“Brat” – Charli XCX
‘Brat,’ a word with a long-standing negative connotation, has been spun on its head over the past couple months. Whether you’ve been on social media, reading the news or even keeping up with politics, it would be hard to miss hearing about “Brat Summer.” The term was coined by British pop singer Charli XCX as a way to promote the drop of her highly aestheticized sixth studio album “Brat.” Appropriately released in the beginning of summer, the album’s 15-song tracklist welcomes you into the world of a chaotic party girl who’s “just living that life.” Whether it was the hyper-produced beats, neon green color scheme or celebrity enthusiasm, the phrase quickly took our feeds by storm — and even made its way into Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
Standout tracks from the album include its lead single, “360.” The song is oozing with allusions to those amongst XCX’s inner circle, such as actress Julia Fox, internet personality Gabriette Bechtel and producer A.G. Cook. “Call me Gabbriette, you’re so inspired,” XCX renders. On May 10th, XCX dropped the “360” music video, featuring a host of famous women including Chloe Sevigny, Rachel Sennott and Emma Chamberlain. Music fans were quick to compare it to Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video.
While “360” was an empowering track for all women, famous and not, fans interpreted the sixth track on the album, “Girl, so confusing,” as a diss to XCX’s fellow female artist, Lorde.
“We talk about making music, but I don’t know if it’s honest,” XCX pipes. While not mentioning the Australian singer by name, XCX alludes to their similar appearances and “confusing” rivalry. In an exciting turn of events, the singers did talk about making music. Two weeks later, XCX featured Lorde on a single called, “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde.” The remix explores the complexities of female friendships from the perspectives of both XCX and Lorde. Their verses tell the story of how their relationship has grown from competitors in the music industry to collaborators and friends. “And when we put this to bed, the internet will go crazy,” Lorde and XCX sing to the audience — in a truly fourth wall-breaking, self-fulfilling prophecy.
Perhaps the song with the most intergenerational reach, “Apple,” is about generational trauma. Disguised behind a voice autotuned to hyperpop perfection, XCX’s lyrics cut deep. “I think the apple’s rotten right to the core,” she sings, “from all the things passed down from all the apples coming before.” The “apple” is a metaphor for herself, as well as previous generations of her family. The deeper meaning relates to XCX’s relationship with members of her family and her consideration of the kind of parent she would want to be. While not immediately as popular as “360” or “Girl, so confusing,” “Apple” became a fan-favorite due to a dance on TikTok to the song. Soon users started using the song in the background of viral Kamala Harris clips, prompting Charli XCX to tweet, “kamala IS brat.” After seeing the popularity of the album with young people and its prominence on the internet, Harris’ brand new presidential campaign adopted the neon green aesthetic and familiar songs to appeal to a huge demographic of first time voters.
Summer may be coming to an end, but Charli XCX fans insist that “Brat Summer” will live on — we are now just entering “Bratumn.”
“Short and Sweet” – Sabrina Carpenter
This summer, it was almost impossible to avoid the catchy melodies from American singer and songwriter Sabrina Carpenter on social media. The lyric ingrained in all our heads, “I’m working late ‘cause I’m a singer”, is from her lead single “Espresso.” The song was later included in her seventh studio album “Short n’ Sweet.” “Espresso” was a massive hit, peaking at number one on billboard for seven consecutive weeks. The popularity and hype Carpenter received from social media only seemed to grow larger when she released her second single, “Please Please Please,” on June 6th, starring her boyfriend Barry Keoghan as her love interest. After this song and music video, fans were on the edge of their seats waiting for “Short n’ Sweet” to come out. When the release date of August 23rd rolled around, they finally got to listen to all of the album’s catchy tunes and raunchy lyrics. The songs go through the highs and lows of insecurities of being in a relationship, a message that strongly resonates with her audience and one of the reasons they come back to her music each day.
“Charm” – Clairo
After gaining popularity in 2017 for her single “Pretty Girl,” American singer-songwriter Clairo released her third album, “Charm,” on July 12th. Featuring eleven songs of Clairo’s soft vocals, the album skyrocketed to 8th on the Billboard 200 chart, making this her first album to reach the top 10. Social media loved the album and started using the phrase “Charm Summer,” a much more mellow alternative to the hyper party girl vibe of “Brat Summer.” The most popular song of the album was “Juna,” which describes the intimate and meaningful connection Clairo has with an unknown someone. This mysterious person is described as making her feel comfortable and like she can be her authentic self with no judgment. “Sexy To Someone,” released on May 23, was Clairo’s single from this album and the feeling of yearning to be loved and being found attractive in this song hit home for listeners. She sings, “I want to be sexy to someone (is it too much to ask?).” As Clairo explores the ups and downs of love, her breathy vocals, drums and trumpet all come together to make “Charm” an excellent album.
