Charli XCX Reinvents ‘Brat’ With Dazzling Remix Set Featuring Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lorde, the 1975 and More: Album Review
“Just fucking destroy it.”
Around 35 years ago, those four words reinvented the concept of the remix. The Scottish rock band Primal Scream had given one of their songs to a young DJ named Andrew Weatherall to remix, but considered his first attempt too close to the original. So the band’s guitarist, Andrew Innes, gave him the above instructions.
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Weatherall obliged — and then some — and the end result was a completely new song: “Loaded,” a bass-heavy, dancefloor-rocking banger that bore almost no resemblance to the original ballad. It not only vaulted the acid-house sound into the stratosphere (not to mention Primal Scream’s and Weatherall’s careers), it ripped up the entire rulebook for remixers. Where their role had previously been to punch up, shorten or extend a song for radio or the dancefloor, now they had the freedom to do anything.
This approach has never been lost on Charli XCX, one of the great sonic innovators of the last decade (and, not coincidentally, Variety‘s 2024 Hitmaker of the Year). Rather than being precious about her songs, she revels in what imaginative collaborators can bring to them, and the title of “Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat” is exactly what it says it is: a whole new album but it’s not.
She and a wide range of collaborators have remixed, reinvented, revamped and/or reimagined all 15 of the original album’s songs and even one of the three bonus tracks from the bonus edition. All have different or additional singers, lyrics and remixers; some are almost completely unrecognizable from their original versions, and even the ones that retain major elements have been overhauled musically, melodically and/or lyrically. Five of the 16 tracks here were released ahead of this album, most notably her retake of “Girl, So Confusing” with Lorde (more on that in a moment) and her awesomely NSFW collaboration with Billie Eilish on “Guess.” And the new tracks are just as exciting.
The most newsworthy is the new take on “Sympathy Is a Knife,” featuring Ariana Grande. Not only is it fascinating to hear the “Wicked” star’s voice transformed into wild new shapes and harmonies, but her lyrics are every bit as revealing as any of the lyrics on her deeply personal latest album, “Eternal Sunshine”: “It’s a knife when you know they’re counting on your mistakes/ It’s a knife when you’re so pretty they think you must be fake/ It’s a knife when they dissect your body on the front page/ It’s a knife when they won’t believe you, why should you explain?” Charli’s own verse is one of many on the album with a similar take on the pitfalls of fame: “It’s a knife when you knw they’re waiting for you to choke/ It’s a knife when the journalist does a misquote/ It’s a knife when your friend is suddenly stepping on your throat.” (No doubt they know of what they speak.) The reimagined song features new melodic inflections from both singers and opens up an exciting new lane for Grande — hopefully this is just their first collaboration.
Just as satisfying is the retake on “Apple” with Japanese House (who, incidentally, is also featured on the best song from Fred Again’s recent album “10 Days”), which finds her singing a whole new melody over the song’s musical bed.
Elsewhere, “B2B” is a perky synth-pop bop with some soulful elaboration from Tinashe; “365” gets the full-on hyperpop treatment with a hot rap from Shygirl and a hornets’ nest of buzzing beats and bass; Caroline Polachek’s retake of “Everything Is Romantic” relocates bits of Charli’s vocal into a muted, low-key treatment reminiscent of Imogen Heap; “Club Classics” brings in a Spanish-language rap from BB Trickz and, in a hilariously meta move, superimposes verses from “360” and “365.” Perhaps most poignantly, “So I” — a tribute to hyper-pop patron saint Sophie, who died in 2021 — is transformed from its heartbreaking ballad version into a drastic, very PC Music bounce with richocheting beats in collaboration with fellow Sophie acolyte A.G. Cook
The previously released “Talk Talk” (sung by Troye Sivan) retains the structure of the original but overhauls the beat and backing, turning a bouncy pop song into a tweaked house anthem; the “Von Dutch” revamp (featuring Addison Rae) keeps the source version’s tempo and siren synthesizers but bounces rather than drives; the opening “360” is an all-star Swedish summit with “intellipop” pioneer Robyn and rapper Yung Lean.
There are also contributions from three alt-rock icons: the 1975, Bon Iver and the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas. “I Might Say Something Stupid” is turned into a glacially slow and sensitive ballad by the 1975 and Jon Hopkins; Bon Iver brings soulful verses to “I Think About It All the Time” (along with a Bonnie Raitt sample); Julian Casablancas of the Strokes channels his vocoder’ed vocal from Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush”
But for all that, in its way the Lorde remix, which broke the internet upon its release in June, is as innovative lyrically as the others are musically. The two friends had been rumored to be feuding, but we hear them literally working it out on the remix in real time, with an exchange of lyrics than not only address their misunderstandings but also shared vulnerabilities. Sure, rappers have been starting, ending and prolonging beefs on remixes for decades, but this may be the first time two female artists have aired out and fixed their differences in this way — and then took it to the stage of Madison Square Garden last month for a triumphant conclusion.
Most remix albums are pasted-together and inconsistent; many of the best are dance parties, like Dua Lipa and the Blessed Madonna’s glorious “Club Future Nostalgia,” J. Period’s “Best of Mary J. Blige” and of course Madonna’s “Immaculate Collection.” But “Brat and It’s Completely Different” is more of an alternate-universe reimagining of the original album, and Charli’s wide-ranging galaxy of collaborators not only show not the scope and versatility of her talent, but the respect she commands.
Tracklist:
1. 360 featuring robyn & yung lean
2. Club classics featuring bb trickz
3. Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande
4. I might say something stupid featuring the 1975 & jon hopkins
5. Talk talk featuring troye sivan
6. Von dutch a. g. cook remix featuring addison rae
7. Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek
8. Rewind featuring bladee
9. So i featuring a. g. cook
10. Girl, so confusing featuring lorde
11. Apple featuring the japanese house
12. B2b featuring tinashe
13. Mean girls featuring julian casablancas
14. I think about it all the time featuring bon iver
15. 365 featuring shygirl
16. Guess featuring billie eilish
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