NEW YORK (AP) — This is the way Brat Summer ends, not with a bang, but a Twitch livestream.
On Thursday afternoon, hours after her deluxe, remixed, double-album version of her culture-shifting album “Brat” leaked – this one called “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” – and hours before it would be officially released, Charli XCX held a listening party/DJ event/livestream deep in New York’s Storm King Art Center, autumn leaves cascading down next to mammoth art installations. She stood beneath one of her own — a macro-scale version of the vinyl’s gatefold erected in her signature Brat green — and pressed play on a phone, commanding an activated crowd.
This album (not to be confused with her previous re-release, “Brat and It’s the Same but There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not”) transforms some of the preexisting songs through features with starry collaborators like Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Robyn and her tour mate Troye Sivan. That is the beauty of dance music, anyway: It has an ability to reinvent itself.
Some are complete overhauls; others ring true to the original. It’s up for the listener to find their favorites. Until then: Here’s a ranking of the new tracks.
16. “Rewind,” feat. Bladee
Swedish rapper-singer Bladee adds a lackadaisical flow to “Rewind,” underlining the bleeding nostalgia of the original.
15. “I might say something stupid,” feat. The 1975 and Jon Hopkins
The piano ballad of “Brat” loses its hyper-present vocal effects, until the last minute-and-a-half, when the song crescendos into a slight, electro-emo dirge.
14. “Mean girls,” feat. Julian Casablancas
For her remix of “Mean Girls,” Charli XCX recruited the original mean girl of New York City: The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, patron saint of whatever commercialized “indie sleaze revival” cultural marketing movement has taken some corners of the internet by storm. It’s too fitting.
13. “Apple,” feat. The Japanese House
Who knew “Apple” needed a shimmery, synth-y indie pop rework? Charli XCX and The Japanese House, apparently.
12. “Talk Talk,” feat. Troye Sivan
An uncredited Dua Lipa and her polyglot tongue punctuate this reimagination of “Talk Talk,” a clubby remix with Charli’s “Sweat Tour” mate Troye Sivan. It’s sexy, to be sure, but maybe gets lost in this overstuffed release.
11. “360,” feat. Robyn and Young Lean
Who expected this inspired combination of Robyn and Young Lean? Plus, Charli has long considered herself a Robyn-like figure: a pop star with a cult following, perhaps a little too cool for full-on mainstream appreciation. Of course, Brat Summer challenges that notion, but it is fall now, and the connections are still there.
10. “B2b,” feat. Tinashe
Another improvement from the original: The innate, smooth R&B-pop of Tinashe’s verse here is a welcomed addition.
9. “Von Dutch,” A.G. Cook remix feat. Addison Rae
Addison Rae, an actor and TikTok star who bears striking resemblance to the queen of all things Y2K — Britney Spears — is experiencing a second wind of her young career, due in part to Charli’s commitment to making her a pop star. On this “Von Dutch” remix, a self-assured, swaggering and sometimes-screeching treatise on celebrity, Rae’s too-sweet vocals offer tension.
8. “Club Classics,” feat. BB Trickz
The new “Club Classics” speeds up Charli XCX’s vocals to chipmunk levels – it won’t be for everyone, but it will be a favorite to those whom its invention speaks.
7. “Everything is Romantic,” feat. Caroline Polachek
A meeting of shared musical minds! Still a love song for platonic relationships, presented in a new fashion, this song demonstrates the kind of religiosity found in an early morning conversation with a close friend rather than in the club.
6. “I think about it all the time,” feat. Bon Iver
Bon Iver has long experimented in electronic music, and his featured work on the emotional heart of the album – “I think about it all the time” – allows Charli XCX to speak her concerns at a crossroads in life. He launches them into an ethereal space, as if casting them off into the universe in a lit lantern.
5. “365,” feat. shygirl
Party girls, meet shygirl. The original “Brat” closer reintroduced the club after an introspective moment; in this “365” version, they never left. It’s 4 a.m. in Berlin, hearts are racing, palms and everything else are sweaty, lights are dizzying.
4. “Sympathy is a knife,” feat. Ariana Grande
In the original “Sympathy is a knife,” Charli XCX allows self-doubt room to breathe. Is she famous? Is she successful? Why does it seem like more commercial artists look down on her? Do they, or is that projection? On this version, Charli, a longtime Ariana Grande fan, brings in one of the biggest pop stars for an Imogen Heap-esque recasting of that story: What happens when you reach a certain level, and every part of your life is interrogated by strangers?
“It’s a knife when you’re so pretty, they think you must be fake,” Grande adds her spin. “It’s a knife when they dissect your body on the front page.”
3. “Guess,” feat. Billie Eilish
A remix of a bonus track with one of the world’s biggest pop stars, “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish is indulgent, flirty electrotrash, the kind that could convince anyone Brat Summer is not temporal but a state of mind. Produced by the Dare, it’s a refreshingly new way to hear Eilish’s whisper. This time, it booms.
2. “So I,” feat. A.G. Cook
“So I,” a tribute to the late, great, future-seeking producer Sophie, could only have one collaborator: A.G. Cook, fellow member of the PC Music collective, and someone who worked closely with the gone-too-soon innovator. No dry eyes here, in this version that far exceeds the original. “So I” on “Brat” is a guarded memorial; on “So I” featuring A.G. Cook, Charli tells stories about her friend Sophie with the hyper-specificity of the greatest narrative songwriters.
1. “Girl, so confusing,” feat. Lorde
As if there was any other option for the No. 1 spot. “Girl, so confusing” brings an end to a potentially long held and certainly private rivalry between Charli XCX and Lorde, two distinctly different artists once frequently mistaken for one another. And for a song about environmental and internalized insecurities, ones certain genders know all too well, it’s reassuring to hear these two powerhouses work it out on the remix.
___
For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
