How Charli XCX leveraged the hyperpop scene into a global movement

Hyperpop music emerged in the 2010s, led by producer A.G. Cook, his record label PC Music, and its particular style of exaggerated, self-referential pop. From the start, though, hyperpop was always more than a music genre. It was catalysed by backlash to consumerism and late-stage capitalism, which shaped everything from the sound of the music to the aesthetic style of its members (nostalgic Y2K fashion, maximalism) and their behaviours (escapism, mostly through the club). All these things transformed hyperpop from a genre into a fully-fledged scene. Its growth coincided with the rise of streaming and social media, allowing it to scale while still feeling underground to its members.

That all changed with the arrival of Charli XCX’s 2024 album Brat, released via Atlantic Records, which single-handedly turned the hyperpop scene into a movement with global scale. While the album is the cornerstone, what became known as “Brat summer” extended far beyond it, leveraging scene dynamics to sell fans a lifestyle. That included an attitude, fashion style, trademark color, and even language (“So Julia”, “bumpin’ that”, etc).

Brat transformed a scene into a movement by way of four key factors:

• Authenticity – While other artists were criticised for jumping on the hyperpop bandwagon, Charli has been part of the hyperpop scene from the beginning
• Cross-platform strategy – Brat was everywhere: TikTok, Boiler Room, IRL retail chains, Saturday Night Live, even Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign
• Encouraging fan interaction – An official Brat album cover generator created a snowball effect of fan-created content to aid the cross-platform strategy
• A cultural catalyst – Brat matched the cultural mood of 2024, as audiences stuck between the pandemic years and current political upheaval craved escapism and rebellion

As a movement grows, pulling a wide range of people into its orbit, the commonalities that bind members together become naturally diluted. Thus, Charli traded the depth of hyperpop for the breadth of Brat summer. This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the goal, but reflects the trade-offs artists and labels make when growing a scene into a movement. Scenes are the culture Goldilocks zone delivering the best balance of fandom and community; movements are the scale Goldilocks zone delivering the best balance of larger scale audiences with cultural relevance.

Roles

This report is relevant to the following roles:

Fandom Cultural trends