This summer, we had the culturally reformative album “Brat” by Charli XCX grace our playlists. The foundation of club classic and electric beats blended together with blunt and honest lyrics, a sound very few have mastered, emerged. In place of the typical metaphors and poetic prose artists use, XCX just told it like it is. No hidden meanings, no easter eggs, just her raw feelings.
In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, XCX recounted a conversation between her and The 1975’s Matty Healy where he asked her, “Do you actually party that much?” And her answer was, “Yes.” She is truly a 365 party girl. What interrupts my listening to artists boils down to whether or not I believe them. As much as I adore the beautifully metaphoric lyrics and storytelling of Taylor Swift, she became this cultural pariah, to no fault of her own. I no longer believe her. I know too much. Ignorance, I guess, really is bliss.
There is no different persona between the XCX we get to see and the one behind closed doors. Her feelings are real, and her life is flawed, which is the beauty of Brat. She rehashed beef and rekindled a broken friendship on “Girl So Confusing”, featuring Lorde. She also discussed motherhood and stopping her birth control while simultaneously talking about her underwear!
Lately, I’ve noticed a trend in the music industry where there are two sides to the coin. Artists are either hyper-specific with their lyrics a la Lorde, or they are more surface-level and metaphorical. The idea with the latter is that the broader the line, the easier it is to connect with. Don’t get me wrong, I love Swift (shoutout Philly Night 3), but I often find trouble connecting with some of her songs, especially ones that are purely poetic. How XCX differs is her blatant honesty. There is no metaphor to uncover. Even on the album, she sings, “You’re all about writing poems, But I’m about throwing parties.”
Now, why is this so shocking? We are expected as consumers to want to uncover something. The entirety of most modern media is about deception, finding the truth between the shots, lyrics, pages, etc. But we don’t live our lives like that. My actions are simply that, my actions. XCX has tapped into our human nature, a reflection of the thoughts we have all had, word for word.
We want to see ourselves represented in the media we consume. It becomes an important part of who we are. But it also transforms our expectations into something unattainable. Our lives will never look like a Sofia Coppola movie, our sentences will never sound like a Lana Del Ray lyric. It’s unrealistic. But trend after trend, and core after core, we continue to try to pursue a fantasy life artists have created. But that’s not the life they actually live, whereas XCX is reflecting us, and our true and honest thoughts. It’s refreshing to see raw human emotion on display.
I will always appreciate artistry, no matter the type. Film and music are essential to the human experience, and it’s beautiful to see things told metaphorically. But at the end of the night, when the credits roll, we are all just people with boring, beautiful thoughts.
Words & Graphic by Evan Skovronsky