Background

I ride for both Charli XCX and Lorde. The remix worked and made the Internet and I go crazy.

“Girl, So Confusing” is a song from Charli XCX’s sixth studio album Brat, which had a remixed version featuring Lorde, included in the remix album Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat, released on October 2024.

The song was written by Charli XCX, A.G. Cook and Jim-E Stack, with additional writing credits going to Lorde for her featured verse. A.G. Cook produced the track, alongside six others in the remix album. I never thought I’d hear Lorde in a heavily auto-tuned and glitch-influenced indie dance track but here we are. Spoiler: it’s not so confusing given how well the collaboration turned out.

Talk About Making Honest Music

I don’t know the creative decisions behind remixes. I can only guess that majority of them are driven by commercial reasons for pop stars – generating more revenue for the artist and the record label, or securing chart placements by increasing sales activity for Billboard to include in the Hot 100 points. When I was young, they were mostly DJs making tracks more palatable for the dancefloor, as who would want to groove it out to ballads. But rarely do the modifications lead to an enhancement and improvement over the original. But this one is completely different but still brat.

There are only a few remixes that I think are superior or comparable to the source material. The remix of “Ain’t It Funny” by Jennifer Lopez always comes to mind. And now I use this as another example. The purpose and artistry behind the collaboration is not so confusing. Including Lorde in a track originally about herself made logical sense. And she’s able to infuse closure on an otherwise unresolved female tension.

So Lost in Their Heads

We rarely talk about the jealousy and insecurities we have with the friendships we maintain. And not just scratching the surface, but discussing how these emotions influences our behaviours and actions when interacting with the other. The courage and openness with which Charli XCX and Lorde explore them is refreshing and admirable.

Especially with those whose paths cross ours by circumstance, I can relate to speculating animosity from the other party, expecting they’d hope the worst for us. Who hasn’t cancelled last minute appointments to avoid awkward interactions? Articulating our inner demons is a gift that they possessed and hopefully helped quash them once the words were out in the world. And Lorde kindly reminds us at the end of her verse that inside that icon, or all of our facades, is just a young child from where we grew up from.

Your Life Seemed so Awesome

For me, Lorde is a representation of artistic integrity, defying societal expectations and shunning away from the royal life, as she’s effectively projected in “Royals”. But as she also reminded us in “Supercut”, there’s more to the edit than meets the eye.

The way she poured out her struggles in her verse needs to be studied. Brene Brown needs to use her as a beacon of vulnerability. She didn’t hold back and spoke about her weight issues, the resistance to being photographed, her jealousy of another’s life, the projections she made, and her capacity to make an impact in another one’s mind.

Conclusion

They talked about making music. They didn’t know if it’s honest. But nothing felt more genuine and true than the words sang on “Girl, so confusing”.