Blog Post #5: BRATSBY

When Charli XCX, a British pop star known for her electronic dance-pop music, debuted her sixth studio album BRAT in June, the album quickly blew up within my generation on social media. The album was on repeat in my ears all summer—not just for its experimental, catchy beats, but because it was personal. Interestingly, the same feelings surfaced when I was reading and studying The Great Gatsby.

Dovetailing off previous blog posts connecting The Great Gatsby with current pop culture trends, I realized many similarities between Fitzgerald’s novel and Charli’s recent album. The most notable parallel is their shared glamorization of party culture, with themes of hedonism, flashiness, excess wealth, and substance use. BRAT is a love letter to the pursuit of fun and exhilaration, yet beneath that surface, it offers a sharp critique of today’s influencer culture and the political environment that encourages distraction and burnout. Charli’s lyrics weave together irreverent, indulgent, and pleasure-seeking depictions of society, praising fame, rebellion, chaos, external validation, and wealth, while simultaneously exposing their emptiness.

This duality mirrors The Great Gatsby, where characters hide beneath dazzling but hollow lifestyles in pursuit of love, status, and the impossible American Dream. Much like Gatsby creates decadent parties to impress Daisy, Charli constructs an image of flashiness, deeply aware of how she’s perceived by others. Both works highlight the emotional detachment and isolation that excessive lifestyles can mask. Charli’s songs hint at burnout and emotional exhaustion, suggesting that beneath the glittering surface is a sense of inner anxiety and detachment. Similarly, Gatsby’s glamorous world crumbles under the weight of his unattainable dreams, ending in inevitable tragedy.

In the end, both BRAT and The Great Gatsby explore the consequences of chasing ideals—whether social relevance in the digital age or successfully achieving the American Dream. They expose how relentless pursuit can lead to self-destruction, revealing the emptiness that often lurks beneath curated facades of success. For me, experiencing BRAT and revisiting Gatsby became a way to reflect not only on art but how we shape our identities and confront the tension between authenticity and performance.