We all ditched our Barbiecore pinks for Brat Summer lime greens.
We all became “so Julia.”
We hit the clubs and waited for them to play a few classics.
Even Vice President Kamala Harris got in on the action.
And by the sounds of things, it’s still only just beginning.
Here’s her journey from Essex “nerd” to Brat sensation.
Her father, Jon, is of Scottish origin, and her mother, Shameera, is Indian.
The artist grew up in Hertfordshire, near Essex, on the outskirts of London.
From a young age, her interests were firmly in music.
In fact, one of her first obsessions was the Spice Girls.
“I was not very cool.
I imagine most young girls now are really cool and in touch, but I was not.”
It seems that Charli’s desire to be cool really was what spurred her to make music.
In another interview withSBS The Feed, she echoed the same feeling.
I just wanted to like express myself in as many ways as possible."
Her MySpace page ended up playing a key role in her music career.
In fact, they both came with her as chaperones even though her mother was “terrified.”
Eventually, Charli’s parents began to respect their daughter’s DJing career.
“As I did more of them, [they] got it,” she said to GQ.
The deal left her with ownership of about 15% of her work.
What followed was a steep learning curve about the realities of the industry.
“I didn’t know who I was.
I didn’t know what I liked.”
Suddenly, everything seemed to fall into place.
“That’s when things started to come together.”
“I’m always pitching,” she emphasized.
In some ways, writing was where Charli felt most comfortable.
“Sometimes I wonder: Should I just not be an artist and be a songwriter?
It’s a constant conversation that’s going on in my head,” she noted.
“I feel most comfortable in the studio.
Nevertheless, Charli kept on performing and even started keeping more of her songs for herself.
One of the project’s songs, “Boom Clap,” reached No.
“This wasn’t the music that I wanted to go to a club and hear.”
Eventually, she realized that maybe, commercial success wasn’t as important she once thought.
“I used to be quite obsessive about, like, ‘Am I going to be commercially successful?
Am I going to be on the charts?'”
“I used to care about it, and now I just don’t.
I think that’s what allows me to be quite liberated when I make music.”
“If I have downtime, I always freak out and have a nervous breakdown.”
But Charli wasn’t keen on slowing down.
It wasn’t until 2023 that the singer really started trying to carve out time for herself.
I’d be empty and hollow.
Her fifth studio album was a chart-topping success becoming her first No.
1 album in the U.K. that forged new ground for the artist.
The music was her attempt of going bigger than she had ever gone before.
The pair also continued to work together.
“It’s really different to how I work and that has definitely influenced me and my process.
My process is definitely evolving.”
“It’s definitely one for the girls who like to party and sweat and rave.”
She added, “I really do feel like this is my best music [yet].”
The lime green featured on the cover of the album was even dubbed the color of the summer.
As Charli later joked toBillboard, “Now I swear this green is just everywhere.”
The fact that “Brat” especially resonated with listeners was proven by the fact it debuted at No.
3 on the Billboard 200, her highest placement yet.
For Charli, the album was her most honest work to date.
“It is a paradigm shift for her and, in some ways, for the industry.”
But that might not actually be the singer’s plan.
After “Brat,” Charli seems more interested in film than in music.
“I really want to act,” she noted to the publication.
“One of the guys is the director he works that way all the time.”
And we can’t wait to see it.
