“360” by Charli xcx, Sunday, September 8, 2024

 

Did you have a good brat summer? This has been another incredible year for women in pop music, from Ariana Grande to Sabrina Carpenter, as women have dominated the pop charts. The competition for a number 1 album has been fierce with so many strong releases by Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, and Chappell Roan so far failing to reach the summit of Billboard’s 200 Albums Chart.  Besides the K-pop idol groups Twice and Stray Kids; country singers Morgan Wallen and the late Toby Keith; and rappers 21 Savage, ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign), Future and Metro Boomin, Eminem, and Post Malone; female pop singers held the number one spot for 22 weeks so far this year. Only Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, and Sabrina Carpenter have occupied the top spot as female pop acts. 

SHOCK YOU LIKE DEFIBRILLATORS. Of the 22 weeks that the female pop superstars spent atop Billboard’s 200 Albums Chart, Taylor Swift has claimed 17 of those weeks, and her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department holds 15 of those weeks with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) holding the other two weeks. Swift has been criticized for bolstering her numbers with multiple special editions of her latest album, both digital and physical. The Tortured Poets Department prevented Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism and Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT from going to number 1. But there was another unexpected pop success this summer. Charlotte Emma Aichison, aka Charli xcx released her sixth studio record, brat. The British singer reached number 2 on the UK album charts and on Billboard’s album sales. Charli had become an indie pop darling after achieving modest success in the 2010s on the pop charts. But brat with its viral TikTok hits, memes, and nods to the “Club classics” was a call back to the discotheque after years of anxiety killed the spirit of the optimistic ‘10s. Coinciding with the album’s June 7 release, hashtags started trending for “brat summer.” The singer talked about the writing process in an Instagram post, talking about “doing whatever the fuck [she] want[ed] to” and saying, “Fuck it, it’s brat,” rather than analyzing the consequences of her musical choices. 

WORK ANGELS, YEAH. Charli xcx’s writing mantra became a big part of #bratsummer. Other trending hashtags “feral girl summer” and “rat girl summer” took on similar brat vibes. The album continued to keep up momentum in an unexpected way. On July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek re-election and that he would endorse his vice president Kamala Harris. The next day, Charli xcx endorsed Harris’s candidacy, introducing a new hashtag: “Kamala Is brat.” Although xcx is British and cannot vote in U.S. elections, young American voters began to get excited about having a candidate more interested in young voters. Memes of Harris spread across Instagram, TikTok, and X, particularly of her saying “You think I just fell out of a coconut tree,” often with Charli xcx’s songs playing in the viral clips. Last week, Charli declared an end to #bratsummer, something that many fans weren’t ready for. The singer’s tweet made international news due to the impact the singer had made this year. Fans are scrambling to figure out what the end of this era could mean. Charli xcx doesn’t seem to be planning a retirement and cutting the promotion of the summer album after three months seems counterproductive in the extremely competitive music business. It seems, though, that Charli’s definition of brat will live on for quite some time. Will it pay off at the polls?

Read “360” by Charli xcx on Genius.