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Reader: It’s 10pm. Do you know where your children are? Charli XCX does. They’re all on planet Brat, “bumpin’ that”. They’re obsessed. And it’s easy to see why. Charli, (real name Charlotte Aitchison) has been delivering consistently fun records since she was their age and is responsible for cultivating the batsqueak frenzy of an emergent Hyperpop subgenre [parents: look it up] here in the UK. The multifaceted Brat is a transcendent level-up from the singer’s previous works in virtually every way: a deceptively mature, no-skips Reddit scroll about what it’s like to be a 31 year-old teenaged baby, ready to settle down and self-immolate at the same time. Songs like Talk Talk and Apple are sticky clubland confessionals, while 360, with its Skype ringtone hook, has an impossibly addictive techno bounce. On Brat, Charli shows you how it’s done: Build a whole new world. Or go to your room.
