Brat. The highest-rated album of 2024. One of the top albums of all time. Brat summer.

This album is so far out of my wheelhouse that I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but there are some really bangers here. I’m especially fond of “I think about it all the time,” although there are–across the board–some great tracks here.

Charli XCX might well be the queen of using heavy, jagged synths alongside vocals that echo the sound of Imogen Heap when she was active some 20 years ago. To her credit, Charli XCX diverges quite heavily from the Billie Eilish’s dark ballads, Taylor Swift’s pop-gone-indie, or Chappell Roan’s bubblegum camp. Charli’s work pulls together hip-hop alongside angsty, vulnerable melodies.

In spite of how good some of the music here is, I do think that it’s an acquired taste (especially for me, who has been primarily listening to Sufi nasheeds and post-punk). In some odd way, I do think that Brat acts as the same sort of escapism that the Black Eyed Peas offered during the 2008 financial meltdown. It seems so out of step with the cultural moment while simultaneously being fundamentally necessary.

Brat is a good album, but I don’t see it gracing any of my top lists. Even so, it’s worth listening to, even if to get a sense of the cultural pulse.