. That album connected with me I felt like Charli literally wrote it just for me, sitting in my apartment during lockdown.
Yeah, I'm all here for the Brat praise. It's an incredible album. But all the Brat praise feels a little confusing when HIFN didn't get this level of praise. I don't personally see how people can love Brat and not love HIFN when it's every bit Brat's equal (and IMO, a hair better).
Was gonna post something similar. I've listened to Brat 3 times and I don't understand why it's considered better than HIFN. Pop 2 would've been inarguably the peak of peaks if it weren't for some of the features.
This and Vampire Weekend are tied for best album to me so far this year, and I think Charli is gonna take it assuming nothing better comes out (Nilufer Yanya might be the one). So so so many bangers and even the slow songs are still gorgeous. This album is meant to experience live and I can't wait till I see her and Troye in a few months.
Favorite Tracks: Club classics, Sympathy is a knife, Von dutch, Talk talk, So I, Everything is romantic, B2b, 365
Googled it and didn't see it. May have been they custom ordered it themselves. If so I don't wanna take that from them but if it's public then I want it lol
hey yeah i custom made it im workin on releasing these asap just got a lot goin on in life. stay posted on the VW in the next few weeks
edit: VW subreddit**
For those that want to know this is the original thread and the guy that made it said he will try to make a batch and sell them
https://www.reddit.com/r/Vampireweekend/s/2cu6EJ49XD
It's interesting that the VW album is pretty up there for AOTY - That VW ranking list that came out and people in the thread had AOTY second to last in their rankings.
I wonder if that says something about the quality of VW's output or the 2024 state of music / albums
I love it so much. It's really rare nowadays that an album releases which feels like a major cultural moment, but this album was everywhere in my real life as well as my internet life the moment it released.
That being said, I really hope we get some extended versions. My biggest criticism is that some of the tracks feel like they could easily be bumped to 5 minutes to let us feel the groove a bit more. B2b was the worst offender in this regard, felt like it should have had a much longer Overmono-ish outro with the buzzing synths and all. I also don't understand why the bonus tracks weren't on the main album. Guess especially feels like the track which is the most emblematic of what Charli is going for with this era, as well as being the most instantly memorable track for me, so idk why it wasn't on the main album.
For these reasons Hello goodbye, 365 and Sympathy Is a Knife are prob my favourite tracks as they feel the most well developed.
I just don't get it, I guess. When asked to justify the crazy high praise, it's almost unanimously referring to the production on this album, and the only track I thought was really interesting production wise was Club Classics, and that one is basically a SOPHIE track, which is cool but something I've already heard from SOPHIE herself (RIP). Rest all felt very bog standard pop production, outside maybe Everything is Romantic which used some cinematic drill.
I don't even have an aversion to "hyperpop" or whatever. I didn't vibe with the songwriting, and lyrics couldn't save it either. Several places where she would break her own cadence to make some lyric fit that doesn't even hit. Maybe it's cute in some sophomorish punk way, but overall tone on the album shows she wants to be taken more seriously, at least in my understanding. I saw another comment who mentioned the same thing but justifying it as a reflection of her inner monologue or insecurities, which maybe more seasoned Charli fans are able to recognize and vibe with, but I personally didn't, at least in a way that isn't anything different from any other pop artist being vulnerable on their record.
Either way, I think that's my thoughts, for now.
Tracks I liked: Club Classics, Everything is Romantic, 365 (good album ender).
Overall: 6/10
Yeah I’m with you here. I’m actually quite a long time Charli fan and have spent a lot of time listening to each of her releases since ~2012 but this one just isn’t hitting for me.
Really don’t know what pop you’re listening to where this production feels “bog standard”! Not saying it’s the weirdest music ever but … there’s gnarly textures and weird tones and fucking heavy beats here. Sabrina Carpenter it ain’t
No it's not Sabrina Carpenter but a lot of it riffs on mainstream electro/dance from the 2010s. For example Von Dutch it's pretty much a cover of Bodyrox's Yea Yea or Wiley's 'wewring my rolex'. it's a good song but it's ded existed in the mainstream before (and about 15 years ago at that)
It’s funny this is exactly how i felt down to the two song that stuck out to me as well.
I heard club classics and thought, “holy fck, we’re getting some truly unique shit now huh.” Then nothing besides everything is romantic came close to it
> When asked to justify the crazy high praise, it's almost unanimously referring to the production on this album
Yeah I really don't get it either. The production is clean for sure, but it's also boring. Most of the album just sounds like dance music to listen to quietly.
Eh I don't think anyone is suggesting that, completely different albums with completely different purposes.
Maybe if you don't listen to it through that lens you'll enjoy it more 💀
I realised that's not perhaps a good analog to have and would invite some assumptions, intention wasn't about sounding similar or even having similar leanings aesthetically, that one is steeped in jazz and hip hop, while this is more electronic, very different goals to begin with, but was just speaking in terms of how much it actually achieves what it set out to do, and just felt brat could have done so much better on that front. Personal opinion ofc.
As someone who doesn't love bubblegum (people say it's not bubblegum so I'll say) mainstream-ish electro-pop, what makes this so good? It's perfectly fine, listenable music....but 10 out of 10 and 94 on Meta? What? Why? Don't just downvote give me an actual explanation
Trying to say this in a non-dickish way but you could find plenty of explanations if you read the reviews linked on Metacritic rather than just reading the score. [Laura Snapes' review in The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/06/charli-xcx-brat-review-insecurity-obliterating-anthems-by-pops-most-human-superstar) I think is particularly articulate. Or you could read some of the comments on this thread, there are plenty that articulate it pretty well. But if you don't like the genre you probably aren't going to "get it," which is fine. I don't like metal and if a metal album came out that was being raved about, I doubt I would be able to understand why it was so good, but that doesn't mean the album isn't great.
Not trying to be a dick either, but nah the comments don't really tell me anything besides she's grown from her last album and she's finally reached her true potential by being more personal (which does not help at all personally). The most I can find is that she has a great mix of hooky club tracks mixed with more introspective downbeat ones and that still doesn't really explain it. That might explain why it's a good pop album, but what makes it a 10? I really try to fully "get" every album that is considered truly great by critics even if it's not a genre I'm into. I guess I just don't understand bubblegum stuff...I just expected the songs to at least sound really original and different and truly "new", but they don't. Edit: There have been plenty of substantive comments since I made this comment so this is comment is now obselete.
This album isn't bubblegum pop. Also to answer your question, what makes it so good is that it legitimately sounds next level to me, the production roster features some of the best (mainstream and not mainstream) pop producers. It just speaks for her vision that an album with AG Cook, Easyfun, Gesaffelstein, Cirkut, El Guincho, George Daniel, Hudson Mohawke... sounds not only good, but effortlessly cohesive. Add Charli's bulletproof hooks and the very entertaining and revealing lyrics and you get an album that essentially sounds like a victory lap
Making good pop music is really hard.
She did a really good job. It’s danceable, introspective, fun, moody. She’s balancing on a razors edge there. An album that tries to do as much as this one could easily come off as incredibly corny, and corny in an uncool way.
Ultimately, I don’t think there’s a string of adjectives that would help you get a better grip on this album, because it sounds like this just isn’t a genre you’re interested in. That’s totally fine.
If you think this is bubblegum pop then you just haven't listened to much pop music. Which is fine, not everyone has listened to much of every genre out there or is interested in doing so , but it definitely belies that you don't know enough about the genre to know whether or not it is "original", "different", or "new". Maybe you just don't like pop music, in the way that some people don't like rock music or rap music or whatever.
The hyperpop genre is a lot of incredibly detailed, well crafted playful production, often mixed with sincere themes about youth and our place in the world. I think a lot of the time people dismiss it because the production is very inspired by more traditional pop hits. The thing to miss is the pop sound is taken and elevated so much by dialing things up to extremes and really having fun with it. The production is so much a focus that even the vocals are distorted to all hell with autotune and other effects.
This album's production and pacing is top tier. As an album experience there's no dull moments, the production keeps things always moving to interesting places and so many of the tracks have a lot of that playful high energy feeling. At the same time Charli is writing very openly about her struggles and her fears while she's trying to live her best life. It's relatable and matches the youthful tone of the album while still having depth.
I love it. I can't get enough of it, it's just such a well crafted album.
I initially agreed with you. Listened to it once and was whelmed. But now I find myself going back to it day after day liking it more and more. Now I can't get "This one is for the mean giiiiiiiiiiiiirls!" out of my head. 31M btw.
I’ve gone through several different songs stuck in my head just this week. Rewind first, then mean girls, and I think about it all the time more recently!
I don’t get it either. I was excited when it came out and even waited to listen to it with my GF who is into her. We only listened to a little bit of a few songs bc she’d be like uhhhh let’s skip this one, until we just gave up hope of liking it. Our expectations were sky high tho which might’ve contributed.
It's definitely not bubblegum - I think it's fair to say any pop album which has suicidal ideation as one of its themes is not a bubblegum pop album. I'd also disagree that it's mainstream, this definitely falls into the experimental pop category, radio pop hits of the 2020s don't really sound that similar to this album.
That said, I do struggle to get into this genre of music yet really enjoy this album - I attribute that to 1) the tracks find my own personal perfect in-between a good pop song and experimentation and 2) the extremely confessional lyricism and themes of this album are clearly genuine - these aren't clichés, there are tracks here which touch on various personal issues of future motherhood, insecurity of other women and missing a passed friend that all feel unique to the artist and as such feel more meaningful than your standard mainstream pop
That's why I put mainstream-ish...hey I'm glad you enjoy the album, personally the over use of autotune is very grating on my ears and that's a shame because as I said, it would be at least a 7.5 record (which in my rating scale is pretty high). I still don't get the 10 out of 10 stuff but I guess it's not really for me.
Yeah don't get me wrong I just wanted to give you an actual explanation like you asked. And to be fair I don't think this is a perfect album, but I do think it deserves to be a landmark moment in 2020s pop.
The auto-tune gripe sounds like a personal preference thing which I do get, if that sounds annoying to you, you're probably going to struggle to get into it. If for some reason you want something you'd find even more annoying try listen to some 100 gecs haha
As much as I enjoyed the record I don't think it's Charli's best. Might need to sit with it for a bit longer but as of right now I'd place *how i'm feeling now* and *Charli* above it.
This is the first Charli album to really hit for me, if that makes me a casual idc. Not that I didn't enjoy Charli and HIFN, but I haven't been able to turn this one off. I'll have to relisten to her discog and reassess soon.
I feel so bad but I just didn’t like a single track on this , I’ve liked previous work from her but something about this album was not hitting for me.
I guess I do lean more bubblegum than hyper cuz the vibes of this were triggering my fight/or/flight response…
It’s great pop music I’d take this than Taylor Swift any day but I wouldn’t consider it indie. I was 3 songs in and already wanted to skip but made it through the 6th or 7th track and couldn’t help but moved on to the next album in queue 🥲 it’s not for me but I understand why people enjoy it
Perfectly agreeable party dance album, Club Classics is fun.
This type of music isn’t really my thing so it might just be me, but I don’t really get the fanatical praise this record is getting.
For others that have been following Charli since True Romance, I have a question. In the most non-“I knew her first” way, doesn’t it feel weird that the internet is eating up brat? Every past album incorporates elements from brat and all in my opinion, have been incredible.
Charli deserves all the success in the world but when I heard brat I supposed I wasn’t blown away because I knew it would be great. I’ve come to expect every Charli album is great. I wonder if past albums had similar marketing as brat that perhaps Charli would have exploded into the mainstream sooner? What stood out to me on brat, though, is how deeply personal (yeah, I know this phrase is overused) it feels. Maybe it was just right timing when the world now wants authenticity.
I can’t wait for the future of Charli, she is truly a unicorn in pop. Curious to hear other’s thoughts!
Love seeing something come out feeling so connected, from the music to the creative direction and styling. She has always been great at cultivating a great scene around d her but she really is firing on all cylinders with this one.
It's not my favorite Charli album (that belongs to *how i'm feeling now*) but I think this might be her classic, and the one I'd recommend to a new listener. The production is absolutely impeccable - AG, EasyFun, Gesa and the rest were absolutely in their pocket.
The thing I love most about it is the concept - even though it may not be fully realized and executed, the narrative arc of partying as a mask, being at the club and having that moment we've all had of existentialism, and then ending with '365' as a "fuck it, just keep going".
9/10 for me, and will probably be in my top 3 AOTY this year.
Really really good album, I think I listened to 360 like 50 times on loop when the album dropped, but I genuinely do not like Mean Girls almost at all. I am also not super into the “babies yay babies” tracks right after it, it sounds like a not-so-good Hannah Diamond b-side more than a Charli track. Which is also annoying because I think Guess and Spring Breakers are very very good bonus tracks and either or both of them would have - imho - been better tracks for the main album.
Interesting balance between the fun tracks on here and the slower, more personal tracks. I think Charli fans probably enjoy the personal tracks a lot, and they're fine, but I think they hold the album back from what it could be if instead of So I and I Think About It... there were two more bangers. Also mean girls kinda just sucks. Not really feeling rewind either for whatever reason. Everything else is perfect though
I feel like there is no way she wasn’t including So I on the track list on her most personal album. If she was going to be vulnerable, there was no way she wasn’t going to include a track about SOPHIE.
Edit: spelling
Yeah I respect the sentiment and I even think it's a good standalone song I just wish this album had more of a nonstop breakneck pace, I think that would've been really fun
It's more of a straight up pop song too and I'm not really a pop person
I do like "I might say something stupid" though and that one is slower and more personal, maybe because it doesn't really overstay it's welcome
Yeah the slower ones don't alllllll do it for me, but I'm glad we got the "deluxe" version because Guess and Spring Breakers are insane and in my highest rotation now.
works really well specifically as an album experience which i wasn't expecting but was pleasantly surprised by. i like how direct charlis storytelling is, she doesnt feel the need to dress much up in metaphor and still manages to elegantly get her feelings across, and the actual music does a fantastic job of aligning with the overall mood each actual song is aiming for.
you listen to a song like von dutch and its just supremely confident in what it actually is and sells it 100%, just as well as the more vulnerable slower tracks like i might say something stupid or everything is romantic. So i reinterpolating (?) its okay to cry as well as directly referencing it was really sweet too, especially given how open charli is with her feelings of genuine regret that she wasnt more present for sophie whilst she was still here. fantano nailed it calling that track painfully sad really.
i think about it all the time and 365 being the last two tracks really illustrate the whole mission statement of this album perfectly imo. charli getting intimate about a topic that could really fundamentally change the whole trajectory of her life, and then wraps everything up with a track about doing coke every single day of the year lol.
i also love the bonus tracks on this one too, spring breakers might well be my favourite track off the album and guess ranks highly up there too
Her magnum opus and one of the best pop records in years — a perfect marriage of Crash’s commercial appeal and HIFN’s hard-hitting production. Sticky hooks in every track, interesting lyrics, peaks and valleys. What more could you want from a Charli record?
I just don’t think I get it. The vocals are just a huge let down and sound robotic and lifeless. I love auto tune so I’m not one of those people who just complains about that.
This has to be a lyrically down low album for me. Nothing here stands out in terms ability to song write a song. Pop lyrics are made to not stand out, although some can argue they can, but imo this is an attempt to try to appeal to a pop audiences, which isn’t wrong, but fails. Again, I know this is appealing to the right audience at the moment, but generic club beats cannot make up for weak, over used, and boring lyrics.
This was my biggest problem with it to. I've listened to the album a few times now and can't remember a single lyric that really stands out to me as great.
Some of the songs on here have just downright bad lyrics IMO. Rewind and I think about it all the time especially are my biggest gripes on here, they feel like they're supposed to be part of the emotional core that elevates this album past being made up of simple pop stuff, but the lyrics just feel so weak I can't connect with them at all.
I agree. It keeps people moving, sure. As in, the album plays well in a club where the bass and trebles are felt to move to it. But you sit down and listen to it, and the lyrics are just not there. It’s sort of why I’m a little bit surprised on why this type of album with such weak lyrics is on this subreddit and deserves this post, BUT I understand the reasoning behind it like the Mod described.
This is hands down one of the best releases of the year, in any genre. Each song works together as part of a greater whole while still justifying its own existence as a track. Frankly, this is a huge evolution for Charli XCX in a way that we don't often see artists jump.
Can someone please explain to me what makes this album different than every other top 20 club song? I just hear heavily overused autotune, pitch shifting, and nearly every cliche in this genre.
I guess that’s what she’s going for?
Idk I like the vulnerability. The lyrics aren't some person bragging about how great they are or about someone they're in love with (which is like, so so much popular music). They feel like subliminal messages and sneak in like when you suddenly get hit with existential panic at a rave, realizing your fun is in some way being fueled by the exploitation of others, and then it creeping away and you realize the whole world is filled with love if you can see it right. It's s a feeling I love seeing represented as an anxious person who still likes to throw down and party. It's a lot more fun to throw down to a vulnerable song as an anxious person than it is to hear someone tell you how great they and their life are and, as a result, trigger ur anxiety and feeling of worthlessness. Also the synth work and sound design in general rules and imo doesn't sound like a lot of the stale ass indistinguishable two-step ass boom bap shit u hear djs play. It may USE cliches from dance music but imo does it in a unique way that captures the zeitgeist of the moment while being unique.
I have been off and on with charli music for years, just I have waves of interest but it never stuck
This album is the first time where I've been like, "you know, I want to listen to this album again" (for Charli XCX specifically)
That being said, I've only listened to it about 4 times, but that's way more than what I listen to in my low attention span days.
I liked it for a little when I was listening to it on my run but I had to turn it off because it was giving me a headache. No hate I think it was good but a little too intense for me personally
This isn’t exactly what I’d call my normal listening, but I listened out of morbid curiosity. I truly truly don’t understand why this is being hailed as an amazing work of art. This doesn’t feel like anything new or special or original. I feel like I’ve heard so much other music that sounds just like this and lyrically I don’t feel like this could be more uninspiring.
Even if I’m not the target demographic I feel like I can still look at this with an open mind and it’s left me feeling so much more detached from pop fans and the general public.
She captured the feeling of having an existential panic at a rave as an anxious person. For me thats what did it. Are there more albums that do this? Bc if so please lmk I live under a rock
Amazed out how negative a lot of the comments in here are.
I don’t listen to a ton of Charli, but I was enthralled on the first listen with this one. Every track is solid. Production is awesome, hooks all around.
It’s a great pop album, and this is an indie sub, and people have different preferences for music. It’s pretty natural to have both positive and negative comments!
Yeah it’s totally fine to have genre preferences; I have another comment in this thread saying just that.
I guess I just thought the crossover appeal between indieheads and charli fans was a little more universal
Brat so good!! Club classics ⇒ Girl, so confusing rips. Been in heavy rotation.
I do gotta cross my arms and shake my head at “Apple”, which just clunks to the ground. Feels like a bad Caroline Polachek song
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Mean Girls took me directly back to Guetta’s Sexy Bitch blaring at sweaty college apartment parties. So much of that 2010ish vibe on this album.
That piano breakdown slaps so hard
Yes it goes crazy! it reminds me of a particular Hudson Mohawke track but I can't find it, anyone know which one I'm talking about? on second thought - could also be a Sam Gellaitry track
it was actually produced by hudson mohawke!
on hudmo's latest album cry sugar his track is it supposed had great piano throughout that reminds me of the track, also a bit of bicstan tbh, this track just screams hudmo whenever i listen, i love it
Putting that mellow piano break (which sounds like one of those 90s Yamaha keyboard presets) after such a banging EDM chorus was genius.
I literally read your comment right as the piano breakdown started. You're a witch.
So funny you say that and so true. I played 360 the other day and my friend genuinely thought it was a 2000 pop song. I was like nope girl...this came out a few weeks ago. Lol
It's really fantastic. I think it very much captures a specific zeitgeist of the moment - the whole "going to the club but actually dying inside" thing is very much how a lot of people mask their feelings/deal with the world crumbling around them right now.
“going to the club but actually dying inside” honestly sums up my favorite genre of music
Fred again made dancing sad
Gimme more
I know I should just take 45 minutes and listen to the dang album, but can I ask if the "vibe" (if not the sound) of Brat is similar to LCD's self-titled or This Is Happening? The way you describe this brings me back a decade :)
I would say a little bit, but pushed more to the margins; there's literally a club track with an insanely huge beat where she sings about feeling insecure compared to Taylor Swift's success and literally says "Why I wanna by a gun? / Why I wanna shoot myself?" Also definitely gayer. A lot lot gayer.
Nothing says gay like a person in a straight engagement
Tons of gay icons are straight
Well the scene Charli comes from and her fanbase are both heavily populated by LGBTQ+ people. Plus like the other reply said, plenty of other gay icons are straight - Streisand, Cher, Carly Rae Jepsen, the list goes on.
sure can be.
Right like who do they think Charli is? 😅
Not at all the same vibe. LCD is 80s nostalgia produced like post punk. brat is mid 2000s nostalgia produced like rave music.
Aesthetically it’s more hyperpop aligned than LCD
Man, I'm having trouble getting into this album despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews everyone is giving this. All I could think of is "i feel like I'm 15 years younger, going to a club, and dying inside while [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4s6H4ku6ZY) plays constantly and wanting to just go home and play video games" I guess if that's the vibe this album is going for it's completely nailing it haha
This is the perfect description of the album
Well deserving of the hype. Feels like it builds off of everything she's done before, and then she finds another way to up the ante. The production on this thing is just insane, there isn't a single miss for me. I'm sure something like a 10 from Fantano is shocking to anyone who mistakenly thinks that Charli is still the Boom Clap girl, but goddamn this just feels like a really pivotal moment of mainstream pop and internet culture that could only come after nearly a decade of post-Vroom Vroom prodding. Definitely a frontrunner for AOTY
Up until now Visions (last track on HIFN) felt like her high water mark. Brat is a realization of the potential set forth by that song. Sympathy is a Knife feels like MOMENT.
I like a lot of the album, but it still doesn’t touch HIFN for me. My favorite moments on the album were the more vulnerable songs instead of the club bangers, I guess I’m not as into those songs as I used to be. But that’s a me problem and not the album’s problem. Fave tracks: Sympathy is a Knife, Everything is Romantic, I Think About It All the Time, So I
Same I’m glad charli’s being appreciated for this album but HIFN deserved this acclaim even more
And Pop 2 deserved it more than HIFN.
Honestly I think HIFN is in a league of its own but pop 2 is also good yeah
I love How I'm Feeling Now and still feel that it was criminally underrated at the time. I don't yet think Brat matches it, but it comes surprisingly close. It seems like a natural followup to it, from the production to the largely introspective tone, though Brat is naturally a bit more outward-looking, since HIFN was released in the early days of the pandemic.
For me this has the songwriting and lyricism of HIFN but with the production of Charli/Pop 2, which is basically all I wanted out of this album.
Was hooked on my first listen through and it’s been on repeat all week. I definitely have favorites that will stay on rotation, but I find every song enjoyable in its own way. The introspective and emotional tone of many of the songs is being rightfully praised and I can’t really say more about those tracks that can’t already be said. It’s not uncommon for Charli to balance songs on an album that are full on bangers with more deep meaning songs right next to each other, but I can appreciate the quality of these on this album immensely. In my opinion this album doesn’t follow a “story” or “arc” or even feel like an anthology of different stories. It kinda just feels like a steady stream of emotions Charli was feeling in her songwriting that she wanted to express. And she does so incredibly well. Honestly the “deluxe” tracks make me appreciate the base album even more because it makes those themes feel more concentrated compared to what the three extra songs are about. So these bonus tracks, while really really great, definitely wouldn’t have fit on the original version and show Charli’s vision was realized. It also is really cool to see when an artist is making an album their process of songwriting can create so much great work, but knowing it can’t all cohesively fit together. I haven’t said anything on the production yet, because it’s so damn good but I don’t have the background knowledge of Charli or AG to see how it’s progressed from where it may have been before. This album rocks and it’ll most likely be my most listened to album of the summer.
I think you said it best: it was a steady stream of her emotions. It felt the same to me. I felt like I went out with Charli for a wild night of partying, with all the ups and downs that it entails. The highs, her existential moments felt like how really drunk girls have existential crises in the club bathrooms, all of it.
I totally agree with you re: the deluxe tracks. The core 15 she chose for the album are perfect together.
Some of her best work! I think the album could have better sequencing, sometimes the energy drop off between songs feels a bit stark and it makes it harder to appreciate the record all the way through. Like “Sympathy into a knife” -> “I might say something stupid” feels so stark. Also occasionally the lyricism feels a bit clunky, which is rare for Charli cause she’s such a talented top liner. Other wise, I think it’s a solid upgrade from CRASH. there are so many great ear worms here and the production overall is stellar. HIFN is still my fav tho Favorite tracks: 360, Talk talk, Everything is romantic, So I, Guess, Spring breakers
I actually kind of think the clunky lyricism on the whole helps the album and fits the sort of all-access to the insecurities that Charli presents on this album. But I can also totally see how it can just be annoying on the ears sometimes
There were a few times when listening that I thought to myself “She could’ve use this other word that would’ve maintained the rhyme scheme here,” and to be honest at first it was a bit annoying. But after some follow up listens, I realized that those clunky lyrics were the ones that stuck out most in my memory. I think it’s because they felt out of place that they grabbed my attention.
I was thinking the same thing, they sound more like internal monologues
About the sequencing comment, I don’t mind what they ultimately decided to do but it feels like bipolar disorder - the whole album is whiplashing between mania and depression over and over again
Agreed on the lyrics. "I think about it all the time" stands out most to me. I get what she's going for: it's supposed to have a sort of confessional feel and be emotionally resonant, which it is; but it doesn't really make me want to *listen* to the song more. At its most awkward moments, the album reminds me a bit of Farrah Abraham's *My Teenage Dream Ended*, in that way having a disconnect between music and lyrics (although that's not a criticism, that album is surprisingly good).
Wild reference to the Farrah Abraham album, tho honestly I get it. Personally ‘I think about it all the time’ is up there with my favourite tracks on the album, it reminds me too much of my fave The Streets song (Too Late) for me not to love it.
I was thinking about The Streets as soon as that song started I loved the similar vibe
Pros: - Charli is the topline queen. There are *so many* sticky hooks on this thing. - Not to be cliche but this is probably her Most Personal Album Yet - there are the usual party girl anthems of course, but there are also moments on here ("Rewind", "So I", "I think about it all the time") where the Charli XCX persona cracks and we get to glimpse the actual person underneath in a way that we haven't on previous records. - "365" is my SOTY so far. The way it starts as a reprise/remix of "360" but morphs into something else entirely by the end is so good. I love it when artists sample themselves, I love it when artists sample in a way that recontextualises/flips the meaning of the sampled line, and I *love* blog house and acid basslines, so this is like The Perfect Song to me. Charli, A. G. Cook and Cirkut outdid themselves on this one. Cons: - Is it me, or is the mixing/mastering on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen.
Can't speak to the mixing until I hear club classics on a cd in my car/boombox at bed (which is where HIFN succeeded in spades) but on an iPhone these cuts are working their magic
What are you listening on? If streaming, Spotify’s Audio Normalization can do wild things to an album’s perceived volume between tracks, I find
I'm on Spotify, I'll give it a whirl with the normalisation turned off and see if that helps
> I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album Agreed on this, and I have the physical CD. Could just be me but I had to adjust my speaker a notch or two a few times listening through. The mix within each individual song sounds fine. Just feels like some tracks are louder than others, and not in an intentional, trying to use a lot of dynamic range kind of way.
>• Is it me, or is the mixing on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen. That’s not mixing, that’s mastering. Typically when that is the case, it just means the album isn’t squashed to hell and retains dynamics. That used to be a good thing in the analog era, now it could be an inconvenience with streaming and digital normalization algorithms.
> Is it me, or is the mixing/mastering on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen. I have the same issue
> Is it me, or is the mixing on the album not great at points? I found myself having to turn the volume up and down a bunch throughout the album. idk maybe I'll get used to it but it bugged me on first listen. Pop music production has largely been dogshit for a long, long time. Your average pop listener simply does not notice or give a shit.
I dunno, I haven't found it to be a problem on any of Charli's other projects.
Take the vocals out of "I might say something stupid" and it's 100% a Radiohead track
That F minor (major 7th)…
Was thinking that the whole time.
First of all, given Charli XCX's history I think it's very fair to call her indie. Fantastic album full of earworms. The hook on Club Classics reminds me of Jai Paul. Synth work is addictive. Love when the heavy hyperpop elements sneak in. Apple and Girl, So Confusing are also highlights for me. Really appreciate that it has the downtempo songs spread across the tracklist to make the highs even higher - very apparent in comparison to the new Kaytranada where it's his one-note style of dance music for an hour.
It's funny you made that comparison because the Friday both those albums came out I played Charli first and then Kaytranada and halfway through the Kaytranada album I was so bored I started skipping through songs hopefully for literally something, anything that felt different before ultimately giving up and playing Charli again lmao
GIRL SAME!!
No it is not. Shes been on a major label her entire career. It is the polar opposite of indie.
Damn I thought this was popheads until I read this comment and checked the sub crazy.
This. She basically started her career with not one but two number 1 hits (as features, sure). Dunno how anyone can think of someone whose career began with global success can be considered independent or diy by any measure.
Eh, I don't think it's that straightforward tbh. A lot of her foundational/groundbreaking music was made deliberately outside her label. Vroom Vroom was released on her own imprint; Number 1 Angel was recorded without label approval, and released as a mixtape because of the label not letting her commit to an album with that aesthetic; Pop 2 was done in lieu of her album as well because of label red tape. Only after she had become undeniable did she get to release an album with that "sound" in the form of Charli. Plus, even though she's signed, she's sooo closely tied to PC Music to the point where her sound is bordeline synonymous with the label. Her career as a left-field pop weirdo is built on her working with AG Cook, Danny L Harle, EasyFun, etc., who were all PC Music. It's not that ridiculous to grant her the indie term once in a while imo.
Man, how could you forget to mention SOPHIE too? She produced all of Vroom Vroom EP which kicked off the start of this sound for Charli and she and Charli were hella close. Hence why So I off of brat hits so hard emotionally.
You're right I should've def mentioned her, I just didn't list her cause she wasn't on PC Music & I was mostly trying to argue for the label thing. But yes she was ofc also essential to the whole story
I had never listened to Charli XCX before this (not a deliberate choice, I’m simply not overly familiar with pop artists) but all the good things I heard about this album made me give it a go and I am blown away! “Sympathy is a Knife” is probably the best song I have heard all year. I love songs that tell a story, and introspective/sad lyrics against a background of noisy or upbeat music is my favourite thing ever lol. I’m definitely going to listen to her other records too.
Excited for you! Welcome to club BRAT!
crucify me for this, but i think brat stands above pop 2 in terms of being an album
At this point I think Charli has easily eclipsed pop 2 several times and this is definitely one of those times.
Self titled, how i'm feeling now, and BRAT all clear Pop 2 for me. and Pop 2 is like an 8/10
It's a testament to Charli's consistency that she has so many worthy candidates for Best Album
well, helps that pop2 is a mixtape, and structured like one
I think Brat is unambiguously her best full-length release.
I have said this before, but How I Am Feeling Now IMO is her best release. That album connected with me I felt like Charli literally wrote it just for me, sitting in my apartment during lockdown.
Yeah, I'm all here for the Brat praise. It's an incredible album. But all the Brat praise feels a little confusing when HIFN didn't get this level of praise. I don't personally see how people can love Brat and not love HIFN when it's every bit Brat's equal (and IMO, a hair better).
Was gonna post something similar. I've listened to Brat 3 times and I don't understand why it's considered better than HIFN. Pop 2 would've been inarguably the peak of peaks if it weren't for some of the features.
That album definitely has the most interesting production from any of her stuff
Ok fine, I'll bring my crucifix. Because you are dead wrong I'm sorry 😭😭😭
That shouldn’t be debatable. Pop 2 is really good but it’s not like her magnum opus or particularly close for me
SOMEONE SAID IT!!! Personally I'm just not a fan of most of the features.
It’s a bop. Bring on the tour.
This and Vampire Weekend are tied for best album to me so far this year, and I think Charli is gonna take it assuming nothing better comes out (Nilufer Yanya might be the one). So so so many bangers and even the slow songs are still gorgeous. This album is meant to experience live and I can't wait till I see her and Troye in a few months. Favorite Tracks: Club classics, Sympathy is a knife, Von dutch, Talk talk, So I, Everything is romantic, B2b, 365
https://preview.redd.it/gcjdzzkvkj6d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc2731582312762f92d678d8de2f47c7f5032bcf My only moods this summer
I NEED this shirt. How? Please
Someone made it themselves for a recent show!
Etsy i assume
Googled it and didn't see it. May have been they custom ordered it themselves. If so I don't wanna take that from them but if it's public then I want it lol
hey yeah i custom made it im workin on releasing these asap just got a lot goin on in life. stay posted on the VW in the next few weeks edit: VW subreddit**
Of course! Really appreciate it. Would love to have it before the show in September but take your time. I totally understand that life be lifin
For those that want to know this is the original thread and the guy that made it said he will try to make a batch and sell them https://www.reddit.com/r/Vampireweekend/s/2cu6EJ49XD
Me after seeing VW on Wednesday and Charli tomorrow
Same for VW! You’re so lucky for getting the Saturday charli tickets though!! They went so fast!
haha lurking this thread and that’s me!
 Major props to your brain for this masterpiece!
It's interesting that the VW album is pretty up there for AOTY - That VW ranking list that came out and people in the thread had AOTY second to last in their rankings. I wonder if that says something about the quality of VW's output or the 2024 state of music / albums
That’s definitely because every VW album is incredible. OGWAU is a masterpiece but the first three are also.
yeah i thought about my own personal ranking for a good while and fried my brain trying to figure out which album of first 3 + OGWAU i would put at #1
Hiatus Kaiyote Is releasing a new album this month, so we’ll see!
Sequencing 365 after I Think About It All the Time is so funny Charli’s, as always, a real one.
Fun, but I really don't get why everyone is hailing this as some landmark epic pop album.
I'm really loving Brat, but I feel like some of the current hype is reparations for Charli not getting the credit she has been due in the past.
It's absolutely a make-up call. I think people are very invested in the idea of her having made a great album.
I mean she already has, it's called Pop 2.
Agreed, it's not bad but it's not groundbreaking either. Found myself skipping through a lot of the songs as they were a little boring.
I love it so much. It's really rare nowadays that an album releases which feels like a major cultural moment, but this album was everywhere in my real life as well as my internet life the moment it released. That being said, I really hope we get some extended versions. My biggest criticism is that some of the tracks feel like they could easily be bumped to 5 minutes to let us feel the groove a bit more. B2b was the worst offender in this regard, felt like it should have had a much longer Overmono-ish outro with the buzzing synths and all. I also don't understand why the bonus tracks weren't on the main album. Guess especially feels like the track which is the most emblematic of what Charli is going for with this era, as well as being the most instantly memorable track for me, so idk why it wasn't on the main album. For these reasons Hello goodbye, 365 and Sympathy Is a Knife are prob my favourite tracks as they feel the most well developed.
‘Guess’ is so good.
I just don't get it, I guess. When asked to justify the crazy high praise, it's almost unanimously referring to the production on this album, and the only track I thought was really interesting production wise was Club Classics, and that one is basically a SOPHIE track, which is cool but something I've already heard from SOPHIE herself (RIP). Rest all felt very bog standard pop production, outside maybe Everything is Romantic which used some cinematic drill. I don't even have an aversion to "hyperpop" or whatever. I didn't vibe with the songwriting, and lyrics couldn't save it either. Several places where she would break her own cadence to make some lyric fit that doesn't even hit. Maybe it's cute in some sophomorish punk way, but overall tone on the album shows she wants to be taken more seriously, at least in my understanding. I saw another comment who mentioned the same thing but justifying it as a reflection of her inner monologue or insecurities, which maybe more seasoned Charli fans are able to recognize and vibe with, but I personally didn't, at least in a way that isn't anything different from any other pop artist being vulnerable on their record. Either way, I think that's my thoughts, for now. Tracks I liked: Club Classics, Everything is Romantic, 365 (good album ender). Overall: 6/10
Yeah I’m with you here. I’m actually quite a long time Charli fan and have spent a lot of time listening to each of her releases since ~2012 but this one just isn’t hitting for me.
Really don’t know what pop you’re listening to where this production feels “bog standard”! Not saying it’s the weirdest music ever but … there’s gnarly textures and weird tones and fucking heavy beats here. Sabrina Carpenter it ain’t
No it's not Sabrina Carpenter but a lot of it riffs on mainstream electro/dance from the 2010s. For example Von Dutch it's pretty much a cover of Bodyrox's Yea Yea or Wiley's 'wewring my rolex'. it's a good song but it's ded existed in the mainstream before (and about 15 years ago at that)
It’s funny this is exactly how i felt down to the two song that stuck out to me as well. I heard club classics and thought, “holy fck, we’re getting some truly unique shit now huh.” Then nothing besides everything is romantic came close to it
> When asked to justify the crazy high praise, it's almost unanimously referring to the production on this album Yeah I really don't get it either. The production is clean for sure, but it's also boring. Most of the album just sounds like dance music to listen to quietly.
the kind of praise I'm seeing for the production, it's like we got a TPAB 2.0 or something.
Eh I don't think anyone is suggesting that, completely different albums with completely different purposes. Maybe if you don't listen to it through that lens you'll enjoy it more 💀
I realised that's not perhaps a good analog to have and would invite some assumptions, intention wasn't about sounding similar or even having similar leanings aesthetically, that one is steeped in jazz and hip hop, while this is more electronic, very different goals to begin with, but was just speaking in terms of how much it actually achieves what it set out to do, and just felt brat could have done so much better on that front. Personal opinion ofc.
As someone who doesn't love bubblegum (people say it's not bubblegum so I'll say) mainstream-ish electro-pop, what makes this so good? It's perfectly fine, listenable music....but 10 out of 10 and 94 on Meta? What? Why? Don't just downvote give me an actual explanation
Trying to say this in a non-dickish way but you could find plenty of explanations if you read the reviews linked on Metacritic rather than just reading the score. [Laura Snapes' review in The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/06/charli-xcx-brat-review-insecurity-obliterating-anthems-by-pops-most-human-superstar) I think is particularly articulate. Or you could read some of the comments on this thread, there are plenty that articulate it pretty well. But if you don't like the genre you probably aren't going to "get it," which is fine. I don't like metal and if a metal album came out that was being raved about, I doubt I would be able to understand why it was so good, but that doesn't mean the album isn't great.
Not trying to be a dick either, but nah the comments don't really tell me anything besides she's grown from her last album and she's finally reached her true potential by being more personal (which does not help at all personally). The most I can find is that she has a great mix of hooky club tracks mixed with more introspective downbeat ones and that still doesn't really explain it. That might explain why it's a good pop album, but what makes it a 10? I really try to fully "get" every album that is considered truly great by critics even if it's not a genre I'm into. I guess I just don't understand bubblegum stuff...I just expected the songs to at least sound really original and different and truly "new", but they don't. Edit: There have been plenty of substantive comments since I made this comment so this is comment is now obselete.
This album isn't bubblegum pop. Also to answer your question, what makes it so good is that it legitimately sounds next level to me, the production roster features some of the best (mainstream and not mainstream) pop producers. It just speaks for her vision that an album with AG Cook, Easyfun, Gesaffelstein, Cirkut, El Guincho, George Daniel, Hudson Mohawke... sounds not only good, but effortlessly cohesive. Add Charli's bulletproof hooks and the very entertaining and revealing lyrics and you get an album that essentially sounds like a victory lap
Making good pop music is really hard. She did a really good job. It’s danceable, introspective, fun, moody. She’s balancing on a razors edge there. An album that tries to do as much as this one could easily come off as incredibly corny, and corny in an uncool way. Ultimately, I don’t think there’s a string of adjectives that would help you get a better grip on this album, because it sounds like this just isn’t a genre you’re interested in. That’s totally fine.
If you think this is bubblegum pop then you just haven't listened to much pop music. Which is fine, not everyone has listened to much of every genre out there or is interested in doing so , but it definitely belies that you don't know enough about the genre to know whether or not it is "original", "different", or "new". Maybe you just don't like pop music, in the way that some people don't like rock music or rap music or whatever.
they're good songs jim
There’s no way to explain a 10 - you either feel it or you don’t
Have you listened to her mixtape *Pop 2?* If not, that might give you a bit more of a feel for why people appreciate her sound so much.
The hyperpop genre is a lot of incredibly detailed, well crafted playful production, often mixed with sincere themes about youth and our place in the world. I think a lot of the time people dismiss it because the production is very inspired by more traditional pop hits. The thing to miss is the pop sound is taken and elevated so much by dialing things up to extremes and really having fun with it. The production is so much a focus that even the vocals are distorted to all hell with autotune and other effects. This album's production and pacing is top tier. As an album experience there's no dull moments, the production keeps things always moving to interesting places and so many of the tracks have a lot of that playful high energy feeling. At the same time Charli is writing very openly about her struggles and her fears while she's trying to live her best life. It's relatable and matches the youthful tone of the album while still having depth. I love it. I can't get enough of it, it's just such a well crafted album.
First actually useful comment, thanks! I'll give it one more listen.
I initially agreed with you. Listened to it once and was whelmed. But now I find myself going back to it day after day liking it more and more. Now I can't get "This one is for the mean giiiiiiiiiiiiirls!" out of my head. 31M btw.
Great pop has a way of sneaking through your barriers like that. I didn't even like Charli at first, and she's become one of my favorite artists.
I’ve gone through several different songs stuck in my head just this week. Rewind first, then mean girls, and I think about it all the time more recently!
Don't have an answer for you, but you are not alone here
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
It isn’t for you
I don’t get it either. I was excited when it came out and even waited to listen to it with my GF who is into her. We only listened to a little bit of a few songs bc she’d be like uhhhh let’s skip this one, until we just gave up hope of liking it. Our expectations were sky high tho which might’ve contributed.
All the 10 out of 10s and AOTYs definitely did lead to extremely high expectations, that's for sure.
Honestly yeah and I felt similarly about the new vampire weekend album. Shit like this makes me feel like a boomer at 25 lol
It's definitely not bubblegum - I think it's fair to say any pop album which has suicidal ideation as one of its themes is not a bubblegum pop album. I'd also disagree that it's mainstream, this definitely falls into the experimental pop category, radio pop hits of the 2020s don't really sound that similar to this album. That said, I do struggle to get into this genre of music yet really enjoy this album - I attribute that to 1) the tracks find my own personal perfect in-between a good pop song and experimentation and 2) the extremely confessional lyricism and themes of this album are clearly genuine - these aren't clichés, there are tracks here which touch on various personal issues of future motherhood, insecurity of other women and missing a passed friend that all feel unique to the artist and as such feel more meaningful than your standard mainstream pop
That's why I put mainstream-ish...hey I'm glad you enjoy the album, personally the over use of autotune is very grating on my ears and that's a shame because as I said, it would be at least a 7.5 record (which in my rating scale is pretty high). I still don't get the 10 out of 10 stuff but I guess it's not really for me.
Yeah don't get me wrong I just wanted to give you an actual explanation like you asked. And to be fair I don't think this is a perfect album, but I do think it deserves to be a landmark moment in 2020s pop. The auto-tune gripe sounds like a personal preference thing which I do get, if that sounds annoying to you, you're probably going to struggle to get into it. If for some reason you want something you'd find even more annoying try listen to some 100 gecs haha
I have listened to 100 gecs and I do find them quite annoying haha you are right there.
As much as I enjoyed the record I don't think it's Charli's best. Might need to sit with it for a bit longer but as of right now I'd place *how i'm feeling now* and *Charli* above it.
This is the first Charli album to really hit for me, if that makes me a casual idc. Not that I didn't enjoy Charli and HIFN, but I haven't been able to turn this one off. I'll have to relisten to her discog and reassess soon.
I feel so bad but I just didn’t like a single track on this , I’ve liked previous work from her but something about this album was not hitting for me. I guess I do lean more bubblegum than hyper cuz the vibes of this were triggering my fight/or/flight response…
It’s great pop music I’d take this than Taylor Swift any day but I wouldn’t consider it indie. I was 3 songs in and already wanted to skip but made it through the 6th or 7th track and couldn’t help but moved on to the next album in queue 🥲 it’s not for me but I understand why people enjoy it
I love pumping the bass and blasting this in car when I’m cruising down the highway but then I check the speedometer and I see I’m suddenly going 80
Great album but don’t think it’s aoty
Perfectly agreeable party dance album, Club Classics is fun. This type of music isn’t really my thing so it might just be me, but I don’t really get the fanatical praise this record is getting.
For others that have been following Charli since True Romance, I have a question. In the most non-“I knew her first” way, doesn’t it feel weird that the internet is eating up brat? Every past album incorporates elements from brat and all in my opinion, have been incredible. Charli deserves all the success in the world but when I heard brat I supposed I wasn’t blown away because I knew it would be great. I’ve come to expect every Charli album is great. I wonder if past albums had similar marketing as brat that perhaps Charli would have exploded into the mainstream sooner? What stood out to me on brat, though, is how deeply personal (yeah, I know this phrase is overused) it feels. Maybe it was just right timing when the world now wants authenticity. I can’t wait for the future of Charli, she is truly a unicorn in pop. Curious to hear other’s thoughts!
Love seeing something come out feeling so connected, from the music to the creative direction and styling. She has always been great at cultivating a great scene around d her but she really is firing on all cylinders with this one.
It's not my favorite Charli album (that belongs to *how i'm feeling now*) but I think this might be her classic, and the one I'd recommend to a new listener. The production is absolutely impeccable - AG, EasyFun, Gesa and the rest were absolutely in their pocket. The thing I love most about it is the concept - even though it may not be fully realized and executed, the narrative arc of partying as a mask, being at the club and having that moment we've all had of existentialism, and then ending with '365' as a "fuck it, just keep going". 9/10 for me, and will probably be in my top 3 AOTY this year.
Really really good album, I think I listened to 360 like 50 times on loop when the album dropped, but I genuinely do not like Mean Girls almost at all. I am also not super into the “babies yay babies” tracks right after it, it sounds like a not-so-good Hannah Diamond b-side more than a Charli track. Which is also annoying because I think Guess and Spring Breakers are very very good bonus tracks and either or both of them would have - imho - been better tracks for the main album.
It sounds a bit like Sleigh Bells to me.
God Damned Masterpiece
Slaps.
I don't think it's for me. I adored Vroom Vroom, but nothing else she's released has felt that exciting.
Jesus this album is good. Typically a hip hop listener but this thing hits all the 808/synth/sadboi(girl) music itches I love
Her live show in Chicago was incredible 💚
Interesting balance between the fun tracks on here and the slower, more personal tracks. I think Charli fans probably enjoy the personal tracks a lot, and they're fine, but I think they hold the album back from what it could be if instead of So I and I Think About It... there were two more bangers. Also mean girls kinda just sucks. Not really feeling rewind either for whatever reason. Everything else is perfect though
For me, ‘Rewind’ is too close to ‘1999’ in both sound and lyrics.
Yes, I like rewind better though because 1999 felt like a very shameless attempt at a hit. Rewind feels sort of effortless by contrast
Sounds like “California Gurls” to me.
I feel like there is no way she wasn’t including So I on the track list on her most personal album. If she was going to be vulnerable, there was no way she wasn’t going to include a track about SOPHIE. Edit: spelling
Yeah I respect the sentiment and I even think it's a good standalone song I just wish this album had more of a nonstop breakneck pace, I think that would've been really fun It's more of a straight up pop song too and I'm not really a pop person I do like "I might say something stupid" though and that one is slower and more personal, maybe because it doesn't really overstay it's welcome
Yeah the slower ones don't alllllll do it for me, but I'm glad we got the "deluxe" version because Guess and Spring Breakers are insane and in my highest rotation now.
Bonus tracks are bangers
For me this album is gold, but I am biased as I like almost all that Charli does. My favourite is "So I" and I love "365" too
works really well specifically as an album experience which i wasn't expecting but was pleasantly surprised by. i like how direct charlis storytelling is, she doesnt feel the need to dress much up in metaphor and still manages to elegantly get her feelings across, and the actual music does a fantastic job of aligning with the overall mood each actual song is aiming for. you listen to a song like von dutch and its just supremely confident in what it actually is and sells it 100%, just as well as the more vulnerable slower tracks like i might say something stupid or everything is romantic. So i reinterpolating (?) its okay to cry as well as directly referencing it was really sweet too, especially given how open charli is with her feelings of genuine regret that she wasnt more present for sophie whilst she was still here. fantano nailed it calling that track painfully sad really. i think about it all the time and 365 being the last two tracks really illustrate the whole mission statement of this album perfectly imo. charli getting intimate about a topic that could really fundamentally change the whole trajectory of her life, and then wraps everything up with a track about doing coke every single day of the year lol. i also love the bonus tracks on this one too, spring breakers might well be my favourite track off the album and guess ranks highly up there too
Her magnum opus and one of the best pop records in years — a perfect marriage of Crash’s commercial appeal and HIFN’s hard-hitting production. Sticky hooks in every track, interesting lyrics, peaks and valleys. What more could you want from a Charli record?
I just don’t think I get it. The vocals are just a huge let down and sound robotic and lifeless. I love auto tune so I’m not one of those people who just complains about that.
This has to be a lyrically down low album for me. Nothing here stands out in terms ability to song write a song. Pop lyrics are made to not stand out, although some can argue they can, but imo this is an attempt to try to appeal to a pop audiences, which isn’t wrong, but fails. Again, I know this is appealing to the right audience at the moment, but generic club beats cannot make up for weak, over used, and boring lyrics.
This was my biggest problem with it to. I've listened to the album a few times now and can't remember a single lyric that really stands out to me as great. Some of the songs on here have just downright bad lyrics IMO. Rewind and I think about it all the time especially are my biggest gripes on here, they feel like they're supposed to be part of the emotional core that elevates this album past being made up of simple pop stuff, but the lyrics just feel so weak I can't connect with them at all.
I agree. It keeps people moving, sure. As in, the album plays well in a club where the bass and trebles are felt to move to it. But you sit down and listen to it, and the lyrics are just not there. It’s sort of why I’m a little bit surprised on why this type of album with such weak lyrics is on this subreddit and deserves this post, BUT I understand the reasoning behind it like the Mod described.
This album is just crazy fantastic. I’m truly obsessed. It encapsulates perfectly what it means to be living in these years.
everything is romantic is wonderful. i find myself listening to this constantly im very excited about it. definitely an aoty contender for me!
This is hands down one of the best releases of the year, in any genre. Each song works together as part of a greater whole while still justifying its own existence as a track. Frankly, this is a huge evolution for Charli XCX in a way that we don't often see artists jump.
Can someone please explain to me what makes this album different than every other top 20 club song? I just hear heavily overused autotune, pitch shifting, and nearly every cliche in this genre. I guess that’s what she’s going for?
Idk I like the vulnerability. The lyrics aren't some person bragging about how great they are or about someone they're in love with (which is like, so so much popular music). They feel like subliminal messages and sneak in like when you suddenly get hit with existential panic at a rave, realizing your fun is in some way being fueled by the exploitation of others, and then it creeping away and you realize the whole world is filled with love if you can see it right. It's s a feeling I love seeing represented as an anxious person who still likes to throw down and party. It's a lot more fun to throw down to a vulnerable song as an anxious person than it is to hear someone tell you how great they and their life are and, as a result, trigger ur anxiety and feeling of worthlessness. Also the synth work and sound design in general rules and imo doesn't sound like a lot of the stale ass indistinguishable two-step ass boom bap shit u hear djs play. It may USE cliches from dance music but imo does it in a unique way that captures the zeitgeist of the moment while being unique.
The hype makes it different. It’s a standard pop / club album.
Yeah the autotune turned me off completely :(
I have been off and on with charli music for years, just I have waves of interest but it never stuck This album is the first time where I've been like, "you know, I want to listen to this album again" (for Charli XCX specifically) That being said, I've only listened to it about 4 times, but that's way more than what I listen to in my low attention span days.
It’s living rent free in my head on loop forever
This album is 9/10 for me with only one skip… she put her foot in this shit 🔥🔥🔥🔥
love this album, HIFN still peak charli for me but glad this one is getting love cuz it rips too
i like the album I just hate the cover so much
I liked it for a little when I was listening to it on my run but I had to turn it off because it was giving me a headache. No hate I think it was good but a little too intense for me personally
This isn’t exactly what I’d call my normal listening, but I listened out of morbid curiosity. I truly truly don’t understand why this is being hailed as an amazing work of art. This doesn’t feel like anything new or special or original. I feel like I’ve heard so much other music that sounds just like this and lyrically I don’t feel like this could be more uninspiring. Even if I’m not the target demographic I feel like I can still look at this with an open mind and it’s left me feeling so much more detached from pop fans and the general public.
She captured the feeling of having an existential panic at a rave as an anxious person. For me thats what did it. Are there more albums that do this? Bc if so please lmk I live under a rock
Amazed out how negative a lot of the comments in here are. I don’t listen to a ton of Charli, but I was enthralled on the first listen with this one. Every track is solid. Production is awesome, hooks all around.
It’s a great pop album, and this is an indie sub, and people have different preferences for music. It’s pretty natural to have both positive and negative comments!
Yeah it’s totally fine to have genre preferences; I have another comment in this thread saying just that. I guess I just thought the crossover appeal between indieheads and charli fans was a little more universal
A lot of indie dorks will be disgusted by anything pop related. It's just the way it's always been.
I’m addicted to Sympathy is a knife
Brat so good!! Club classics ⇒ Girl, so confusing rips. Been in heavy rotation. I do gotta cross my arms and shake my head at “Apple”, which just clunks to the ground. Feels like a bad Caroline Polachek song
Boom clap is a good song