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When Charli XCX declared a “Brat Summer” in June, she really captured the collective imagination. Suddenly the garish lime green shade of her ‘Brat’ album cover was all over social media and fans started channelling her unfiltered, fun-loving attitude.
On TikTok, Charli explained the ‘Brat’ ethos as follows: “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it [and] is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s ‘Brat’. You’re ‘Brat’. That’s ‘Brat’.”
And this year, we’ve all been ‘Brat’ at some point or another. Here’s a guide to the most major Brat moments of 2024.
April: Charli announces her biggest ever headline shows
On April 3, Charli announces her ‘Brat’ 2024 arena tour featuring massive November shows in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. Charli baby is officially an arena headliner, but at this point, fans have no clue how huge ‘Brat’ will become. They just know that the album’s searing lead single ‘Von Dutch‘, which dropped in February, is a certified banger with attitude. “It’s OK to just admit that you’re jealous of me,” Charli sings with a wink.
June: Charli unleashes ‘Brat’ and fans are gagged
On June 7, Charli drops her sixth studio album ‘Brat’ to universally positive reviews – according to Metacritic, it’s the most acclaimed LP of 2024. Four days after releasing her spiky club-pop opus, Charli throws a triumphant album release show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater.
Clips from the gig really whet fans’ appetite, not least because it’s attended by A-listers including The 1975’s Matt Healy, Lorde and Julia Fox, who’s immortalised in the ‘Brat’ lyric “I’m so Julia”. By this point, ‘Brat’ fever is really spreading and demand for Charli gig tickets returns to its April high.
August: Charli and Billie Eilish invite fans to ‘Guess’
On August 1, Charli releases a brilliant remix of her ‘BRAT’ banger ‘Guess’ featuring Billie Eilish. The Gen Z icon’s playfully provocative line “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it” becomes a meme, and the remix storms to Number One in the UK.
On the day the remix drops, demand for tour tickets on viagogo spikes significantly – in fact, nearly enough ‘Brat’ fans to fill the 10,000-capacity Motorpoint Arena Nottingham are hunting for seats. There’s an even bigger spike on September 29 when Eilish performs ‘Guess’ on the opening night of her ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’ tour. It’s a collab with real and lasting impact.
September: Charli conquers North America with Troye Sivan
On September 14, Charli and fellow pop disruptor Troye Sivan begin their massively anticipated ‘Sweat’ Tour in Detroit. The epic 30-song setlist intersperses ‘Brat’ bangers with slinky, sex-positive bops from Sivan’s 2023 album ‘Something To Give Each Other’. It’s a musical match made in Heaven – or at least a packed club floor – and the dial is very much set to “feral”.
When the tour reaches New York’s Madison Square Garden nine days later, Charli raises the roof by bringing out Lorde and Addison Rae. Lorde joins Charli for the emotional remix of ‘Girl So Confusing’ that she features on, while Rae performs her own hit ‘Diet Pepsi’ with Charli, then joins her for the ‘Brat’ banger ‘Von Dutch’. Both moments go viral on TikTok, prompting another spike in ‘Brat’ fever.
October: Charli drops the ‘Brat’ remix album and it’s an instant classic
On October 11, Charli releases ‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’, a remix album featuring reworked versions of 17 ‘Brat’ tracks. The cast of featured artists is a roll call of who’s cool in the pop world – with Ariana Grande, Tinashe, Robyn, The 1975 and Shygirl all jumping on cuts.
The remix album gets rave reviews (including a full five stars from NME) and sends the original ‘Brat’ LP to Number One for the first time. On the day it drops, demand for tickets to Charli’s upcoming Manchester gig at Co-op Live is up 300 per cent on a month prior (according to data from viagogo). Five days later, she cements her status as the year’s most exciting live act by bringing out Kesha at her ‘Sweat’ show in LA.
November: Charli slays her UK arena tour
London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow all turn ‘Brat’ green as Charli smashes her first arena shows as a solo headliner. At The O2 in London, she wows the crowd by bringing out Robyn to sing her era-defining hit ‘Dancing On My Own’. Truly, no one is doing it like Charli right now.
December: Is ‘Brat’ summer over? No way!
Given that ‘Brat’ isn’t just an album cycle, but also a mindset and way of life, can it ever be limited by mere temporal parameters? Besides, there’s still plenty more ‘Brat’ action in the calendar, including Charli’s New Zealand and Australia dates in February, US arena shows in April and May, and UK and Ireland festival sets in June.
On top of this, Charli is up for seven prizes at the Grammy Awards, which will be announced in February. So, all signs suggest that ‘Brat’ 2025 will be just as wild and wonderful as ‘Brat’ 2024. Bring it all on, quite frankly.