There’s no sign o’ the times quite like the cover art of Charli xcx’s new single “SS26.” Gone are the days of 2024’s brat aesthetic, a homely shade of acid green that resembled a clubgoer’s complexion mid-hangover. No, the front that “SS26” wears is one of Times New Roman text against an eggshell background: Prim, restrained, weary.
That’s not to say that “SS26” isn’t a bop — it is — but it’s a bop born of a crumbling era. “SS26” (short for “spring/summer 2026”) is a sleek, jaded reframe of Charli’s brat ethos that tosses retorts about modern culture like confetti. Take your pick of cooly-delivered resignations: “Yeah, we’re walkin’ on a runway that goes straight to hell/Nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion or film”; “Think my politics could work as a press strategy/And my heritage could give me quite thе USP”; or perhaps the simple, “When the world is gonna end/No hope for any of it.”
It’s Charli’s catwalk swivel from brat‘s ragers to a new period of bleak, AI-driven degeneration. Reality’s a nightmare now — but at least Charli wears it well. Walk it out below.
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