Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ Breakthrough

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The iconoclastic pop star Charli XCX has long flirted with mainstream success — helping write Icona Pop’s omnipresent 2012 hit “I Love It,” appearing on the hook of Iggy Azalea’s smash “Fancy” and in 2014 scoring a Top 10 hit of her own with “Boom Clap” — but largely exists as a self-proclaimed “cult classic,” a denizen of the club underground known for a string of innovative but niche records. Charli’s brash, strobe-lit sixth album, “Brat,” is in some ways her most daring release yet, but — improbably — it’s also her most commercially successful, debuting at No. 3 in the United States and earning her highest opening-week sales in her native United Kingdom.

Why is “Brat” such a breakthrough? Some of its success has to do with the raw honesty of its lyrics, which find Charli musing on her innermost insecurities — at least when she isn’t playing the “365 party girl.” But to many listeners growing tired with certain trends in contemporary pop music (faux relatability, therapy-speak, demo-dumps disguised as deluxe editions), “Brat” provides a welcome and unapologetic alternative.

On this week’s Popcast, guest hosted by the Times pop music critic Lindsay Zoladz, a conversation about “Brat,” placed in the context of Charli’s eccentric career and the wider pop landscape.

Guests:

• Shaad D’Souza, a freelance writer for The New York Times, New York magazine, the Guardian and others

• Meaghan Garvey, a writer from Chicago who runs the newsletter Scary Cool Sad Goodbye

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