The brat wall may have fallen but we’ll still have brat summer and brat the record
Charli XCX’s brat summer would never have happened without the brat wall. The big, bright green wall that actually belongs to a climbing gym in Williamsburg has been there since the English singer-songwriter first teased the start of the brat era with a live performance of “360” on top of an SUV parked in front of The Lot Radio.
@charlixcxBRAT WALL 4EVER♬ 360 – Charli xcx
The brat wall has lived many iterations since Charli XCX’s sixth studio album was released on June 7. There was even an online brat generator that emulated the gigantic marketing tool, where fans can type in anything they want in the style of the album cover.
A few days before the launch, it was initially just a plain fluorescent wall until the words “i’m your fav reference” came up, referencing a line in the song “360” that alludes to “Josh Safdie’s muse for ‘Uncut Gems’” Julia Fox, who herself stars in the song’s music video. The wall was eventually repainted to feature the album’s one-liner title.
But the brat wall’s green glow was soon stripped white to signal the release of the deluxe edition called “brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not” on June 10. Prior to that, Charli XCX also released remixes of the singles “360” with Robyn and Yung Lean and “Von Dutch” with Addison Rae and Skream and Benga. Following these tracks was a beef-ending remix with New Zealand artist Lorde, who was rumored to be the subject of “Girl, So Confusing,” which later featured her. The white brat wall promoted that remix with the singer’s name “lorde” on June 21.
READ: Beating beef allegations, Charli XCX drops ‘Girl, So Confusing’ remix featuring Lorde
It pretty much stayed that way despite rumors and fan-made versions featuring artists they wanted Charli to collaborate with on the remixes.
Two months after its first appearance, the brat wall showed its last message on July 2, “ok, bye!” seemingly signaling the end of its prolific run. But Charli XCX assuaged her fans by saying it’s only the end of the brat wall, tweeting “brat summer is only just beginning :).”
Goodbye to the genius and fluorescent piece of history that was the brat wall. In the words of Charli XCX herself, you will always be famous.