Did someone say brat autumn? Charli XCX’s BRATremix album—entitled Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat—is out on October 11 via Atlantic. So far we’ve had a peek at some of the artists on the record, including Troye Sivan on “Talk talk,” Robyn and Yung Lean (what a combo) on “360,” A.G. Cook’s remix of “Von dutch” featuring Addison Rae, Lorde on “Girl, so confusing” and “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish. Now, fans have spotted billboards that hint at collaborations with Tinashe and, more surprisingly, Bon Iver.
Across the United States, billboards have been seen sporting Tinashe and Bon Iver’s names backwards in the signature BRAT font and à la the mirrored cover art for the remix LP. It’s unclear what songs they’ll be appearing on, and Charli XCX is keeping the mystery up with enigmatic titles at the moment like “Track two,” “Track three” … you get the picture.
Tinashe’s viral hit “Nasty” inspired plenty of memes this year with the line “Is somebody gonna match my freak?”—so it’s only fitting that she’s joining Charli XCX, our queen of brat summer, on the remix album. “Nasty” features on Tinashe’s seventh LP, Quantum Baby, which was released in August.
Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, is definitely a more unexpected addition to the record with his signature soft folk sound, but the clues were there. Charli XCX declared Kamala Harris brat, and Vernon performed “Battle Cry of Freedom” at a Harris rally this summer. In the Charli XCX Vulture profile, it’s mentioned that she was working in the studio recently with Bon Iver and Danielle Haim. Okay, maybe that’s the extent of the connections, but we are extremely curious as to how Vernon’s lush sound collides with the hedonistic starkness of BRAT. Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat comes out a week before Vernon’s new EP SABLEvia Jagjaguwar.
While you await both releases, check out Bon Iver’s 2008 performance of “Skinny Love” at the Mohawk Outside Stage below.
