Music Review: Charli XCX's Brat and It's Totally Different But Still Brat Remixes, Ranked

NEW YORK (AP) — This is the way Brat Summer doesn't end with a bang, but with a Twitch live stream.

On Thursday afternoon, hours after their remixed deluxe double album version of their culture-changing album “Brat” leaked – this one titled “Brat and it's very different but also still Brat” – and hours before it would be officially released, Charli XCX hosted a listening party/DJ event/livestream deep in New York City's Storm King Art Center, where fall leaves cascaded alongside gigantic art installations. She stood under one of her own – a macro version of the vinyl record's gatefold in her signature brat green – and pressed play on a phone to command an activated crowd.

This album (not to be confused with their previous re-release “Brat and It's the Same but There's Three More Songs So It's Not”) transforms some of the existing songs with features with star collaborators such as Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Robyn and her tourmate Troye Sivan. That's the beauty of dance music: it has the ability to reinvent itself.

Some are complete overhauls; others sound true to the original. It's up to the listener to find their favorites. Until then: Here is a ranking of the new tracks.

16. “Rewind”, feat. Bladee

Swedish rapper and singer Bladee gives “Rewind” a laid-back flow, underlining the original’s bleeding nostalgia.

15. “I Might Say Something Stupid,” feat. The 1975 and Jon Hopkins

The piano ballad of “Brat” loses its hyper-present vocal effects until the song builds into a light electro-emo-style lament in the final minute and a half.

14. “Mean Girls,” feat. Julian Casablancas

For her remix of “Mean Girls,” Charli XCX recruited New York City’s original mean girl: Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Patron saint of the commercialized “indie sleaze revival” cultural marketing movement that has taken some corners of the internet by storm. It's too fitting.

13. “Apple,” feat. The Japanese house

Who knew “Apple” needed a shiny, synthy indie-pop makeover? Apparently Charli XCX and The Japanese House.

12. “Talk Talk,” feat. Troye Sivan

An uncredited item Dua Lipa and her polyglot tongue underline this reimagining of “Talk Talk,” a club remix featuring Charli’s “Sweat Tour” collaborator Troye Sivan. It's sexy, but perhaps lost in this cluttered release.

11. “360,” feat. Robyn and Young Lean

Who would have expected this inspired combination of Robyn and Young Lean? Plus, Charli has long fancied herself a Robyn-like figure: a pop star with a cult following, perhaps a little too cool for the mainstream's full appreciation. Of course, Brat Summer challenges that notion, but it's fall now and the connections are still there.

10. “B2b”, feat. Tinashe

Another improvement over the original, the innate, gentle R&B pop of Tinashe's verse is a welcome addition here.

9. “Von Dutch”, AG Cook Remix feat. Addison Rae

Addison Rae, an actor and TikTok star The striking resemblance to 2000's queen of all things Britney Spears is enjoying a second resurgence in her young career, thanks in part to Charli's commitment to making her a pop star. On this “Von Dutch” remix, a confident, swaggering and sometimes screaming treatise on celebrity, Rae’s too-sweet vocals add excitement.

8. “Club Classics”, feat. BB Trickz

The new “Club Classics” accelerates Charli

7. “Everything is Romantic,” feat. Caroline Polachek

A meeting of common musical minds! Still a love song for platonic relationships, presented in a new way, this song demonstrates the kind of religiosity more likely to be found in an early morning conversation with a close friend than at the club.

6. “I Think About This All the Time,” feat. Bon Iver

Bon Iver has long experimented with electronic music, and his main work on the album's emotional core – “I think about it all the time” – allows Charli XCX to express her concerns at a crossroads in life. He hurls her into an ethereal space, as if he were throwing her into the universe with a lit lantern.

5. “365,” feat. shy girl

Party girls, that's Shygirl. The original “Brat” conclusion reintroduced the club after an introspective moment; In this “365” version, they never left. It's 4 a.m. in Berlin, hearts are racing, palms and everything else are sweaty, the lights are dizzy.

4. “Sympathy is a Knife,” feat. Ariana Grande

In the original “Sympathy is a Knife,” Charli XCX gives self-doubt room to breathe. Is she famous? Is she successful? Why does it seem like more and more commercial artists are looking down on them? Do they, or is this a projection? In this version, Charli, a longtime Ariana Grande fan, brings in one of pop's biggest stars for an Imogen Heap-esque retelling of this story: What happens when you reach a certain level and every part of your life is questioned by strangers? ?

“It's a knife when you're so pretty that they think you must be fake,” Grande adds. “It’s a knife when they dissect your body on the front page.”

“Guess” featuring Billie Eilish, a remix of a bonus track featuring one of the world's biggest pop stars, is indulgent, flirtatious electro-trash that could win over anyone. Brat Summer is not temporary, but a state of mind. Produced by The Dare, it's a refreshing new way to hear Eilish whisper. This time it's booming.

2. “So I”, feat. AG Koch

“So I”, a tribute to the late, great, the forward-thinking producer Sophie, could only have one employee: AG Cook, a member of the PC Music collective and someone who worked closely with the innovator who died far too early. No dry eyes in this version that goes far beyond the original. “So I” on “Brat” is a guarded monument; On “So I” featuring AG Cook, Charli tells stories about her friend Sophie with the hyper-specificity of the greatest narrative songwriters.

1. “Girl, So Confusing,” feat. Lorde

As if there was another option for first place. “Girl, So Confusing” ends a potentially long-running and certainly private rivalry between Charli XCX and Lorde, two distinctly different artists who were once frequently confused for one another. And for a song about environmental and internalized insecurities that certain genders know all too well, it's reassuring to hear these two powerhouses pull it off in the remix.

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