The Brat Remix Album Really is Completely Different

Charli just released the highly anticipated Brat remix album (with a mouthful of a title) Did it live up to the expectations? Let's take a look!!

Artwork for "brat and it's completely different but also still brat", edit by me

>> Lets Rewind <<

After Charli XCX released the Brat album in June of this year, it went on to create a cultural phenomenon that was completely unprecedented. While the album itself didn't break any crazy chart records, it did receive critical acclaim among critics. The original Brat album was a slightly experimental dance record that paints Charli as some crazy party girl, but behind that mask is someone who struggles to find her place as a celebrity who is "famous but not quite"- as she says on 'I might say something stupid'. She talks about how she loves her life as it is, but contemplates if she wants to settle down and have a family, or really commit to chasing that spotlight she's always wanted. While the album made a huge cultural impact, even getting recognition from Kamala Harris and many different big names, the album wasn't necessarily a commercial success. Despite that, Charli still captured the attention of many, which led to the eventual announcement of "brat and it's completely different but also still brat", which was said to be a remixed version of the original album. Before the announcement of this, Charli had been dropping a few remixes with featured artists such as Billie Eilish, Lorde, and Troye Sivan, among others. These remixes received a lot of praise and were a huge part of her continued success as time moved on. These remixes gave us a taste of what was to come with this upcoming album. Something to note is that the original Brat album didn't get immediate attention, and it took a couple of weeks to really take off. But now this remix album was coming out after all the success Charli had experienced throughout the year, so now Charli had more eyes on her than ever before, and there was a higher pressure to meet the high expectations people had. And with every remixed song having a new feature, this remix album was gearing up to be one of the biggest collaboration projects in all of pop music.

Photo by Getty Images

<< Everything is('nt?) Romantic >>

So, the remix album finally arrived last Friday, October 10th. And let's just say the title definitely did not lie- this new album is completely different from the original in almost every way- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Some songs like 'Girl, So Confusing feat. Lorde' and 'Guess feat. Billie Eilish' are essentially the original song with a new verse by the featured artist. However, every other song on this record has gotten a complete overhaul. Another interesting aspect of these remixes is that each song doesn't completely stick to the meaning of its original counterpart. For example, 'Everything is romantic' on the original record was an experimental dance track about how you can find love and meaning in everything throughout your day-to-day life. But its remixed version (which features Caroline Polachek) explores what happens to a person when they romanticize everything, with Charli admitting that this new life of fame is draining her and her constant romanticization of everything has made it hard for her to stay motivated. Polachek's role in this song creates an interesting dynamic- almost like we are hearing a heart-to-heart conversation between the two singers in real-time. These aspects made this track an amazing standout on this album, to the point it might even be better than the original track. This deeper exploration of topics that were discussed in the original album has completely flipped the meaning of the remix album. Charli seemed to yearn for a higher level of fame on the original album on tracks like 'Sympathy is a knife' and 'I might say something stupid'. But on the remix album, we see Charli's situation has created a truly interesting dynamic that despite achieving the level of fame she was going for, she now contemplates if that was truly what she ever wanted.

Photo taken by Charlotte Hadden for Billboard

<< Fame is a Knife >>

To add to the anticipation of this remix album, it was soon revealed shortly before the album release that the pop sensation Ariana Grande was going to be featured on the remix for 'Sympathy is a Knife'. This was interesting for many reasons, but mostly because of the original meaning of the song. The original track was about Charli's insecurities about being a smaller artist among someone who is way more popular and successful than her. She compares the feeling of sympathy and pity from this person to a knife going straight through her, but she knows that she couldn't live without that sympathy. What's interesting about the remixed version of this song is that it completely flips the meaning. Again, since Charli saw such a surge in popularity this last year, she has gotten to see what a high level of fame is really like. She sings about how people were quick to pick her apart, how the media were more likely to misconstrue her words, and how she found out how ruthless that life really is. That's why Ariana is such an interesting feature here because she has always been someone who is ripped apart by the media and the internet. Especially in the last year, there was a huge hate train for Ariana due to situations going on in her personal life. Ariana kind of explored this idea slightly on Eternal Sunshine, an album released earlier this year, but she never went too far with it or elaborated. On this remix, however, she criticizes how people talk about her body, how people don't like the "new me", and the general mistreatment of celebrities in society. This song really sheds light on a topic a lot of artists are nervous to talk about- how ingenuine the music industry has become, both due to society becoming too critical and the media twisting words for clicks and views. This is a topic that we are seeing getting brought up more often, with artists like Chappell Roan taking a stand against these issues that pop stars are expected to endure (which is a topic I will discuss on my blog next week!). This song is a reminder to the listener that these artists are real people with real feelings, and maybe it's time that we re-evaluate how we treat the celebrities that we look up to.

Photo by Picture Alliance

<< My Favs! >>

To wrap this review up, I wanna highlight all the tracks from this album that stood out to me. These are songs that I would definitely add to a playlist or listen to regularly.

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1. Club Classics feat. BB Trickz

2. Sympathy is a knife feat. Ariana Grande

3. I might say something stupid feat. the 1975 and Jon Hopkins

4. Talk Talk feat. Troye Sivan

5. Von Dutch a.g. cook remix feat. Addison Rae

6. Everything is Romantic feat. Caroline Polacheck

7. So I feat. A.G. Cook

8. Girl, So Confusing feat. Lorde

9. Apple feat. the Japanese House

10. B2b feat. Tinashe

11. 365 feat. Shygirl

12. Guess feat. Billie Eilish

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<< Final Thoughts >>

All this being said, what are my final thoughts on the remix album? If I'm being completely honest, I think I might prefer the original album by just a little. Every track on the original Brat was just too amazing, and there are a couple of remixed tracks that are lacking in my opinion. Despite that, I definitely see the vision here and think that every song here has a purpose, and for that, I would probably give this remix album an 8.5/10 because of how well it was able to completely reimagine the original album while still being able to capture some of the essence that made the original so good, despite the fact that the subject matter was completely flipped on its head. That takes a lot of skill, and I commend Charli for taking on such a daunting task! I think this remix album has solidified her as an artist and proves once again that she has a great artistic vision, and I am looking forward to whatever project she decides to do next.

With that, that's the end of my review. Thank you so much for reading my very first blog here at UIC Radio!! As I mentioned earlier in this review, next week I plan on talking about Chappell Roan and the struggles she's had to face in the wake of her booming popularity, so stay tuned for that!

Thanks again for reading!

~ Joey

:)