English pop singer Charli xcx released her sixth studio album BRAT over the summer and took the world by storm. Incorporating sounds from many subgenres of pop including dance-pop, electronica, synthwave, etc. BRAT delivered one of the freshest new albums to the modern pop collection certifying its role as a ‘club classic.’ Teasing her eventual remix album, Charli released remixed versions of her original few singles including ‘Von Dutch a. g. cook remix featuring addison rae’, ‘360 featuring robyn & yung lean’, and others. On October fourteenth, we were finally gifted with brat and it’s completely different but also still brat containing seventeen new remixed tracks with artists such as Ariana Grande, Tinashe, Bon Iver, and many others.
BRAT is a love letter to various pop records that have, over the years, inspired many of the songs on the tracklist while merging different pop subgenres such as EDM, dance-pop, electronic, etc. While many of the songs on the remix album sound much different than the originals, much of it manages to expand on the themes introduced on BRAT.
Opening with ‘360 featuring Robyn & Yung Lean,” we immediately get a new tone to the song. Though the beat throughout the song is almost exactly the same as the original, the remix feels much different with the added vocals and lyrics. Charli opens up with a monotone, almost rap-like voice as she introduces the next lyricist. Yung Lean’s flow fits the production of this song very well, smoothly transitioning into Robyn’s verse. Her voice is a great contrast to the deeper and more monotone voices of Charli and Lean. The lyrics have a similar quality to what Charli was trying to portray in the original song, with its themes of being a model of some sort while being independent and enjoying the spotlight.
‘Von dutch a. g. cook remix featuring Addison Rae’, ‘365 featuring shygirl’, and ‘Guess featuring Billie Eilish’ are the three I come back to with the most anticipation. Although these tracks are maybe the least personal lyrically, they are some of the most enjoyable to listen to. They are all meant to be played through the loudest speakers at a rave in the middle of the night. All three, while very different, have this infectious pumping bass throughout.
‘Everything is romantic featuring Caroline Polachek’ may just be one of the most interesting songs I have heard in a while. Polachek completely turns the original song into her own with this soft electronic beat that flips the atmosphere of the original song around. Opening with Charli building up to saying the line, “Fall in love again and again,” which repeats throughout the song, Polachek’s vocals float over the bittersweet melody.
‘Girl, so confusing’ shocked many hardcore Charli fans on Twitter with her lyrics that seemed to touch on her relationship with Lorde. Not long after the song was released, she announced a remix with Lorde. ‘Girl, so confusing featuring lorde’ is one of the most addicting collaborative songs this year. With its earworm of a chorus, Charli laments at how it is so confusing to be a girl. Deep into the verse, she describes her relationship with someone who many people familiarize her with. With the release of the original song, fans speculated that it was about Lorde (which is correct). Lorde adds to her verse by going on to how she agrees that they get compared a lot, whether it’s their music, personalities, or hair. “Let’s work it out on the remix”.
While I agree that there are many highlights on this remix album that add to the original without overdoing it, there are some moments in the tracklist where I was underwhelmed.
The ‘Club classics featuring Bb trickz’ remix took a more electronic route to a club song. As one of my favorite tracks on the original, this song felt like more of an experiment than a full song.
‘Rewind featuring Bladee’, ‘B2b featuring Tinashe’, and ‘Mean girls featuring Julian Casablancas’ were a few of my least favorites because they sounded as if they contributed nothing to the originals. The sound on all three of these is not as infectious and not nearly as interesting as the original cuts.
With all that being said, I believe that there is much more pleasure than pain when it comes to this remix album. Almost every remix has a new sound that expands the original themes shown in the songs, even if I feel as if it does not fit the overall aesthetic of the track. Some of the highlights were very high up, while the low points were not that far down. I will be giving brat and it’s completely different but also still brat a 7.5/10.
Listen to brat and it’s completely different but also still brat on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Soundcloud now!
