Which Brat Is More Brat?
The Brat pack is finally complete. Charli XCX’s remix album, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat debuted on October 11 and brought with it a fully altered version of the instant classic she released earlier this year. The remixes are a reminder of Brat’s strengths: club bangers, mixed with extreme vulnerability, that reek of cigarette smoke and make you feel kinda slutty. That’s brat. But that doesn’t mean every song is an improvement. So let’s run down the full track list and decide which song is brattier for the brattiest playlist possible.
“360” vs. “360 featuring robyn and yung lean”
“360” is one of the best pop songs of the year: Charli sings approximately one note the whole time — except when she says “Juli-a-a-a-a-a-a” — and somehow turns it into a sonic sugar rush. The remix, with Robyn and Yung Lean, is a meeting of the minds between two generations of trailblazing pop stars and a Soundcloud rapper. (The best lyric from either is Robyn bragging that she “started so young I didn’t even have email, now my lyric’s on your boobie.” So true, queen.)
VERDICT: The original. Robyn has been inspiring Charli for years, so for her to receive less time on the track than her fellow Swede is a little disappointing.
“Club classics” vs. “Club classics featuring bb trickz”
“Club classics” is a banger — a little bit atonal and a lotta bit grimy — while BB Trickz’s remix brings an urbano-inspired sound to the brat era without sacrificing the fun of the original.
Verdict: We’re gonna give it to the remix. The BB Trickz version goes off like a bomb.
“Sympathy is a knife” vs. “Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande”
The first truly vulnerable moment on the record. While fans longed for a Swift remix feature — the original is allegedly about her — Grande ended up doing it. Instead of addressing the rumors that she was the other woman for Spongebob (which would have been a very brat thing to do), Ari ends up focusing on the media. It’s not brat, it’s boardroom-approved.
Verdict: Sorry to Ari, but being uncomfortably confessional is brat.
“I might say something stupid” vs. “I might say something stupid featuring the 1975 and jon hopkins”
On Brat, “I might say something stupid” plays less like a full song and more like an interstice — a brief contemplation from the POV of a girl drunkenly looking at herself in the bathroom mirror and getting self-conscious. On the remix, it becomes a full song, clocking in at over four minutes long.
Verdict: Confidently sticking with the original, which is bold enough to be short.
“Talk talk” vs. “Talk talk featuring troye sivan”
The only song written about her now-fiancé George Daniel, “Talk talk” is Brat’s sweetest cut. It’s filled with yearning and takes place on the dance floor, where Charli and George size each other up. The remix brings the song into Troye’s world (being horny and heartbroken).
The verdict: Both are good, but the original is clearly more brat.
“Von dutch” vs. “Von dutch featuring addison rae”
If you listen to “Von dutch” while walking through the streets of New York, it will increase your speed by ten to 12 miles per hour. And yet the remix, featuring TikTok star Addison Rae, was the real canary in a coal mine for the whole Brat movement. Rae’s high-pitched scream went viral on TikTok the minute it debuted.
The verdict: “Von dutch” is a cult classic, but “Von dutch featuring addison rae” is the sensation.
“Everything is romantic” vs. “Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek”
“Everything is romantic” evokes the sunniest, drunkest possible beach vacation with your friends. “Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek” flips it around by daring to ask, “Is everything romantic?” (Answer: no, but “free-bleeding in the autumn rain” definitely is.)
The verdict: The remix has it.
“Rewind” vs. “Rewind featuring bladee”
Perhaps the bluntest track Charli has ever written, “Rewind” is less song than extended breakdown. She doesn’t so much sing it as she monologues it, decrying almost every aspect of her famous life. The Bladee version removes that specificity and opts to address the vaguer topic of “stress.”
The verdict: Undoubtedly the original. The Bladee take is lower on hooks and higher on vibes, and it lacks that frantic brat approach.
“So I” vs. “So I featuring a.g. cooke”
“So I” is Charli’s tribute to her late friend and collaborator SOPHIE. On the remix, A.G. Cook, the third member of their creative triangle, drops in while Charli reveals what it was like the first time she heard SOPHIE’s music.
The verdict: It’s a tie. Either “So I” could have been on Brat. The difference in approach just feels like different nights out.
“Girl, so confusing” vs. “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde”
The verdict: “Girl, so confusing” is a great song to begin with, but the remix has Lorde delivering one of the best pop verses of this or any year.
“Apple” vs. “Apple featuring the japanese house”
A song about generational trauma that is also about going to the airport. You can’t really bump it at the club, but the hook is airtight. The remix, with the Japanese House, is just as bubbly but adds the “you make me so sad” refrain — which is very brat.
The verdict: Honestly, the remix. They’re both delightfully out of place on each album, but the added Charli pseudo-rap verse really brat-tens things up.
“B2b” vs. “B2b featuring tinashe”
Dance banger “B2b” was one of the first songs released off Brat, but it’s since become something of a forgotten stepchild. The remix should improve its standing. This shit goes.
The verdict: The remix by far. This is a mutual brag session and a well-deserved victory lap for two of pop’s most-imitated stars.
“Mean girls” vs. “Mean girls featuring julian casablancas”
“Mean girls” is one of Brat’s most polarizing songs. Your opinion on it might come down to how you answer the question “Is a sick piano interlude enough to get you to listen to a song about Dasha from Red Scare?” It’s the only time on the album that Charli sounds behind the times.
The verdict: The remix. It’s so sleazy that it loops back into being fun.
“I think about it all the time” vs. “I think about it all the time featuring bon iver”
Charli sings about her dream of starting a family and whether it’s worth sacrificing her career. The song’s strength is in its surprisingly vulnerable lyrics. On the remix, Bon Iver adds some characteristically hyperfolky vocals but they lack a new perspective.
The verdict: We’re gonna stick with the original. The remix feels a little tossed off; it leaves you wondering why, exactly, this song needed a man.
“365” vs. “365 featuring shygirl”
“365” is Brat’s Obama-approved capstone. It’s the hardest moment on the album, dirtying up the pristine “360” beat. Sweat Tour opener Shygirl makes the song even harder, obscuring the lyrics and trapping them inside the beat.
The verdict: Love the remix, but “365” encapsulates so much of the brat era. It’s a club classic.
“Guess” vs. “Guess featuring billie eilish”
The original “Guess” is silly, lighthearted, and packed with jokes. It’s the ideal Brat bonus track because it refuses to take itself seriously. When Eilish joined, she turned it into a hit.
The verdict: Both are great, but it’s Billie’s version. She lends the song a whispery, sexual edge. It’s almost too intimate, but that’s hot (and brat).
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