What is Charli XCX's Brand?

Brat Brat Brat and why it creates brand atmosphere

At a Substack event on Wednesday, Tavi Gevinson was in conversation with Mary Gaitskill. These two women proved that this typically wooden format—two people, two microphones—can be mesmerizing.

Anyway, Tavi made a great point about acting, saying that what can hold her back is a fear of “looking ugly.” It’s what can move her, on the stage, away from her body into her mind.

We all do this (girls.) We’re trained to. I was monitoring my hip movements down a city street the other day, and for what?

Anyway. I think this is part of why Charli XCX is the star that she is. Everything she does is from an intuitive place—it’s natural and so her. She shakes while holding a glass of wine. She looks strange and cool and of somewhere else. And, it’s SO REFRESHING because [insert pop stars here] are not doing this, at all. They’re choreographed, curated, and they want you to like them. They make music, as Charli pointed out on Subway Takes this week, but they don’t have artistry. Meanwhile, Charli XCX acts from intuition, from that guttural, ineffable space, and taps into a feeling, unknown, spiritual, atmospheric.

And she’s summed up this way of being with one snappy, you-get-it word: Brat. With this new album name, she’s owning her essence in the mind of the market.

A Brat is not thinking about you, a Brat isn’t thinking at all. They’re impulsive and challenging. They invite your ridicule or co-conspiracy. They’re not calculated, they just are. This perfect album, perfectly branded, is why, in part, I think she is breaking through (finally) to this degree.

I asked my friend August Baxter, assistant to Bella Hadid and the biggest Charli fan I know to confirm my suspicions. How did he sum her up in 1 perfect word? His answer? Brat. That’s brand. That’s atmosphere.

With this one beautiful noun, she sums up her charm and captivation, her invitational menace.

May we all be less in our heads and more in our bodies. May we all, especially this summer, be brats.