It seems that now, Charli XCX has found the right balance between creative freedom and pop accessibility. She has tried many times, but this is the definitive one: both the international critical and commercial response to ‘brat’ has been impressive. With 95/100 on Metacritic, and 4 weeks already secured in the British top 5, the artist delivers one of the albums of the year, and also what is possibly her greatest commercial success. A fact: unusually, ‘brat’ spends a 3rd consecutive time in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, exactly staying at number 9. And let’s remember that she doesn’t just make hyper pop, she is also a British artist, not an American one.
In the new episode of Revelación o Timo, we ask ourselves, along with our collaborator Fernando García, if ‘brat’ is really Charli xcx’s best album or just the one with the best marketing. Because the quality of productions like ‘365’, ‘b2b’ or ‘Von Dutch’ is unquestionable, but everything counts and the memes, the way the album has been re-released with bonus tracks or a remix with Lorde, or even Charli xcx’s entire discography with new covers, are being masterful. It seems that after the artist was going to leave Warner, upon renewing the contract, she has finally fallen into the right hands.
Claudio explains how the singer chose the green colour of the cover, choosing between several shades and gives us a possible explanation as to why now yes… but several albums ago, no, when those were just as good or almost: «Charli xcx has been in the future for 10 years and finally the future has caught up with her».
For his part, Fernando talks to us about her internal conflict over not being famous, which has permeated her lyrics for a few years now, or even about her disagreements with fame and commercialism. Why does Charli xcx not hold her great hits like ‘Boom Clap’, ‘I Love It’ with Icona Pop or some of her albums in such high regard?: «In ‘Sucker’ she was trying to be someone she’s not. As much as it may be good, it’s the one that has aged the worst. She had her great songs, but she has realized that she’s not interested in doing that (commercial pop). And she tried it later with ‘Crash’, and maybe she realized that she’s not interested either».
In the first part of the podcast we remember how fruitful 2024 has been, from Beyoncé to Billie Eilish, Adrianne Lenker and Julia Holter; and in the last part, after talking about ‘brat’, we review Charli xcx’s entire discography. If you like our podcast, remember that on July 18 we will discuss ‘In bed with Madonna’ at the Matadero in Madrid, at 10:15 p.m. Tickets cost 5 euros.
