By Anthony Pintado Staff Writer “BRAT,” Charli XCX’s biggest boom into the public eye, was the saving grace of summer 2024. A breath of fresh air in the music industry, she overcame multitudes of talent and let the world know she was here, gracing us with her iconic pop and electronic roots. Hence why the world was ecstatic when Charli announced the continuation of “BRAT,” “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.” The difference? Each song included in the album would have a different featuring artist. She teased fans by posting billboards around the world with different artists on it, each billboard having the names written backwards. This left fans speculating, seeing the likes of Bon Iver, Lorde, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and more on this album deemed to be incredible. These songs were altered in ways to highlight the featured artists, which boomed this album into new heights, but also left it grasping onto the original title “BRAT.” This album is the definition of conceptual brilliance. It was a creative and innovative project that had potential to be some of Charli’s best work to date. However, it fell short. The record was extremely well-produced and had genuine thought put into it, but it lacks impact - partially due to its ties to “BRAT.” The tracks are altered so heavily some could stand as a single or on a different album. While it’s amazing that the songs are changed to highlight the artist, it strips the original charm of “BRAT,” leaving certain tracks feeling lackluster and uninspired compared to the original songs. This affected many of the songs, from “I think about it all the time featuring bon iver,” to “I might say something stupid featuring the 1975 & jon hopkins,” which were tired attempts at experimenting with great artists attached to them. Both songs are great examples of tracks that could stand alone as good songs but fall to the outstanding origins of “BRAT.” Not every track is a let down, with some tracks soaring and making the album worthwhile. Standouts such as “Talk talk featuring troye sivan,” “Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande,” and “Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek” help to create the vision that Charli XCX had for this album. The songs are different enough from the original and highlight the featured artists, but they stay in the same lane as “BRAT.” What was expected of the entire album, we only got in a few songs. It was lackluster and grand all at the same time. While “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” was well-produced and thoughtful, it was a missed opportunity for Charli XCX. It didn’t have the impact that “BRAT” had, which makes an already fine album look even worse. The featured musicians, while great artists, did not add anything exciting and the altering done for these artists only made the album stray further away from what made the original so special. Sadly, it was an underwhelming release that added nothing special to the legacy Charli created for herself with the release of “BRAT.” To put it best, she was not “bumpin’ that.” Rating: C- This was not so Julia