For years, Charli XCX moved fast. Album cycles came to an abrupt end. A single would be released only for her to slag it off in an interview months later. Sitting down was creative death. In that way she’s long been the anti-Taylor Swift, an artist who’d probably react to the idea of an “eras” tour with an instant slap to the face of whoever was basic enough to suggest it to her. So how funny, how ironic, that Brat, her vibe-shifting, zeitgeist-eating summer 2024 behemoth, today feels so… ancient?
Of course, Charli’s Other Stage set on Saturday night – a gathering of presumably every substance-fuelled twenty and thirtysomething at Glastonbury – is breathtaking. We get rainfall, floor-spitting, and gyrating, albeit not the expected Lorde cameo on “Girl So Confusing” – an omission that is frankly tragic. But I’m curious how Charli really feels about it, if she feels a tinge of boredom with every repetition of “bumpin’ that” – if the fact that she hasn’t popped out a new record in a few months (weeks? hours?) is making her itch.
You wouldn’t necessarily know it from tonight’s performance, at least. She is an absolute beast on stage, strutting all over the place in a leather bralette and underwear, a woman in total command of her environment. Solo on stage, she has incredible presence, smiling mischievously at the camera as it passes by. The enormous crowd is putty in her hands.
At last year’s Glastonbury, Charli was victim to a festival that couldn’t realistically keep up with a talent like hers; she appeared mere weeks after the Brat release, likely shellshocked at the gargantuan reach of her latest material, and was low down the bill performing a small DJ set that proved the weekend’s hottest ticket, as evidenced by the many pilled-up punters turned away due to overcrowding.
This time around, she’s been positioned on the Other Stage to draw in what anecdotally feels like this weekend’s must-attend set (Neil Young and Doechii on the Pyramid and West Holts, respectively, just don’t stand a chance, do they?). It was initially met with some confusion: if Charli at this moment in time isn’t worthy of a Pyramid slot at Britain’s biggest music festival, then who is? But putting her here feels right in its own way, a tribute to her existence as UK pop’s greatest underdog, an eternal cult fave even when her singles hit the Top 10.
Surrounding the Brat tracks are a collection of long-time fan favourites, among them the twisty, frantic “Unlock It” and the gently sombre “Party 4 U”. But these are deep cuts brought to new prominence by social media – it’s interesting to think about which Brat tracks will become part of the standard Charli package in years to come. Will “Apple”, with its now-requisite mid-track dance routine (VIP guest Gracie Abrams does the honours tonight), get cut once the novelty wears off? Or will the smash-and-grab violence anthem “Spring Breakers”, left off the setlist here and at most of Charli’s recent concerts, suddenly go viral in 2028 and get its moment?
These are all questions for a different day, I suppose. Tonight, it’s all about shiny, bratty chaos. A scene at the very end proclaims: “Brat Forever.” Even if that doesn’t feel entirely believable, it rounds off a completely exhilarating set that plays like gangbusters even without the cameos. That said, there’s a lingering sense that we’re in the morning after of the Brat house party, surrounded by empty wine bottles, and pondering when it’s acceptable to head for the exit.
