Charli XCX brings the club classics on her new single

Graphic by Julia Norkus

By Bennett Himmel

For nearly a decade at this point, Charli XCX has been making freaky, fizzy, futuristic pop music. She makes songs to turn up to before the party, reach transcendence to on the dance floor, and cry into your vodka cranberry to as the sun rises. This changed with her fifth studio album, CRASH (2022), a technically great if less interesting detour into mainstream pop and new jack swing. Charli is an artist who will, at the very least, be good,—but most of her fans knew she could do better. CRASH was Charli’s “main pop girl” era, so while she was serving amazing performances and well-crafted pop songs, she lost pretty much all of her experimental edge in the process. Enter the singles for her new album, BRAT, dropping June 7.

The lead single, February’s “Von Dutch,” is Charli at her most aggressive and sassy, fitting the album title perfectly. I love the song (although I prefer the remix with pop’s apparent heir, Addison Rae), but what’s really getting me excited for this new album is the double single that she dropped on April 3. The A-side, “Club Classics,” is an absolute anthem. Charli chants that when she goes to the club, she wants to hear those “club classics, club club classics” with the affectation of a cheerleader in a k-hole, before a trancey breakdown that hearkens back to the days of early PC music. The B-side, “B2b,” is a bit more vulnerable, but as opposed to Charli’s usual heart-on-her-sleeve writing, her pain feels opaque. She groans “Maybe you should run right back to her / I don’t wanna go back, back to / Back to, back to, back to, back to you,” until “back” doesn’t sound like a word anymore and you’re left spiraling in a neon green, glittery sorrow. If these singles are anything to go by, BRAT is shaping up to be one of the most interesting pop records of the year. Charli’s music has always been club friendly, but this feels like her first time truly making club music. By loosening her grip on traditional pop structures, Charli is adding a fascinating new ripple in her already wonderfully strange body of work.