Contemporary pop fandom feels like a zombie publicity reflex.
Blades of grass. Slices of kiwi. Swim trunks. A tricked-out Toyota Celica. A campaign placard for a local election. A garbage truck. The handlebars of an electric scooter. A can of lime seltzer. A pair of safety cones holding someone’s parking spot on a residential street. A wet tennis ball left out in the rain.
I wish I could lighten up, but something about this “Brat” summer we’re living through gets me down — something about our eagerness to replace the seasons of our lives with industry promo cycles, about how contemporary pop fandom feels like a zombie publicity reflex, about hype’s uncanny ability to blot out the thing it’s hyping.
Having these songs stuck to the roof of my brain, however, has been no problem. “Brat” is Charli XCX’s sixth studio album in eleven years, and she sounds like a pro in every way. Her lyrics are animated by a certain grown-up party-girl anxiety, but her melodic instincts are still made of titanium, creating rhythmic rushes of deadpan truth-telling. During her semi-ballad, “,” she squints into her future and tries to imagine herself as a mother.
Again, I probably need to lighten up, so here’s an idea we could try to accept: What if, instead of siphoning attention away from the music, pop hype simply guides listeners toward it? On her website, Charli XCX is sellingemblazoned with the word “towel,” printed in “Brat” typeface. If you spot one at the pool this summer, maybe you get into “Brat.
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