Brat Summer Is Dead, Long Live Horny Gay Autumn

Charli XCX can’t stop, won’t stop having the era of a lifetime — from Brat (the album) to brat (the movement) to Sweat (the tour) to Brat (the remix album), it’s all a sleazy train that no one wants to get off of. Below, a chronicle of everything that Charli is up to this fall, including the new Brat billboards teasing everybody from Bon Iver to Ariana Grande, because she’s a busy, busy girl.

Talk Talk-ing and Tour Tour-ing With Troye

September 12, 2024: You know what pairs really well with pumpkin-spice lattes and Christian-girl autumn? Being deliriously horny. Or at least that’s what Charli XCX’s new “Talk Talk” remix with Sweat Tour partner Troye Sivan seems to posit. The latest Brat remix is approximately three minutes of Sivan begging, pleading, and panting for some guy to get on a plane so they can get freaky. Sivan’s last album, Something to Give Each Other, and lead single “Rush” both emanated feral horndog energy, and we’re thrilled to see he’s pushing it even further. “K, here’s the plan, I wanna fly you out to Amsterdam,” Sivan sings, sounding like he’s in heat. “I gotta book the hotel to fuck you in, I wanna.” We support it!

The “Talk Talk” remix is Charli’s first step in the plan for fall domination. She also confirmed the Brat remix album, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat. Previously released remixes include “360 featuring robyn and yung lean,” “Von dutch a.g. cook remix featuring addison rae,” “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde,” and “Guess featuring Billie Eilish.” Given the caliber of features thus far, the guest list for this remix album must be banging. Below, our dream blunt rotation best guesses for collaborators on the Brat remix album. Nothing would heat up a brisk autumn day like getting sweaty with Charli.

- “Club classics featuring yaeji”
- “Sympathy is a knife featuring fka twigs”
- “I might say something stupid featuring azealia banks”
- “Everything is romantic featuring lana del rey”
- “Rewind featuring grimes and sky ferreira”
- “So I featuring vince staples”
- “Apple featuring hikaru utada”
- “B2b featuring arca”
- “Mean girls the dare remix featuring lisa”
- “I think about it all the time featuring the 1975”
- “365 featuring rosalía”
- “Hello goodbye featuring tinashe and tove lo”
- “Spring breakers featuring selena gomez”

Thinkin’ ’bout Billboards

October 2, 2024: Team Brat is putting up billboards throughout the country seemingly revealing which artists are going to be included on the Brat remix album. The billboards are going up in the artists’ towns of residence — the first two, spotted on September 30, include a Tinashe billboard in Pasadena, California, and a Bon Iver billboard in Minneapolis.

There are also posters for artists who have already appeared on the remix, like Shygirl and Yung Lean. New artists with billboards spotted since include the 1975, who have a billboard up in Manchester, England; DJ Jon Hopkins in London’s Shoreditch; and Bladee in Stockholm. Of course, it’s also very easy to imitate the system — there’s a billboard with Fred Durst’s name on it out there, too, and it’s kind of hard to imagine a Limp Bizkit x Charli XCX song. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen! He was just in I Saw the TV Glow, after all.

It’s me, Charli, and Ari

October 4, 2023: Sorry, you thought the Brat-boards were done? Oh no, they’re just getting started. On October 4, a billboard reading “Ariana Grande” was spotted in her hometown of Boca Raton. We hope she’s on “Sympathy is a knife,” but we’d also love to hear her extol “bad tattoos on leather-tanned skin.” Along with Ari, there was a Caroline Polachek billboard spotted in Tokyo, which makes sense as they are longtime friends and former collaborators on “New Shapes.” Next up? We’re choosing to still believe in Rosalía.