- 12 Dec, 2025 *
Lately, I got introduced to Charli XCX’s Substack account, something that I wish I had never known about as a fan. While I indeed like her music and Brat was an absolute banger from start to finish, Charli’s posts on the platform are the most cringe texts you can read in the English language (neck to neck with her arch nemesis recent works, Taylor Swift).
The problem is that Charli is genuinely a "cool" person. Her life is obviously what one can imagine as cool if you consider that as partying 24/7, having presumably fun well-known friends, and decent cinematic taste based on her Letterboxd account. Unfortunately, howe…
- 12 Dec, 2025 *
Lately, I got introduced to Charli XCX’s Substack account, something that I wish I had never known about as a fan. While I indeed like her music and Brat was an absolute banger from start to finish, Charli’s posts on the platform are the most cringe texts you can read in the English language (neck to neck with her arch nemesis recent works, Taylor Swift).
The problem is that Charli is genuinely a "cool" person. Her life is obviously what one can imagine as cool if you consider that as partying 24/7, having presumably fun well-known friends, and decent cinematic taste based on her Letterboxd account. Unfortunately, however, she realized that there’s some sort of demand to write about how cool she is and even went further and made a movie about Brat, her artistic process, and again, being a niche artist.
When you explain something like "being niche" or even your importance as a star, you’re marking down and devaluing yourself since at the end of the day, it’s not just you who shapes the public’s opinion regarding that matter. Sure, you can see yourself as a cool person and put that in your art, as she did in Brat, but when you stress this exact topic over and over, that coolness becomes the most boring thing about you, as it’s happening in real time with Charli. Did I enjoy Brat? Yes. Do I think Charli is talented? Yes. Do I need more Brat-related content? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The beauty of the Brat rollout was the enigma behind it. Nobody knew what was going on and the music itself was likewise impressive enough to bait more engagement. Same with the idea of producing another album full of remixes and surprising crossovers, but now the amount of justifications and answers that Charli is giving about the album and her life is just ruining the mystery that made Brat "cool" in the first place. As we are in the age of overexposure, thanks to our doomscrolling habits and social media addictions, mystery is occasionally the best thing to bring coolness to the boring internet life.