The British singer-songwriter Charli XCX made her debut in the early 2010’s with a few hit singles like “I love it”, ” Boom Clap”, and “Break the Rules”.  Even with her songs repeating on the beloved video game of the 2010’s, “Just Dance”, as well as everyones favorite radio station, Kiss 108, her quick rise to fame was followed by some years of less popularity and relevance in the world of pop. But, partially credited to the algorithms of TikTok, she is back in the mainstream of the music world. Many of her songs such as “Party 4 u” and “Everything is Romantic”, along with the entirety of her album called “BRAT”, have received praise from many.

What separates Charli XCX from the rest of the pop singers is not only her incorporation of electric sounds and autotune to traditional pop but her popularity trends. Some larger scale artists like Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan are known for various albums, but Charli XCX has her select songs that have reached crowds way larger than just her fans and listeners. While not all of us are Charli XCX listeners, we’ve probably come across hundreds of show edits to “Party 4 u” and that one famous cover of “Everything is Romantic” that we all keep hearing on TikTok.

In addition to her big hits, Charli XCX has gone through a sort of rebrand. After she re-entered the music world, she came out with her album titled “brat” in the summer of 2024. Unlike many artists complex, professionally taken album covers, this was a simple tennis ball green color background with “brat” written in all lowercase. This neon green marked a new era of her career that was built on a genre that combined hyper pop, some electric elements, and a 2000’s feel. Many felt that this album represented a sort of “hot mess”, care free, and authentic sentiment; and the people loved it, especially the popular female content creators. A new term started trending in the summer of 2024, called “Brat Girl Summer”. This went along with the sentiment of the album: careless, cool, fun, and real. If you’re looking for some Y2k feeling music for when you’re getting ready, working out, or doing just about anything, the “brat” album just be your next favorite listen.

Here is my personal ranking of the “brat” album:

1. “Girl, so confusing” (featuring Lorde)
2. “Mean girls”
3. “Everything is Romantic”
4. “I think about it all the time”
5. “B2b”
6. “Sympathy is a knife”
7. “Rewind”
8. “I might say something stupid”
9. “So I”
10. “Von dutch”
11. “Talk talk”
12. “Club classics”
13. “365”
14. “Apple”
15. “360”