Charli xcx is the biggest brat in the world, and she has turned brattiness into an anthem. The Collins English Dictionary even updated the definition in her honor: “Bræt: adjective. Characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.” In 2024, living as a self-declared “365 party girl” didn’t just crown her the Brat Queen; it made her relatable. She smoked the same cigarettes, raved in the same warehouses, and sweated through the same basements as her fans. While the world spiraled, politics unraveling, tech collapsing, her tiny white tank top and French-tipped nails became unlikely symbols of strength.

Her album Brat was more than a cultural moment. It became one of the highest-rated records of all time on Metacritic, debuted at No. 1 in the U.K., and hit the Top 10 in over a dozen countries. She taught us to “party through it,” and we did. She permitted us to be “very honest, very blunt” and “a little bit volatile,” and we followed. “Who the fuck are you? I’m a brat,” she declared. It wasn’t just music—it was an identity.

Her brat army grew fast, and not just among fans. By year’s end, her circle included Barack Obama, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Billie Eilish, and even Deutsche Bank. “They all inhabit the same general atmosphere,” she explained, “this tone, this defiance. The connective tissue is something that’s just undeniably unique to them.” In the process, Charli went from underground disruptor to pop’s most unexpected critical darling.

The album itself captured both hedonism and vulnerability. Tracks like “Club Classics” and “365” throbbed with club-land chaos, while “So I” paid tribute to her late mentor SOPHIE. “I Think About It All the Time” reflected on her relationship with fiancé George Daniel of The 1975. “I wasn’t thinking that Brat would be very successful at all, despite believing in the music massively,” she admitted. “I was making it for myself. To please everybody is pointless.”

Still, Brat became impossible to ignore. The remix LP featured Lorde, Robyn, Julian Casablancas, Bon Iver, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish. Her videos cast cultural icons like Chloë Sevigny and Rachel Sennott. And her Girl, so confusing remix with Lorde sparked one of the year’s most viral moments, a raw conversation about friendship, fame, and industry pressures. “It brought us so much closer together,” Charli said. “To actually come out and talk about that was powerful for both of us.”

Charlotte Aitchison, born in Cambridge in 1992, was once a teenager uploading demos to Myspace before local rave promoters booked her gigs. She cowrote Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” gave Iggy Azalea her hook for “Fancy,” and scored her own Top 10 hit with “Boom Clap.” But when her 2014 album Sucker failed to make her a superstar, she chose experimentation over safe pop. Collaborations with A.G. Cook and SOPHIE redefined her sound and solidified her place as one of music’s most daring risk-takers.

Now, with Brat earning eight Grammy nominations and headlines calling it one of the most transformative albums of the decade, Charli xcx remains unfazed. “My vibe is just wanting to have a good time,” she said. “Let’s be real, I wasn’t even on the Grammys’ radar last year. The thing is, wherever I am becomes fun anyway, so I’ll figure it out. Maybe one day we’ll go partying, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.”