I read somewhere recently (and by ‘read’ I mean ‘watched’ and by ‘somewhere’ I mean ‘TikTok’) that pop music has lost all artistry. A hyperbolic statement, sure, but one not entirely untrue. Some may argue that by its very definition, popular music necessarily has to be vanilla and mass-market—devoid of any real personality or spunk. Others call it the most uninspiring of genres, paling in comparison to the anarchy of punk, the existentialism of indie or the catharsis of techno.
Thankfully for the sake of pop, Charli XCX exists. In her latest album, glibly titled Brat, Charli makes a wild proposition: it is possible to make the kind of music that provokes thought and starts conversations, while also being so plainly good, it can’t not be pop.
If the heart-pumping, synth-heavy first single, ‘Von Dutch’, is any indication, this album will see Charli making a swerve (as the sportscar-obsessed singer is wont to do) towards her underground club girl roots. “I came from the clubs,” Charli says wistfully, during our Zoom chat. “When
