What I'm listening to today? (26/05/2025)

"Brat", by Charli XCX

THE 2024 album, THE sensation of the summer, kind of passé now, but I just recently got around to it (besides future classics like "360" or "Girl, so confusing" that I already knew). In a way, this latest (can I call it obsession?) sparked because of Primavera Sound (in Porto, 2025) that I'll be attending in 3 weeks, where Charli is the main act. But in another way, I think the album spiralled a whole panoply of other feelings, that go beyond the concert and the sound of the record itself.

Right of the bat, I've been desperately needing a good night out (everything that Brat describes), probably a feeling that culminated with the end of the school year (senior year) and me finishing season 4 of Skins UK - two events that made me spiral about growing up, what I have already experienced and what I'm missing out on. Soon I'll be 18, and what does that mean to my personal growth? So Brat fills that void I have, or tries to at least; there's a life beyond my teenage years, a far greater truth and world. 

But it's not just a world of different party rooms, and unglamourised (but f ing fun) lifestyles; Charli's not afraid, unlike other artists of the same genre (like Ke$ha I guess), of tackling more "serious" themes: the hardships of being a girl, will my problems go away if I have children (do we actually want them or are we just "pressed" to have them?); and these are just the ones that correlate with me the most. 

Ignoring all the press, fame and celebrity status that it got, It's a record that's up in the clouds (that mashes sounds, themes and party clubs) but it also feels pretty grounded, for its relatability. So I can't really tackle it yet, define it. And I don't think we're supposed to.

What do you think??

Personal Favourite: "I think about it all the time", "B2b", "Girl, so confusing"

Release Date: 2024