Upon release, the record received acclaim from music critics, who considered it an innovative companion piece to the original album.
Background
Charli XCX released her sixth studio album Brat on 7 June 2024 to critical acclaim. A variety of remixes of its songs were released throughout its album cycle before the announcement of a remix album, starting with the release of the "Von Dutch" remix with A. G. Cook and Addison Rae, on 22 March 2024.[4] Subsequent remixes of album tracks, such as "Girl, So Confusing" with Lorde and "Guess" with Billie Eilish, fueled rumours of a "remix concept".[5][6]
Release and promotion
Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat was announced[7] along with the release of Troye Sivan's remix of "Talk Talk" on 12 September 2024.[8][9] On the same day, Rolling Stone announced that the remix album is set to be released on 11 October 2024.[10][11] The remixes featuring Billie Eilish and Lorde would be a part of the album's track list, along with the remixes featuring Addison Rae, Yung Lean, and Robyn, that were released as a part of the rollout of its original tracks.[12]Skream and Benga's remix of "Von Dutch", however, did not make the cut.[13] The timing of the album's release also coincided with Charli XCX and Sivan's Sweat concert tour.[14][15]
The album cover was posted with the caption "Brat and it's completely different but also still brat - out oct 11" on several of Charli XCX's social media accounts. These postings also included a link to pre-order the album within various streaming sites.[16] The track list for the album was officially confirmed on 7 October when XCX gave a fan the track list during her performance on the Sweat Tour in Orlando, and encouraged them to share it online after the show. She later confirmed this on her social media.[17][18] The album is being sold as a double cassette, double CD, and triple LP.[19]Kesha's remix of "Spring Breakers" was added to the tracklist on 14 October 2024, three days after the album's original release.
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 from 12 critic scores.[22] The review aggregator site AnyDecentMusic? compiled 8 reviews and gave the album an average of 8.4 out of 10.[21]
Concluding the review for AllMusic, Heather Phares declared, "Much more than a victory lap, brat and it's completely different but also still brat enriches the Brat listening experience and the understanding of Charli XCX's artistry. Fans know she's deserved this level of acclaim for years, but the creativity and generosity on display here is more proof that it's high time mainstream finally caught up to her."[23]
Caitlin Chatterton of Clash awarded the album a score of 9 out of 10, praising its innovative sound and artistic direction.[24] Rachel Aroesti from The Guardian described it as a testament to Charli XCX's "unstoppable" creative phase, giving the album a perfect score of 5 out of 5.[26]
Writing for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield expressed that "the Brat remix isn't just a piece of promo product — it's an ass-kicking party album in its own right", extending the phenomenon of "Brat Summer" into autumn.[27] Similarly, Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani felt XCX created a "self-reflexive reaction to her success with a companion piece that's just as relevant—and just as reflective of the zeitgeist—as its parent album.[28]
The Daily Telegraph gave a mostly positive review, highlighting the star power of the album's many collaborators, but questioned if the myriad features was a "cynical marketing ploy [...] designed to go viral".[25]
Year-end lists
Select 2024 year-end rankings for Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat
As with the original Brat, track titles are stylised in sentence case; featured credits are not enclosed within parentheses and are stylised in all lowercase.
"Talk Talk" (featuring Troye Sivan) features uncredited additional vocals from Dua Lipa.
"Club Classics" (featuring BB Trickz) contains an interpolation of the original version of "365".
"So I" (featuring A. G. Cook) contains samples of "Beautiful" and "WWW", and contains an interpolation of "Xxoplex". All previously mentioned songs written and performed by A. G. Cook, and additionally contains a sample of "OOH" by SOPHIE, written by SOPHIE and performed by Jaide Green.
"I Think About It All the Time" (featuring Bon Iver) contains an interpolation of "Nick of Time", written and performed by Bonnie Raitt.
"365" (featuring Shygirl) contains a sample of "Frequency", written by Chris Peat and Mark Archer, and performed by Altern-8.
Both versions of "Spring Breakers" contain an interpolation of "Everytime", written by Britney Spears and Annet Artani, and performed by Spears.
