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Charli XCX: Brat review | Laura Snapes' album of the week
Beyond the sleaze, grinding bass and it-girl in-jokes, the British visionary’s sixth album is a masterpiece that understands how a hard persona can offer protection
Indicative of her unique cult status, ICharli has returned to Atlantic and also to the intimacy she shares with a devoted fanbase steeped in her 16-year evolution from DIY teenage raver to “your favourite reference, baby”, as she flexes on confidently minimalist opener 360. Unlike the crowdpleasing Crash, the textures here are defiantly underground – panel-beating, serrated, darkly bubbling with acid – made with the likes of Daniel, AG Cook, Easyfun, Hudson Mohawke and Gesaffelstein. And potentially worse: the devastating So I is a tribute to Charli’s late collaborator Sophie which manages to be both glacially expansive and utterly crushed, as she regrets having shied away from the producer’s friendship, intimidated by her greatness, prior to her death at 34 in 2021.
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