The weather may be rapidly cooling, but it’s still spiritually brat summer: Today, Charli XCX released her latest brat variant, a remix album elegantly titled brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
Ever since Charli and Lorde worked it out this summer—and sent the internet into a (predicted) tizzy—we’ve been waiting with bated breath for the rest of the album, and over the last few months, Charli’s teased fans with spots from Billie Eilish, Robyn, Yung Lean, Addison Rae, Troye Sivan, and (kind of) Dua Lipa. Don’t get it twisted, though—the brat remix is far from a traditional reissue. Though she maintains the DNA of each of her original songs, Charli has completely reimagined her hit album. Teeming with high-profile features from the likes of Ariana Grande, the 1975, Tinashe, Caroline Polachek, and Bon Iver, Charli’s latest venture was not only a way to flex her Rolodex, but also a way to spotlight artists she’s worked with since the early days of her career.
Needless to say, we’ve all been bumpin’ that (album, obviously) around the Vogue office—and with so many brand-new bops comes natural disagreement about what song is best. So here, Vogue’s biggest brats make the case for their favorite track on Charli xcx’s brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
The Yung Lean, Robyn, and Charli xcx collaboration is my Roman Empire: Taking us to the clubs of Sweden, YL and Robyn rap bragadociously about their place in pop history. Shout-out to Yung Lean’s line “Mayor of my town, David Beckham in the nouhgties,” because, yes. —Maya Layne
The first time I heard the original “Club Classic” I was like, It’s too bright out and I’m too sober to be listening to this through my headphones at my desk at work. The remix, with a feature from the Spanish rapper Bb trickz, goes harder and warp-ier, enveloping you in a more aqueous kind of sound that somehow manages to bring about the opposite effect. You want to listen to it through your headphones so the sounds can flow directly through your body, can make it move involuntarily, can give you the elusive no thoughts, head empty lifestyle, except your head isn’t empty…it’s just bumpin’ that. —Laia Garcia-Furtado
It’s been an absolute joy to listen to these remixes with my coworkers—all of whom are journalists who would never misquote something. As somebody who frequently gets trapped in their own head, I related to “Sympathy is a knife” on the OG brat album, and adding Ariana Grande to the remix is just pure artistry. In what feels more like a lyrical diary entry than anything else, Grande adds her own spin to the song by addressing topics we have seen play out in her comments section over and over. It’s a reminder that women—whether they are pop stars like Charli and Ariana or nobodies like me—all feel the pressure, judgement, and misapprehension of society. But in the words of Ari, “It’s a knife when they won’t believe you, why should you explain?” —Margaux Anbouba