We may have had Brat summer, but for Charli XCX, it was a Brat year.
The British singer had a breakout ride with the release of her sixth studio album, Brat, one that catapulted her from niche hitmaker to full-blown pop music superstar. Here’s a look at Charli XCX’s 2024:
-After a month of anticipation, on the evening of Feb. 22 Charli hosted her PARTYGIRL Boiler Room rave. She teased songs from her upcoming new era during the event, which has been described as a cultural reset.
-One week later, on Feb. 28, Charli announced the upcoming release of her sixth studio album, Brat.
-The next day, on Feb. 29, Charli released the lead single from Brat, “Von dutch.”
-On March 14, Charli dropped the now-iconic cover for Brat, featuring the signature lime green background and its pixelated, lowercase Arial font. At first, its simplicity received pushback from fans. “i think the constant demand for access to women’s bodies and faces in our album artwork is mysoginistic [sic] and boring,” Charli wrote on social platform X in response.
-Pop girlies everywhere rejoiced when Charli XCX and Troye Sivan announced their joint Sweat Tour on April 17 in support of their albums Something to Give Each Other and Brat. The co-headlining outing took place across North America and touched down in 21 cities.
-On May 10, Charli released “360,” the second single from Brat. It arrived with a music video filled to the brim with “it” girls, and coined many phrases synonymous with this era, including “I’m so Julia,” “I’m your favorite reference, baby” and “Bumpin’ that.”
-Brat summer officially began on June 7, the day the album was released.
-On June 10 a deluxe edition of the album, called Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not, was released. It included three new songs.
-We think the apple’s rotten right to the core, and so did Kelley Heyer. The New York-based actor posted a TikTok dancing to Charli XCX’s “Apple” on June 14 and unknowingly created a cultural phenomenon. Everybody who was anybody did the “Apple” dance during Brat summer, including Glen Powell, Kyle MacLachlan and Charli herself.
-Charli and Lorde worked it out on the remix with the release of the new version of “Girl, so confusing” on June 21. The song, which was originally about Charli’s insecurity over her friendship with Lorde, became a girlhood anthem with the addition of Lorde’s verse.
-On July 21, after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for reelection, Charli XCX shared three words to social platform X that would irrevocably change Kamala Harris‘ presidential campaign. “kamala IS brat,” Charli wrote in a post that has over 325,000 likes.
-On Aug. 1, a remix of the Brat bonus track “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish was released alongside a music video.
-On Sept. 14, the Sweat Tour started in Detroit, Michigan, at the Little Caesars Arena.
-At the New York City Sweat Tour concert on Sept. 23 at Madison Square Garden, Addison Rae joined Charli and Troye onstage to perform her song “Diet Pepsi” live for the first time. Lorde also made a surprise appearance, joining Charli to sing her “Girl, so confusing” verse live.
-After releasing many remixes of songs on Brat, Charli dropped the official Brat remix companion album, called Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. It arrived on Oct. 11 and featured new versions of every single song on the original album.
-The Sweat Tour ended on Oct. 23 in Seattle, Washington, at the Climate Pledge Arena.
-Brat became a Grammy-nominated album on Nov. 8. It’s up for seven awards at the February 2025 ceremony, including Album of the Year. Charli’s also nominated for Record of the Year for “360,” Best Music Video for “360,” Best Pop Solo Performance for “Apple,” Best Dance Pop Record for “Von dutch,” Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish and Best Dance/Electronic Album.
-Live from New York, it’s Charli XCX. The singer hosted and was the musical guest on the Nov. 16 episode of Saturday Night Live. She performed her hit “360” as well as fan-favorite “Sympathy is a knife.”
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