After the cultural tidal wave that was Brat, Charli isn’t chasing charts — she’s chasing truth.
Charli XCX is riding high on the unexpected, unfiltered success of her latest album Brat — but she’s not clinging to the momentum. In fact, she’s already thinking about what comes next, even if it crashes and burns.
In a refreshingly honest interview with Culted, the pop provocateur opened up about where she’s at creatively. “I made this for myself. I didn’t expect people to connect with it the way they did,” she said. “I don’t feel pressure. My next album might be a total flop — and I’m okay with that.”
Letting go is the hardest part
Though she’s looking forward, Charli admits that letting go of Brat isn’t coming easy. In a recent TikTok video, she shared how deeply personal the project became — and why it’s hard to move on. “It’s literally me,” she confessed. “I’ve been thinking about this album for years. Two years ago, I was sitting alone trying to imagine how to present it — not just the sound, but the entire world around it.”
Brat, with its unmistakable green cover and bratty persona, didn’t just dominate playlists — it bled into fashion, language, and even politics. At one point, Charli jokingly dubbed Kamala Harris a “Brat,” and the moment spiraled so far it made headlines in the political sphere. The term brat was even declared Word of the Year by the Collins Dictionary.
Resisting the fadeout
Unlike many artists who ride the high of a successful era and then retreat, Charli is leaning into the discomfort of staying a little too long. “There’s this idea that once something peaks, you should disappear,” she explained. “But I kind of like the idea of resisting that — of sticking around even when people expect you to move on.”
So has the Brat era truly ended? Charli’s not so sure. “I just want it to keep existing,” she says with a simplicity that cuts through all the pop noise.
Because sometimes, being a brat means refusing to vanish.
