The long-awaited remix album “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” was finally released on Oct. 11. As the album title proclaims, this version of “brat” is completely different but still touches on the same themes and sounds of the original. When I first heard “brat” I was a bit disappointed, but it eventually grew on me. The remix album is what I imagined the “brat” experience should have been like.
“Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” is a true party album. It encompasses the beginning of the evening, where everyone is just tipsy enough to dance freely, to the end, when guests leave and a circle of sad drunks forms to share their personal struggles without judgment.
XCX’s guestlist includes major artists such as Ariana Grande, Lorde and Billie Eilish, to lesser-known creatives like Bladee and Bb trickz.
The album’s first track, “360 featuring Robyn and Yung Lean,” was released earlier in the year as a teaser for this secret remix album. Fans always speculated that there would be a second coming of “brat,” but only got confirmation when “360” and “Von Dutch A. G. Cook remix featuring Addison Rae” were released. “Von Dutch” went viral with Addison Rae’s iconic scream being used as a trending sound.
“Club classics featuring Bb trickz” is one of the most influential pieces from the album. Bb trickz is a Catalonian rapper who jumped onto the scene in 2023 with a viral snippet of her song “Bambi” on TikTok. Bb trickz’s verse, along with the song’s reworking, feels very bratty and true to her style. The song samples “365” from “brat” and has a booming bass line that draws you back into the smoking section. It’s so infectious that you need it louder.
Two of the biggest collaborations on this album are “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” and “Sympathy is a knife featuring Ariana Grande.” Both tunes feature artists at the peak of their fame. Eilish is currently touring her latest album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” while Grande is on a press tour for her new movie “Wicked.” I like each of these artists individually, but the remixes seemed a little boring compared to the other tracks.
Because “brat” is one of XCX’s most vulnerable albums, it’s only right that she would feature some artists who are willing to be vulnerable in their music. The 1975 and Jon Hopkins are both present on the “I might say something stupid” remix. As a long-time 1975 fan, I was so happy to see them together on this song. Like the original, it’s short and sweet, acting as a barrier contrasting the festive and rowdy aspects of the other songs. The 1975’s lead singer Matty Healy makes a reference to the band’s most recent tour, with the lyric “Rot in your house in a tie” which focused on isolation during COVID.
Continuing this vulnerability, “So I featuring A. G. Cook” centers around the loss and celebration of XCX and Cook’s late friend and musical mastermind, SOPHIE. The newly remixed song samples numerous collaborations of XCX’s and SOPHIE’s including “Unlock it.” It recounts XCX and SOPHIE’s first meeting and all of the good times they had together, whereas the original “So I” seemed to lament all the times XCX didn’t spend with SOPHIE. “First day, made Vroom Vroom in the basement / Now I wanna think about all the good times” contrasts with “You would say, ‘Come on, stay for dinner’ / I’d say, ‘No, I’m fine’ / Now I really wish I stayed.” The difference in the lyrics parallels the stages of grief and how we can blame ourselves for what didn’t happen, instead of cherishing what did.
The song “Everything is romantic featuring Caroline Polachek” takes a new perspective on the romanticism of life. XCX, the workaholic, frames this song as a phone call to a friend. Polacheck and XCX discuss their journey and how fame along with working in the public eye has affected their private lives; XCX sings, “I’m trying to shut off my brain / I’m thinking ‘bout work all the time,” while Polachek responds, “It’s like you’re living the dream, but you’re not living your life.”
Though “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” has its pitfalls, the album is in my opinion perfect. It is provocative, dirty, vulnerable and high energy: everything you need to have a good party. I give the album five out of five goats.
