Charli xcx Posted About Me, Here's My Response
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I wrote something about Charli xcx and she reposted me to millions of people on social media. Here is my response:
For the people who thought my recent article “brat summer is over” was a call to get people to stop listening to the once-in-a-lifetime pop masterpiece that is brat, I want to let you know that is not the case. To anyone calling Charli a terrible person or trying to cancel her at the moment, I want you to stop doing that immediately. It’s all love for Charli and the entire PC Music extended universe. Shoutout to umru, EASYFUN, A.G. Cook, etc. I just want to clarify that nothing I ever write is ever meant to obstruct her musical success or block her spotlight.
I want to more clearly explain my point of view directly to Charli, who I hope is reading this. In the simplest of terms, my take is:
“Brat” as a concept probably means different things to different people. it’s a rebellious and radical spirit that is all inclusive.. At its most barebones, it feels like it automatically pushes against anything oppressive. Someone is trying to spoil your fun, so what response do you have? To be a brat.
The marketing at this point is not the oppressive part I’m talking about. Ok, it’s definitely in “forced meme” territory, I will say. But that’s fine. Every brand is now using the black lettering, green background format to sell coffee or Uber rides. It reminds of how they massacred the “Little Miss” meme a few years back. I find it a little cringe, but I would never write an article about that. And if I did it would be called “brat fatigue” or like “i’m over brat summer”. I wouldn’t be as urgent. It wouldn’t be called “brat summer is over”.
My contention with Charli at the current moment is her unquestioning endorsement of Kamala Harris. This is not just about the infamous “kamala IS brat” Tweet that sparked this entire debacle. It’s the fact that major publications like Pitchfork (and ANTIART) raised an eyebrow at her intentions, and she reposted them without addressing them. Our articles aren’t about overmarketing, they're about Kamala Harris. Why are you unquestioningly endorsing a candidate in a country you’re not from without understanding the bad optics of it?
Kamala is no stranger to bad optics. Here’s a good recent example:
That is Benjamin Netanyahu. Like Kamala, he was also deeply unpopular in his country before something urgent happened. Also like Kamala, he has no issue with continuing to kill innocent Palestinians while calling the entire opposition “antisemtic”. I am part of that opposition, and maybe because of this picture, I thought Charli would be too.
It’s maybe not as clear cut and effective as say The Weeknd donating millions of dollars, or Caroline Polachek doing a merch drive for Gaza, but it’s something. Many people have a parasocial relationship with celebrities they like, I’m not one of them. I don’t expect celebrities to endorse my point of view or even have their own takes on particular subjects. I don’t need Charli to do a benefit concert for Gaza. I just need her at a bare minimum to not be a part of the problem. I get angry because I know that libs (not actual leftists) want to use this as a tool to wash the blood off Kamala’s name. It’s no longer “kamala IS unpopular”, “kamala WAS a cop”, “Kamala WILL continue the genocide”, no, “kamala IS brat”. If you dare question that concept or say you won’t vote for her, you’re labeled as a Trump supporter. And to me, that is borderline-fascistic.
Oh, so do you want her to endorse Trump? No, I wanted her to go back to her country of origin and root for Jeremy Corbin, which she conspicuously didn’t do. It’s almost like there is a dollar incentive attached to giving her dope branding away to a centrist American candidate and not a British guy who actually gives a shit about his people. I find the connection to be nonsensical and tacky. It’s just not a good look after 40,000 innocent Palestinians have been killed with her and President Biden’s wholehearted support. Kamala is no different than Eric Adams, she is a belief-devoid police officer Zionist. That’s oppressive as fuck, that’s not brat. Imagine if Arca let Kamala use her “kick” branding from years ago. That album was literally “kicking against an oppressor”. It would be exactly as tacky and contradictory and I’d call her out in the same fashion.
Charli, you’re close enough to Kamala that you shared a cover with her for New York Magazine. If that’s the case, you are close enough with her to ask her to address Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestine. Listen, I know you understand that these people will drop you and your branding the moment it’s out of favor with young people. Look how she did Katy Perry.
She doesn’t care about you just like you clearly don’t care about her terrible past and present actions. You’re both using each other for clout and you can continue that, but I think that reflects very poorly on your character and your values as a person. I think your very Gen Z skewed fanbase, who’ve been sleeping in tents on college campuses across the country all summer, will have a big problem with this in the future.