Charli XCX Reveals Inspiration Behind Now-Iconic ‘Brat’ Album Cover

If you haven’t already been infected by the same brain worms that made me look at the tiny bit of wasabi on the sushi platter I had for lunch and think, “That’s so ugly,” let me be the first to inform you that this is the summer of Charli XCX. Beyond the ubiquity of the songs themselves, particularly on TikTok, the album’s lime green cover art and sans-serif font have become instantly iconic, so well-memeified that even the New York MTA got in on the joke. But while you might be tempted to assume that Charli just opened up MS Paint and threw together the album art in 30 seconds (which, to be clear, we would support), the inspirations behind it all were a little more complex than that.

In a recent interview with BillboardThe “360” singer and her creative director explained the process behind the album cover. In fact, it existed before the songs on the record. Billboard In an interview, Charli went through her text messages up to March 16, 2022. That’s the day she told friends, “I think there should only be one word on the album cover… Maybe it should be called ‘kid.” She didn’t actually start writing the album until six months later in Mexico City, but she used the title as inspiration for the attitude she was looking to encapsulate in the music.

When it came to creating the album cover, Charli told Billboard that she was inspired by “a ’90s neon rave flyer and the theme song to Gregg Araki’s 2007 comedy, Smiley.” (I have to say, I would do ungodly things to realize the common Asian massacre that would be a Charli XCX video directed by Araki.) Charli added that the album’s color — which is Pantone 3570-C, to be precise — is “actually pretty disgusting” and chose it because it “sparks a really interesting conversation about[desirability]… It had to be really unlikable and uncool.”

And yet, the neon hue has become the coolest color of the summer. Its meme effect makes sense: Charli’s art director, Imogene Strauss, said they decided on the album cover when they felt it was “flashy” enough to stand out in a store. Strauss told Billboard that Charli’s team “did hundreds of versions of the cover.”

“We knew it was going to be green, but the discussions around the shade of green went on for weeks,” she said. “There were so many versions that existed before the final one. We analyzed every element: where it had been used before, what its associations were, who reacts to it and how.” (Clearly, that level of careful consideration paid off.)

Elsewhere in the profile, Charli shared that while she’s interested in acting, she’d also like to “make a Lou Reed record,” which would certainly be a huge sonic pivot for her. But maybe it’s not so crazy: both are (debatably) gay icons who aren’t actually gay, and both have successfully infused their respective subcultures into mainstream music. Needless to say, we’d obviously love to love see this.

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