“I went my own way and I made it. I'm your favourite reference, baby…” This summer saw the lurid green of Charli XCX’s Brat album sweep away the Barbie pink of 2023 and the XCX team pull off the remarkable flex of pushing the Brat Summer concept overground.
And it seems the best is yet to come.
While her career and profile have only ever been building since 2013’s debut, True Romance, it’s Charlotte Aitchison's sixth album that’s really caught the zeitgeist. So much so that stars are apparently falling over themselves to be part of its follow-up – a remix album (brilliantly) entitled Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat - reworkings of every track (plus the latest single Guess) each with special (and often multiple) guest stars on board.
The full album drops on 11 October but even the tracks released so far have already revealed an impressive line-up. The BAICDBASB version of summer smash 360 features Robyn and Yung Lean joining XCX; Talk Talk offers Troye Sivan and uncredited Dua Lipa providing Spanish and French speech.
Von Dutch has added Addison Rae; Girl, So Confusing, had Lorde joining the action for its single release; and new extra track Guess gets a guest in the shape of Billie Eilish and a video that’s literally pants.
That leaves - at the time of writing - 11 more tracks awaiting superstar collabs and sees the XCX rumour mill slowly switching up gears for a final push of speculation before that big reveal.
And the latest tracklist (with a full line-up of unconfirmed collabs) doing the rounds online reads as follows:
1) 360 featuring robyn and yung lean – CONFIRMED
2) Club Classics featuring Madonna – UNCONFIRMED
3) Sympathy Is A Knife featuring Kesha – UNCONFIRMED
4) I Might Say Something Stupid featuring PinkPantheress – UNCONFIRMED
5) Talk Talk featuring Troye Sivan (and Dua Lipa) – CONFIRMED
6) Von Dutch AG Cook remix featuring Addison Rae – CONFIRMED
7) Everything Is Romantic featuring Rosalía – UNCONFIRMED
8) Rewind Yaeji remix – UNCONFIRMED
9) So I Sophie remix – UNCONFIRMED
10) Girl, So Confusing featuring Lorde – CONFIRMED
11) Apple featuring Caroline Polachek – UNCONFIRMED
12) B2b Anyma remix featuring Grimes – UNCONFIRMED
13) Mean Girls George Daniel remix – UNCONFIRMED
14) I Think About It All The Time featuring Dua Lipa – UNCONFIRMED
15) 365 Easyfun remix featuring Shygirl – UNCONFIRMED
16) Guess featuring Billie Eilish – CONFIRMED
It’s an impressive line-up, and the inclusion of a George Daniel remix of Mean Girls seems a certainty given that The 1975's drummer is currently XCX's fiancé.
However, the inclusion of a ‘Sophie remix’ of the track So I has had some fans doubting the rumour’s authenticity as Sophie (AKA Sophie Xeon) died in tragic circumstances in 2021.
The inclusion of additional material recorded before her death or simply a remix in her honour (the track references her 2017 track, It’s Okay To Cry) are, of course, possibilities.
Expect further surprises, confirmations and new tracks to drop as 11 October release inches closer.
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