It’s a question we might all be asking in years to come: where were you during Brat Summer? British singer Charli XCX could never have dreamt that her latest album would generate such global hype, but as music journalist Michael Cragg tells us, “She’s now one of the UK’s biggest exports, and the Brat craze captured people’s imaginations in a way we hardly ever see nowadays.”

Brat was said to be a rejection of the “clean girl” aesthetic, with Charli herself explaining, “It can be like, so trashy. Just like a pack of cigs and a Bic lighter. And like, a strappy white top with no bra.” It went even further than that, and as music business writer Rhian Jones says, “The marketing around Brat was so smart that people interpreted it however they wanted to.”

It was symbolised by a shade of slime green, which during summer 2024 was all the rage in everything from fashion to hair and makeup, and even home decor. “The colour was a way of rejecting the status quo and turning everything upside down,” adds Rhian. “Charli has always done her own thing and doesn’t care if some people see her as a bit weird. She just pushes ahead with self-confidence and determination.”

Though the Brat effect seemed to transform Charli, 32, into a household name almost overnight, she had in fact been in the music industry for 15 years. She was born Charlotte Emma Aitchison in Cambridge to a Scottish father and Indian mother, who she persuaded to loan her money aged 14 so she could begin recording songs.

“I always felt like a loser,” she later said. “I had friends, but my school was full of blonde white girls and I was this half-Indian girl with frizzy hair and different interests. That always made me feel a little bit rejected. I thought if I made music, people would think I was interesting.”

After posting her music to MySpace, she was spotted by a club promoter and began DJing at illegal raves in London – which her parents would drive her to. “My dad was really into it,” she recalled. “We arrived at, like, 9pm and they just stood at the back of the sweatbox with all the hipsters.”

Charli, who signed her first record deal with Asylum Records when she was 16, released a string of singles and mixtapes, and in 2012 collaborated with Icona Pop on I Love It, her first UK No1. Her debut album True Romance arrived in April 2013, but peaked at a lowly number 85. Her second album Sucker was recorded in Sweden and more successful upon release in late 2014, with the single Boom Clap reaching No6 in the UK and featuring on The Fault In Our Stars soundtrack.

Describing the album as more “pop-oriented”, she said she “wanted to write an album that I would’ve been obsessed with when I was 14”. As her profile grew, she jumped at the chance to support Taylor Swift on her Reputation Stadium Tour in May 2018, alongside Camila Cabello. “It was fun to perform Shake It Off with her and Camila every night, and learn how to move across the stage like an actual pop star,” she enthused.

Three further albums followed, beginning in September 2019 with Charli, which featured collaborations with Lizzo, Christine and the Queens, and Haim. Then came How I’m Feeling Now in May 2020, which Charli wrote in six weeks during the pandemic. In March 2022 she released Crash, which aimed to challenge what she called the “vanilla palatable flatness” of pop music. The tactic worked, as it was her first album to reach No1 in the UK.

“The pop world was quite homogenised before, and it was all sounding quite similar,” says Michael. “Everyone seemed afraid to say much, but Charli came along and made things more fun – and a bit chaotic.” However, prior to the release of Crash, she revealed on social media that she was struggling behind the scenes. “I’ve been grappling quite a lot with my mental health the past few months and obviously it makes negativity and criticism harder to handle when I come across it,” she posted.

She added that she would step away from the platform for a while, as “I can’t really handle it here right now”. A few months later, she not only co-headlined Coachella in the US, but also contributed to the Barbie soundtrack with Speed Drive, which became her sixth UK top 10 single. And when Brat finally arrived in June 2024, it debuted at No2 in the UK album chart and produced a raft of hits like Von Dutch, 360 and Apple, which prompted its own viral dance.

As the #bratsummer trend exploded, millions of videos were posted on TikTok and it was even used by Kamala Harris during her presidential campaign. Reflecting on the movement, Charli told Zane Lowe on Apple Music that “a kind of a monoculture moment happened, which we don’t see a lot of in this day and age”. Though she described the album as her “most aggressive and confrontational”, she also called it her most vulnerable, and its personal topics included motherhood, relationships and self-identity.

“While a party album, it’s also incredibly reflective and messy, and shows how relationships with friends or partners can be complex and difficult,” Michael says. Bratmania shot off the scale when deluxe and remix editions of the album landed, bringing collaborations with big-name artists including Robyn, Troye Sivan, Kesha and Bon Iver, as well as Billie Eilish, who featured on the No1 hit Guess.

Ariana Grande guested on Sympathy Is A Knife, while singer Lorde also made an appearance on the Girl, So Confusing reboot, which was widely seen as confirmation that the pair had resolved a rumoured rift. While promoting Brat last June, Charli played an epic Glastonbury set, but it’s fair to say her popularity had far outgrown the 7,000-capacity Silver Hayes field.

“She will almost certainly be a headliner next time she’s invited back,” says Michael. “It’s great that she has taken off in this way, six albums into a career that wasn’t always mainstream.” One of Charli’s secret weapons in the making of Brat appears to have been her fiancé George Daniel, drummer with The 1975. After they collaborated on the song Spinning in 2021, he was heavily involved as a producer on her latest record.

“It’s funny, I have never been in a relationship with someone that I’ve worked with, so it’s like a whole new dynamic. But it’s cool,” she has said. They confirmed news of their engagement in November 2023, and speaking about their wedding plans on The Howard Stern Show in October, Charli told how they were “planning it slowly”. She added, “We just want to be together forever and have a party with our friends, is our vibe.”

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