Gaddamn I did not expect to love brat so much
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(4 out of 5 stars)
this gets such a solid 4/5, I loved it so much. It is completely the opposite of last week's energy (yet oddly still British) and just unlike anything I tend to listen to. I really was not expecting to fall in love with this album in the way that I did.
I definitely enjoyed it being entirely collaborations, I think it is an amazing showcase of everyone's talent who worked on the album. Unfortunately, I did listen to this album in a vacuum away from the original brat. I have heard the most popular songs of course, but this was my first experience with this album cover to cover (although I did only listen to disc 1, the collabs, in the interest of my time).
I definitely was not expecting such emotion out of this album as it is here and it was a welcomed surprise.
Opinion time! (as always, not opinion order, just album order)
"Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande"- This may be filtered by my previous bias of liking Ariana Grande when I was little, but I like this song a lot. It is very catchy and their voices work together so well. I like that this song isn't afraid to be witty (notably at the end of the verses with the "who the fuck is she" lines) while still dealing with the idea of how people change and treat you when you're as massive as Charli or Ariana. I don't have a ton to say on the composition. Grande is a brilliant singer, and it's a dance track. I do like this genre when it uses silence behind vocals to build contrast with other parts of the song, which is used throughout this track.
"Talk talk featuring troye sivan"- Seeing Troye Sivan's name on this album was a little shocking, I had not realized he was doing music at this scale at all and not just the little 2016 gay guy YouTuber anymore /hj. The chorus here is addictive and I love how the conversation is formed between their different lines. I am addicted to the way Sivan's verse after the first chorus starts and how the music comes back. This is very much a pure, lighthearted dance track and it definitely was not a song I was expecting to have in my top 3 but here we are and I love it.
"So I featuring a. g. cook"- I love how the weird synth at the start introduces the melody over the back and gets that stuck in your mind before the rest of the song. I do love this song mostly for the lyrics. I especially know how music impacts memory and it's a beautiful thing (hell I have an album for every single week of my life this year). It very much is written as a love song for whoever "you" is (I am assuming a. g. cook, although I could be wrong). I do love how the song ends and changes the song from a more chill track to a much more electronic DJ track. It is a really cool song and I think it shows all of the faces of this album in a brilliant way.
"Girl, so confusing featuring lorde" I love Lorde very passively, stoked to see her on this album. Uh yeah, this song is transgender allegory/hj. But yeah, great song, super catchy.
"I think about it all the time featuring bon river" what a gut-wrenching song. The fear of running out of time is crazy and so pure and This song is able to give off the feeling of that anxiety is such an amazing way and I can't even describe how. It is gorgeous and catchy and a great song.
"Guess featuring billie eilish" so goofy and, wow, Billie Eilish AND Charli XCX on one track is absolutely what I needed this year. I don't have to explain Billie's verse, this is Tumblr. <3