The leader of the Brat Pack ordered two slices of pepperoni pizza and a Coke at Lamonica’s N.Y. Pizza stand in Westwood, the home of UCLA and, seemingly, the capital of the generation that buys all the movie tickets. There is an enormous movie theater at practically every intersection in Westwood; movies that have long since closed elsewhere are still playing here. So for Emilio Estevez to show his face in this neighborhood was to invite the stares of countless fans, and as he wolfed down his slices, the rest of the customers watched in silent respect.
Like many of brat’s songs, figuring out the subject of "Girl, so confusing" isn’t difficult — which is why Charli reached out to Lorde ahead of its release. "I had to go through the process of telling her that this song is about her and her being OK with that first," Charli explains. "I was trying to meet up with her for almost a year, and we kept having this weird, like, we were [going to], then we wouldn’t.
Most famously, Charli created new lyrical narratives around several of the songs. Live performance has already been essential to brat’s rollout, starting with Charli’s immediately legendary Boiler Room DJ set in February, which broke the record for the highest number of RSVPs in the company’s history within hours of its announcement. Flanked by brat executive producer Cook; her fiancé and co-writer, The 1975’s George Daniel; and producer Easyfun, she played many of brat’s songs for the first time. But to keep fans on their toes, all the versions she played were remixes.
"With any kind of trend, if it crosses my path I’ll sort of wonder what it’s all about, understand it but not necessarily engage with it. I think the best trends reach people when they’re not searching for them, that’s how it becomes a trend in the most infectious and subconscious sense of the word. Those are the best ones, when you’re following without even realizing." For the record, her favorite color right now is Pantone 3507C. As Charli's release date for brat approached its expected release on June 7th, 2024, memes and photoshopped images inserting the album's cover into other pieces of media started to go viral on X. For example, June 4th, 2024, Duolingo's Brazilian X[2] account shared a montage inspired by Charli's brat cover (seen below), which amassed more than 917,000 views and 11,000 likes in two days.
From Brat Generator Gratis for Spanish-speaking users to the universally accessible Brat Font Generator, the tool has sparked a worldwide trend. Its association with Charli XCX Brat Generator connects fans across different cultures, creating a shared visual language rooted in the artist’s branding. The Brat Generador is particularly popular in regions that value creative, free-to-use tools. In 2024, a hit song is more like something you can’t escape than something you can measure.
A bit like Björk who sees each of her album covers as some kind of a tarot card representing the character she's embodying in the record. But I also think it would be ballsy and unexpected not to feature herself at some point. I personally love what she went for with this cover, but I guess the criticism isn't just coming from the fact she's not featured on it.
The ‘Apple’ hitmaker has shared her manifesto for the album of the year on her private Instagram account and how she planned to dominate the charts and pop culture. Designer Brent David Freaney is sharing the inspiration behind Charli XCX‘s viral cover art for her celebrated breakthrough album, Brat – and the months-long process it took to perfect it. The pygmy hippopotamus with enviably dewy skin captured hearts in 2024. But where many of Moo Deng’s predecessors were loved for being cute and cuddly, she caught on for having a little bit of an attitude. Whether nipping at her caregivers or resisting bathtime, Moo Deng has embodied a saucy independent streak that’s total brat-hood.
