Post-'Brat' summer, Charli XCX reminds Coachella who she really is

Charli XCX returns to the desert and brings Lorde, Billie Eilish and Troye Sivan with her.

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To many, the world of Charli XCX consists of lime green, high-profile collaborations and hard drugs. But the British pop star’s Coachella performance reminds us, she’s much more.

Before she took the stage, murmurs took over the green-clad crowd. Could Billie Eilish make an appearance? What about Troye Sivan? No, it has to be Addison Rae. In her all black attire, the singer appears on the Coachella main stage, causing the crowd to roar. Behind her blacked-out glasses, she sets the tone, exclaiming, “What the f—?”

Luckily, the whispers were correct—XCX peppered her performance with predictable experiences. Sweat tour co-headliner and “Rush” singer Troye Sivan kicked off the star-studded lineup to perform their “Talk Talk” remix, then came alternative empress Lorde for “Girl, So Confusing” and Billie Eilish completed the holy trinity by performing “Guess.”

But beyond her A-list associations, XCX delivered a mostly “brat” setlist. She patrolled the stage with an undeniable sense of confidence—making her way down to the barricade and strutting up and down the lengthy catwalk, red solo cup in hand. Next to me, people sniff small piles of cocaine from their acrylic nails. Others flail around and scream every lyric.

Charli XCX has been a member of the pop scene for over a decade. As the vocalist on Icona Pop’s “I Love it” and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” the singer spent her early career edging a mainstream breakthrough and building a fiercely loyal fanbase. It wasn’t until “brat,” her fifth studio album, that her poignant lyricism and experimental sonics began to click with the general population. The June release became more than a charting record, but rather a cultural movement — creating what has been coined as “brat summer.” Encouraging people to embrace a party lifestyle and let loose, XCX has spent the past year at the helm of a party girl revival.

Her last offering was the 2012 Icona Pop collaboration, “I Love it.” The memorable, throwback synths filled the Coachella air. It was a full circle moment – as an old video of XCX comes to mind. It’s one where she was performing the same track, in 2014 at a German music festival. The young XCX gets frustrated with the silent crowd and yells, “Do you know the f—ing words?”

Now, they do. In the middle of the dense crowd, you can barely hear XCX’s vocals over the crowd’s thunderous vocals, singing “I don’t care / I love it” over and over again. The usually stone-faced singer lets a smile shine through. Oh, how things have changed.

She’s gone in a flash but leaves the audience with a message. Written on the large screens, she acknowledges the end of brat summer and questions, “Idk who I am when it’s over.”

It only takes a few seconds for her to leave us with the reminder—“I’m Charli.” But she shouldn’t sweat it —we won’t be forgetting that anytime soon.

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