album Charli xcx - 'Brat and it's completely different but also still brat'

[RichardBaxter]

14 minutes ago, Rihinvention said:

 

No, I definitely do. Most recently in her Zane Lowe interview, she spoke about how 'I think about it all the time' was written to be kinda clunky, and mentioned The Streets and Mike Skinner were the reference for the cadence.

 

Just because someone doesn't like something doesn't mean they don't understand it. I was just talking about this in another thread lol

 

News flash: I like different things to you because I'm a different person to you.

 

That's awesome - glad you've been glued to the interviews, quite like myself. I find they continue to build a world around the music which makes the experience so rewarding as a fan than just "here's the songs!".

 

However, the topic at hand is why she didn't use typical rhyming convention - something you explicitly noted in your post. What's with the attack and frank rudeness over liking something? All I did was factually bring in what she's said multiple times in interviews for months to attempt to shed light on her specific choices so...hey, maybe you can give the record another shot with a different perspective. No need to get defensive dude. After all, it's JUST pop music. 

 

And since you felt the need to highlight taste and that we're different people. Personally, I'm mixed on the album and maybe lean more with your sentiments at this time (something you assumed I didn't if I read between the lines of your attempt at checking me). I need to sit with the lyrics once they're released tomorrow because I have zero idea what anyone's trying to convey at a granular level (yes, the broad stroke struggle with new found fame and success is very apparent). 

 

And for the record, I don't follow you around multiple threads to know what you talk about on this website. Get a grip lol.

[Kern]

That song would literally sound like a parody if she sang 'flop'  this is not cupcake 

[Uncatena]

19 minutes ago, Rihinvention said:

With grammar like yours, I completely agree.

glad we are on the same page

 

[Hex]

Speaking of Mike Skinner, he mentioned a few months back that Charli asked him to be on a remix of Club Classics so he sent a verse and she basically told him it wasn't good enough lol 

[Rihinvention]

49 minutes ago, RichardBaxter said:

That's awesome - glad you've been glued to the interviews, quite like myself. I find they continue to build a world around the music which makes the experience so rewarding as a fan than just "here's the songs!".

 

However, the topic at hand is why she didn't use typical rhyming convention - something you explicitly noted in your post. What's with the attack and frank rudeness over liking something? All I did was factually bring in what she's said multiple times in interviews for months to attempt to shed light on her specific choices so...hey, maybe you can give the record another shot with a different perspective. No need to get defensive dude. After all, it's JUST pop music. 

 

And since you felt the need to highlight taste and that we're different people. Personally, I'm mixed on the album and maybe lean more with your sentiments at this time (something you assumed I didn't if I read between the lines of your attempt at checking me). I need to sit with the lyrics once they're released tomorrow because I have zero idea what anyone's trying to convey at a granular level (yes, the broad stroke struggle with new found fame and success is very apparent). 

 

And for the record, I don't follow you around multiple threads to know what you talk about on this website. Get a grip lol.

I wasn't saying "haven't you seen my post from 15 minutes ago yet?!" — I was simply laughing at the irony of how I was just in a discussion about the same subject.

 

As for my tone, I found "Do you guys not watch her interviews?" to be condescending, so I matched what I thought was a patronising tone. I apologise if I read what you wrote in a way you didn't write it.

 

I stand by my opinions though. Particularly "you wanna know if we're serious about this song." I think "track" would've sounded better, regardless of Charli's intentions. And I've seen a lot of people saying similar things. Funnily enough, usually about 'I think about it all the time', which Charli herself said made her nervous because the cadence was intentionally clunky/Mike Skinner-inspired.

 

As for Ariana on the bridge, I stand by that opinion too, regardless of Charli's intentions. It's Ariana Grande, and it's still pop music. A 2-line bridge that gets repeated rhyming isn't beyond the realms of pop.

 

I should also note than I'm not someone who likes hyper-pop, dubstep, or anything where I can't "feel" where the song is going. It's just way more experimental than I thought it would be, regardless of Charli's interviews, and the successful songs from brat have still followed conventional pop structures (Von Dutch, 360, Guess, and Apple).

 

If this is the next single, which I think it is, I question if it will perform well (even with an Ariana Grande feature) because it's experimental.

 

Edit: wait no…I'm listening to it again and they both sing it. And the majority of the song does rhyme, so that's probably why "bottom" stuck out to me on my first listen.

 

But like I said, I just like knowing where a song is going with the structure of an 8-count and lyrics that fit into them. If "flop" is cringe then so be it. Could've been "stop" or "drop" — my point is, the moments of clunky cadence is the only thing that I (personally) haven't liked about this era. I've loved everything else.

Edited October 10 by Rihinvention

[xokuba]

4 hours ago, willmcclure9 said:

 

365
 

you're crazy

[Mocha]

 

i only heard sympathy is a knife and 365 and lowkey they're better than the originals

how are you guys tagging this for last fm? I'm just gonna treat it as a whole new album and not edit anything

[State of Grace.]

19 minutes ago, Mocha said:

 

i only heard sympathy is a knife and 365 and lowkey they're better than the originals

how are you guys tagging this for last fm? I'm just gonna treat it as a whole new album and not edit anything

I'm scrobbling 3 different BRATs at this point + the already released remixes

 

I think I'm gonna stick to this one eventually because ut has everything

 

[xokuba]

Mean girl remix is the only skip for me on here. I got used to the Boiler Room edit that now it's just not hitting for me. The original version on the other hand is a Top 3 track.

[RichardBaxter]

39 minutes ago, Rihinvention said:

I wasn't saying "haven't you seen my post from 15 minutes ago yet?!" — I was simply laughing at the irony of how I was just in a discussion about the same subject.

 

As for my tone, I found "Do you guys not watch her interviews?" to be condescending, so I matched what I thought was a patronising tone. I apologise if I read what you wrote in a way you didn't write it.

 

I stand by my opinions though. Particularly "you wanna know if we're serious about this song." I think "track" would've sounded better, regardless of Charli's intentions. And I've seen a lot of people saying similar things. Funnily enough, usually about 'I think about it all the time', which Charli herself said made her nervous because the cadence was intentionally clunky/Mike Skinner-inspired.

 

As for Ariana on the bridge, I stand by that opinion too, regardless of Charli's intentions. It's Ariana Grande, and it's still pop music. A 2-line bridge that gets repeated, and is only sung by Ariana (not even sung by Charli), rhyming, isn't beyond the realms of pop.

 

I should also note than I'm not someone who likes hyper-pop, dubstep, or anything where I can't "feel" where the song is going. It's just way more experimental than I thought it would be, regardless of Charli's interviews, and the successful songs from brat have still followed conventional pop structures (Von Dutch, 360, Guess, and Apple).

 

If this is the next single, which I think it is, I question if it will perform well (even with an Ariana Grande feature) because it's experimental.

 

Edit: wait no…I'm listening to it again and they both sing it. And the majority of the song does rhyme, so that's probably why "bottom" stuck out to me on my first listen.

 

But like I said, I just like knowing where a song is going with the structure of an 8-count and lyrics that fit into them. If "flop" is cringe then so be it. Could've been "stop" or "drop" — my point is, the moments of clunky cadence is the only thing that I (personally) haven't liked about this era. I've loved everything else.

That clunky cadence is *wait for it* brat!

 

I'm with you - this is perhaps Charli's most experimental offering yet AND am also interested to see how Sympathy will do since it's the push track for the week. Could the album hit #1 and the single as well? Perhaps. Ariana has racked up quite a few #1s (especially with collabs...holding the record for the biggest debut) so it's not totally out of pocket to assume it might. But....the weekend will be telling. I expect the song to have a huge debut day - but will it hold over the weekend? It all comes down to their post-release strategy. Radio is obvious a non factor so if this does index high on the charts, it'll need to come from streaming & downloads. I, for sure, think this will be the top ten hit of the era - simply due to the name attached alone. 

 

And thank you for acknowledging/apologizing. I do as well since you felt like you were being spoken down to. Admittedly, it is extremely frustrating seeing fans all over the internet jump to conclusions and bash something literally due to their own false expectations. It's a ******* epidemic across this fanbase right now, if I'm going to be honest. Like when did everyone become an A&R or creative director? Respect the artist's process. A little bit of that definitely projected here and for that I'm sorry. 

 

Hoping you (and I, as well) can come around to the album a little it more - I saw the lyrics were uploaded on Genius a few minutes ago and they definitely provided a bit more color. I'm excited to listen later with them. I'm also thinking of listening to each original first and then its remix right after to see how that can shape my overall/experience and feelings around this album. 

Edited October 10 by RichardBaxter

[Rihinvention]

1 minute ago, RichardBaxter said:

That clunky cadence is *wait for it* brat!

 

I'm with you - this is perhaps Charli's most experimental offering yet AND am also interested to see how Sympathy will do since it's the push track for the week. Could the album hit #1 and the single as well? Perhaps. Ariana has racked up quite a few #1s (especially with collabs...holding the record for the biggest debut) so it's not totally out of pocket to assume it might. But....the weekend will be telling. I expect the song to have a huge debut day - but will it hold over the weekend? It all comes down to their post-release strategy. Radio is obvious a non factor so if this does index high on the charts, it'll need to come from streaming & downloads. I, for sure, think this will be the top ten hit of the era - simply due to the name attached alone. 

 

And thank you for acknowledging/apologizing. I do as well since you felt like you were being spoken down to. Admittedly, it is extremely frustrating seeing fans all over the internet jump to conclusions and bash something literally due to their own false expectations. It's a ******* epidemic across this fanbase right now, if I'm going to be honest. A little bit of that definitely projected here and for that I'm sorry. 

 

Hoping you (and I, as well) can come around to the album a little it more - I saw the lyrics were uploaded on Genius a few minutes ago and they definitely provided a bit more color. I'm excited to listen later with them. I'm also thinking of listening to each original first and then its remix right after to see how that can shape my overall/experience and feelings around this album. 

It's already grown on me and I love it now. I really need to sit with music for more than an hour before running my mouth…

 

I think people on TikTok are gonna dissect every one of Ariana's lyrics, and with Wicked coming out in 6 weeks, there's already a lot of buzz around her.

 

The more I listen to it, the more I realise it actually is one of the more "pop" songs on the brat remix. And the whole song rhymes, so maybe that's why it stuck out to me so much on my first listen.

 

Look at us, immediately apologising and trying to understand different perspectives immediately after an argument. I agree, I wish stan culture was like that more often.

[DevinWylde]

Haven't listened to it, but I'm curious - who sings the French lyrics she teased the other day?

[RichardBaxter]

8 minutes ago, Rihinvention said:

It's already grown on me and I love it now. I really need to sit with music for more than an hour before running my mouth…

 

I think people on TikTok are gonna dissect every one of Ariana's lyrics, and with Wicked coming out in 6 weeks, there's already a lot of buzz around her.

 

The more I listen to it, the more I realise it actually is one of the more "pop" songs on the brat remix. And the whole song rhymes, so maybe that's why it stuck out to me so much on my first listen.

 

Look at us, immediately apologising and trying to understand different perspectives immediately after an argument. I agree, I wish stan culture was like that more often.

I definitely think this is a record that needs to be sat with. While the OG was fairly immediate, this clear is the direct opposite. I'm a little bit like yourself - I tend to know right away if I'm going to like, love, or hate something. Sometimes it depends on my frame of mind and where I'm at in my life when it comes to the music I attached myself to...for lack of better words. I come back to albums all the time months, even years later, with an entirely different perspective. 

 

For what it's worth, your thoughts have been very articulate and I enjoy reading them (hence why I keep replying lol). I'm glad we can have a dialogue around our slightly differently, but also slightly similar view points on this music along with the fact that we're down to challenge ourselves as listeners to see if our initial reactions are sound or just shock over how different this record is. Feel free to slide into my DMs any time to talk about music haha.

 

(I also think it's completely normal to have such a jarring reaction to this album given how insane the success of brat has been - this album is very left field and sort of warrants that reaction. What I don't love is seeing the fanbase push their opinion of "this is horrible" and confusing that with fact).

[RichardBaxter]

10 minutes ago, DevinWylde said:

Haven't listened to it, but I'm curious - who sings the French lyrics she teased the other day?

Charli does in B2b, if these are correct: https://genius.com/Charli-xcx-and-tinashe-b2b-featuring-tinashe-lyrics 

[Club classic]

Is this the best era ever?  

[ArtDeco]

apple remix has me in a chokehold

 

[Hex]

2 hours ago, Rihinvention said:

I wasn't saying "haven't you seen my post from 15 minutes ago yet?!" — I was simply laughing at the irony of how I was just in a discussion about the same subject.

 

As for my tone, I found "Do you guys not watch her interviews?" to be condescending, so I matched what I thought was a patronising tone. I apologise if I read what you wrote in a way you didn't write it.

 

I stand by my opinions though. Particularly "you wanna know if we're serious about this song." I think "track" would've sounded better, regardless of Charli's intentions. And I've seen a lot of people saying similar things. Funnily enough, usually about 'I think about it all the time', which Charli herself said made her nervous because the cadence was intentionally clunky/Mike Skinner-inspired.

 

As for Ariana on the bridge, I stand by that opinion too, regardless of Charli's intentions. It's Ariana Grande, and it's still pop music. A 2-line bridge that gets repeated rhyming isn't beyond the realms of pop.

 

I should also note than I'm not someone who likes hyper-pop, dubstep, or anything where I can't "feel" where the song is going. It's just way more experimental than I thought it would be, regardless of Charli's interviews, and the successful songs from brat have still followed conventional pop structures (Von Dutch, 360, Guess, and Apple).

 

If this is the next single, which I think it is, I question if it will perform well (even with an Ariana Grande feature) because it's experimental.

 

Edit: wait no…I'm listening to it again and they both sing it. And the majority of the song does rhyme, so that's probably why "bottom" stuck out to me on my first listen.

 

But like I said, I just like knowing where a song is going with the structure of an 8-count and lyrics that fit into them. If "flop" is cringe then so be it. Could've been "stop" or "drop" — my point is, the moments of clunky cadence is the only thing that I (personally) haven't liked about this era. I've loved everything else.

 

1 hour ago, RichardBaxter said:

I definitely think this is a record that needs to be sat with. While the OG was fairly immediate, this clear is the direct opposite. I'm a little bit like yourself - I tend to know right away if I'm going to like, love, or hate something. Sometimes it depends on my frame of mind and where I'm at in my life when it comes to the music I attached myself to...for lack of better words. I come back to albums all the time months, even years later, with an entirely different perspective. 

 

For what it's worth, your thoughts have been very articulate and I enjoy reading them (hence why I keep replying lol). I'm glad we can have a dialogue around our slightly differently, but also slightly similar view points on this music along with the fact that we're down to challenge ourselves as listeners to see if our initial reactions are sound or just shock over how different this record is. Feel free to slide into my DMs any time to talk about music haha.

 

(I also think it's completely normal to have such a jarring reaction to this album given how insane the success of brat has been - this album is very left field and sort of warrants that reaction. What I don't love is seeing the fanbase push their opinion of "this is horrible" and confusing that with fact).

Sorry to insert myself here but reminding y'all that another important influence on her that she's mentioned many times throughout this campaign is Lou Reed. His music and his work in TVU very often veered towards spoken word and melded experimental with more conventional (for the time) pop structures. The man made everything from 3 minute long radio bops to hours of pure noise and feedback. Charli's original verses for SIAK and her spoken word esque frankness without the need to conventionally rhyme across the album are undoubtedly inspired by him. 

 

Wish pop music fans would step outside themselves sometimes and realize that there are no rules to music in general... there are however generally accepted rules to radio pop music though for it to be palatable to everyone from 12 year old girls, soccer moms and your uncle to drive the highest number of sales (3 minutes >, traditional verse/chorus structure, repeated hooks, rhyming schemes, simple melodies).

 

Of course, if you find music like "hyperpop" too abrasive and unpredictable I doubt you'll click with real rock and roll. Charli has explained that she was inspired by his rawness:

 

 

 

Edited October 10 by Hex

[Relampago.]

The way people get so up in arms about Charli music

 

It's pop music girls, it's supposed to be fun, its not a literary classique  

[Relampago.]

Anyways, Welcome to My Island remix is the real remix for Everything is romantic if you ask me

 

EIR remix fits WTMI more anyways 

[Konril]

Apple remix is great.

I actually like the Mean Girls remix, but its similarities to Owner of a Lonely Heart is much amplified here than the OG.

[RichardBaxter]

26 minutes ago, Hex said:

 

Sorry to insert myself here but reminding y'all that another important influence on her that she's mentioned many times throughout this campaign is Lou Reed. His music and his work in TVU very often veered towards spoken word and melded experimental with more conventional (for the time) pop structures. The man made everything from 3 minute long radio bops to hours of pure noise and feedback. Charli's original verses for SIAK and her spoken word esque frankness without the need to conventionally rhyme across the album are undoubtedly inspired by him. 

 

Wish pop music fans would step outside themselves sometimes and realize that there are no rules to music in general... there are however generally accepted rules to radio pop music though for it to be palatable to everyone from 12 year old girls, soccer moms and your uncle to drive the highest number of sales (3 minutes >, traditional verse/chorus structure, repeated hooks, rhyming schemes, simple melodies).

 

Of course, if you find music like "hyperpop" too abrasive and unpredictable I doubt you'll click with real rock and roll. Charli has explained that she was inspired by his rawness:

 

 

 

This! I'm really glad you touched on this because it was very apparent to me that she channeled Lou on the remix album - even more so than the OG.

 

Which further cements my belief that brat - in whatever shape it decides to take/evolve to - is Charli in her most "punk" form when it comes to pop music. It's as if the massive success has given her the need to push what she thinks pop music should be even further than before.

Edited October 10 by RichardBaxter

[Curaga]

Only halfway through and this is a very challenging listen   The overall sound and atmosphere fit the word brat and the album cover better than the original lol

 

Talk talk and Everything is romantic remixes are my favs so far

 

edit: TINASHE!!!!!!! 

THEY DID THAT

Edited October 10 by Curaga

[kimberly]

2 hours ago, Mocha said:

 

i only heard sympathy is a knife and 365 and lowkey they're better than the originals

how are you guys tagging this for last fm? I'm just gonna treat it as a whole new album and not edit anything

I moved all my BRAT-related scrobbles to the remix album.

Partially because I wanted it to surpass Cowboy Carter as my most-played album of the year, which feels more accurate. 

Remix album is also the version I'll own on vinyl whenever they ship. I held off on buying it until there was a complete edition. 

[Hex]

Mean Girls remix sneaking into my top 5... no other Charli song sounds like this

[mxoonlight]

4 hours ago, RichardBaxter said:

Charli's spoken at length about disregarding typical pop songwriting/structure for this album….as recent as during the Grammys Summit with Troye.

 

Do you guys not dive into these interviews? Would absolutely give more context to artistic choices and eliminate a lot of false expectations that lead to unnecessary complaints.

The answer is no because people have lives and likely do not have the capacity to consume every bit of media related to artists they listen to.

 

Just because she's trying something different doesn't mean people are dense or not getting it if it's not to their taste. It's a disingenuous way of interfacing criticism to say "you don't get it" especially when it's not universal to every track on this.