Charli XCX’s new album, music, fashion, film

Charli XCX had to take a break.

Her sixth album, Brat, was a record you could truly call an era-defining one without overdoing its interpretation.

Experimental yet accessible songs like Guess, Apple and 360 catapulted the star to new heights of fame.

Her album was featured in the Kamala Harris 2024 Presidential Campaign and in the Collins English Dictionary. Brat updated the definitionAcknowledging his use of music as an adjective describing a “confident, neutral and hedonistic attitude”.

After a year-long tour, the singer accepted a few acting jobs, wrote the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation, and married her longtime partner, George Daniels.

But instead of settling down, she finds herself back in the studio.

“I was inspired out of the blue,” she says. “I suddenly felt like I had something to say, so I ran with it.”

Over the course of a few weeks, she cobbled together 11 short guitar-based songs that try to make sense of her whirlwind two years.

The resulting album is full of music, fashion, film, witty, self-referential, funny, defiant and plenty of moments to stir up your inner earworm.

Significantly, on purpose, Not Brat 2.0.

“If I make another album that feels more dance-leaning, I’d be very, very sad.” She told Vogue in the first interview for the album, External.

“To be bored is to die there.” She added to the newspaper for fans, External. “Give up, give up, go home, stay home, get it all over with.”

As a result, there’s a lot to reveal in his music and lyrics. Here’s what we learned.