“I’m so Julia.” “Let’s work it out on the remix.” These phrases and more have entered the cultural lexicon since British singer-songwriter Charli XCX released her monumental sixth album in June.
“Brat” is a sonic amalgamation of electronic and club music, with an edge of the experimental. Its lyrics describe an effortless cool girl who is a little messy and quietly self-reflective, but so chic you can’t look away. Critics and fans were floored by “Brat,” with the album becoming her most commercially successful and the most acclaimed record of 2024. The LP captivated the culture: launching “brat summer,” influencing Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and selling out the “SWEAT” Tour, a co-headlining concert tour featuring Charli XCX and Troye Sivan. Now, we’ve capped off the era with “Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat,” her 17-track remix album.
The seeds of the album first emerged in March 2024 when Charli released “Von dutch a. g. cook remix featuring addison rae” shortly after lead single “Von dutch.” The song reimagines the original cut, keeping its pulsating bass line while rewriting most of the lyrics. On top of that, Rae’s scream at the end of the track created a viral moment for the pair on TikTok. “360” dropped as the second single, followed by a remix alongside Robyn and Yung Lean. “360 featuring robyn & yung lean” does not have the same intrigue as the “Von dutch” remix, reusing the same instrumental with the only notable change being a reference to Robyn’s iconic “Dancing on My Own.”
One of the year’s biggest pop culture moments occurred with the “Girl, so confusing” remix with Lorde. The original song captivated fans with its lyrics describing a strained relationship and interpersonal confusion with another, unnamed female singer. Speculation ran rampant across the internet; two weeks later, we got our answer. “Let’s work it out on the remix,” sings Lorde. Her stellar verse chronicles her insecurities in the face of Charli’s confident exterior. In September, Charli announced the album alongside the “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” remix, featuring long-time collaborator and friend Troye Sivan. The two performed the upbeat house number as the closing track to the “SWEAT” Tour.
When the complete record arrived in October, it exceeded expectations. The “Sympathy is a knife” remix featuring Ariana Grande became an instant hit. It borrows its predecessor’s huge chorus and giant synths while making space for Grande’s signature vocal runs as the lyrics explore Charli’s newfound fame.
Another highlight is the “Everything is romantic” remix with Caroline Polachek. Where the original song catalogs a vacation in coastal Italy, Polachek instead sets the track in East London where autumn rain and clanging church bells are in full force. The song features conversational exchanges between the two singers. Charli discusses fame, her creative process and her relationship with her fiance George Daniel as is done in the original. Polachek pairs the quick lyrical turns of the original with downtempo electronica, string arrangements and her unique vocal styling.
The record’s crown jewel is Charli and A. G. Cook’s elegy to their late friend and collaborator Sophie on “So I.” Where the original track explores Charli’s sublime fascination with Sophie and the ensuing grief, the remix makes a simple vow: “Now I wanna think about all the good times.” She reminisces about writing “Vroom Vroom,” performing at music and media festival South by Southwest, celebrating an impromptu birthday party and seeing Sophie’s magnetic smile, the one that “cracked the whole world open.” Cook emulates Sophie’s distinctive production style through fizzy synths, pitched-up vocals and brash snares. The “365 featuring shygirl” remix, a fan-favorite performed on the “SWEAT” Tour, is another energetic, rave-style track engineered for the club. On “I think about it all the time,” Charli wrestles with the possibility of motherhood alongside Bon Iver, expanding that anxiety in the wake of overwhelming success.
The “Guess” remix with Billie Eilish is the most popular release, debuting at #1 in the United Kingdom. “Guess” retains the same instrumental and lyrics, with Eilish hopping on the second verse. Her breathy delivery doesn’t mesh with the bravado of Charli, who garishly asks, “You wanna guess the color of my underwear?” Eilish borrows heavily from Charli’s lyrics in the first verse, and what little she adds doesn’t have the undercut of irony and camp that makes the original so iconic.
The “Apple” remix with The Japanese House is similarly underwhelming. The initial track became a sleeper hit after a viral TikTok dance, but the remix removes the allegory of intergenerational trauma from the lyrics, making it shallow and devoid of the introspection that propelled the song originally.
The “Brat” remix LP was an ingenious decision. In a business sense, Charli continues to capitalize off the social media cachet of “Brat” by expanding the universe into 17 new songs. However, the new remixes also serve a clear artistic purpose. They allow a reflection of the before and after. Charli was never a niche artist per se (remember “Boom Clap” and “Fancy,” circa 2014), but her solo projects haven’t attracted a mainstream audience until now. She wrestles with that idea on “I might say something stupid” and “Rewind” off the original LP, wondering if she “deserves” commercial success and calling herself “famous but not quite.” Now firmly placed among other A-list singers, the remixes allow her to reflect in real-time on the nature of celebrity, the music industry and the labor of pop stardom — all the while keeping us on the dance floor.
