Originally published on December 29, 2024
This part of the year is my time of power. I’m not sweating my ass off, there are no bugs to speak of, and it’s the international season of glitter (snow, tinsel, novelty glitter lipsticks…). What could be better?
Brat by Charli XCX, obviously.
Well, to be fair, I’m not sure if it’s BETTER, but it certainly is quite the combination. I love to go for cool-weather walks strutting to the opening track, “360,” whip my ponytail while baking to “Girl, So Confusing,” and what better could be a better soundtrack for racing to holiday get-togethers than “Von Dutch”? (Admit it; your foot gets heavier on the gas pedal when those snarling synths get going.)
While the album was released in summer, was named album of the summer by the internet, and name-drops famously sun-drenched locales, I find that Brat Winter is even more delightful. Yes, when I first heard the piano break on “Mean Girls” in June, I too made musician- stank-face, but the surprise of Brat Summer is over. Brat has moved into my bones. I intuit when each track will start because of the vast number of times I have relistened. Each polyrhythm has worked its way into my subconscious, and yet, I still hear new details when I listen closely.
Brat Summer was a great time for “sweat marks all on my clothes,” to quote the iconic “Club Classics,” but to finally get to chill with this album? To be less in awe of and more in tune with it? It’s the most wonderful time of the year.