When Troye Sivan, pop’s pre-eminent twink, and Charli xcx, the 32-year-old British club rat, booked their first headlining arena tour earlier this year, the pairing seemed like a natural fit, if not the most sonically cohesive. Both artists, longtime friends and occasional collaborators, had new music coming out; both produce heady, deliriously catchy songs about the glories of intoxication, for overlapping, largely queer fanbases. Together, they could transcend pop’s so-called middle class into full-fledged arena stardom.
And then Brat happened. Brash, unapologetic, irony-tinged and sincerely messy, Charli’s club-ready album, released in June, became the soundtrack of the internet’s summer, her most commercially successful project to date as well as a meme, an ethos, a vibe. In a few months, Charli went from niche-famous pop star with a rabid cult following, underground bona fides and critical acclaim to CNN roundtable subject and viral hit-maker, with songs big enough to make it on the playlists of straight weddings outside New York and LA. So it was that at Madison Square Garden on Monday night (365 party girl, for real), the crowd for the co-headlining Sweat tour was a two-toned sea of “city sewer slut” black and brat green – the sickly, striking shade that took over the internet, was co-opted by a presidential campaign, and will likely go down as the color of 2024.
