Summer And It's The Same But Brat's On Repeat So It's Not
nightclub nostalgia, fantasy realms, and things i'm glad you brought up
Welcome, to hyperfix’d - a low-stakes publication where I share everything and anything I’m excited about with anyone who will listen. And just like that, we find ourselves amidst another sweaty, hot, thought-girl summer - here with a small selection of the season’s sights and sounds, is new hyperfix’d:
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Brat, Charli xcx 💿
After months of anticipation, Charli xcx has famously left her uppercase era behind1 and returned to the hyperpop stratosphere, unleashing pure bratty perfection with her instantly iconic new studio release, Brat.
Brat presents a vulnerable and gratifying exploration of self-perception and fame through a sublime curation of party girl anthems, dripping in Y2K nostalgia - a brilliant high-brow sensory overload bound to hold the attention of any ADHD-adjacent listener. In a lustrous return and celebration of the artist’s electro/dance roots, Brat employs the talents of longtime collaborators and fellow PC pioneers A.G. Cook (best believe we’re dancing if he made it), Easyfun, Cirkut, and George Daniel. I love how many producers are folded into the mix of Brat and the exceptionally campy choices they dare to make, from finely-tuned synths and rich textured vocals to the extravagant instrumentations that unapologetically steal the spotlight.2
While the industry darling has never shied away from her discography’s enduring impact, Charli has, until this moment, seemingly allowed her music to stand on its own. In the loud and proud rollout of Brat, Charli unabashedly leans into her hagiographic influence and it-girl stardom - through its breakthrough iconography, Charli’s ‘brat’ persona has grown into a compelling phenomenon of its own, a highly self-aware meta piece that mirrors our parasocial infatuations and obsessions in the truest way possible. With what might be her most prolific work yet, Brat finds Charli xcx in her long-awaited and deserved prime, steering the prodigious artist towards a newly unrivaled and elevated production era.
Brat is a no-skips album for me, with hits we’ll be blasting all summer - a nostalgia-fueled return to early aughts, a dynamic digest made for this very moment, and a powerful manifestation for anyone feeling everywhere, so Julia. ✨🎧
Some of my favorite tracks from the album:
Club Classics
Sympathy Is A Knife
I Might Say Something Stupid
Talk Talk
Rewind
Mean Girls
I Think About It All The Time
Fantasmas 🦪 ✨
Multi-hyphenate Julio Torres brings his weirdest and wildest fantasies out to play in his new series Fantasmas, taking HBO’s coveted Friday night slot by storm. An After Hours-esque surrealist sketch fantasy, its premise is delightfully simple - to avoid the increasingly urgent task of securing his ‘proof of existence,’ Julio decides to face a more pressing matter at hand, namely searching for the pearl oyster earring he lost at the club days prior. As someone who delayed getting their state ID for five years for no reason other than to make things more difficult for myself, this show speaks to me!
For those familiar with Julio Torres’ impressive canon of culturally defining comedy (think award-winning Los Espookys, Problemista, SNL’s Wells For Boys, and My Favorite Shapes) the cinematic momentum of Fantasmas should come as no surprise - propelled by the comedian’s flair for short-form storytelling, the series’ inspired premise serves as the perfect through line for an eclectic collection of vignettes, as Julio’s protagonist drifts freely from one esoteric fantasy to the next. Torres enlists a brilliant ensemble of character actors and comedy players to bring this vision to life, with memorable appearances by Steve Buscemi, Paul Dano, Julia Fox, Alexa Demie, Dylan O’Brien, Evan Mock, and Ziwe to name a few.3
Julio’s work has become synonymous with its rich visual aesthetic - every moment of Fantasmas showcases meticulously curated and ornate costuming (a great piece on the fashion inspiration behind Fantasmas here) and sumptuous designs, signatory to his eccentric world-building. Fantasmas transports us to a dream-like New York, brimming with kitschy character and homemade panache. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen on TV and an abundant fantasy we could get lost in for hours.
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New episodes of Fantasmas stream weekly on Max on Fridays at 11 pm EST.
Lemme Say This, Hunter Harris & Peyton Dix 🎧
Two of the internet’s greatest modern minds, Hunter Harris and Peyton Dix, are maximizing their joint slay with Lemme Say This, a new weekly pod for the millennium. The girls, whose credits range from profiling the likes of Usher, Victoria Monét, and Ziwe, to reporting for Vulture, New York Mag, and W, are graduating from the written medium and bringing a new oral history of modern-age celebrity, breaking down the current climate of pop girl summer, the epic highs and lows of Bennifer, and the inner workings of the ever elusive Club Chalamet, featuring plenty of like-minded guest stars along the way.
Hunter and Peyton describe their podcast’s target audience - me and the girls that get it - best. Lemme Say This is the podcast for ‘anyone who is bisexual, understands the difference between Pop Crave and Pop Base, loved The Idea Of You, and can’t stop saying show it to me, Rachel, send it to me please.’ Rarely is the sentiment ‘we need more podcasters’ uttered these days, however, to these two iconic voices, we have to give an exception. Harris and Dix have risen as the blueprint for modern pop culture journalism and the only critics whose opinions I will ride for no matter what.
New episodes of Lemme Say This drop every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you find your podcasts.
Elizabeth Street Garden 🌱
As of late, my favorite summer escape during the in-person 9 to 5 has been grabbing a little matcha and taking a book or journal to Elizabeth Street Garden in Lower Manhattan. I know this isn’t a revolutionary idea or gate-kept location - still, there is something so lovely about watching everyone and their mother bring their book(s) to the garden and find a little spot of sun to enjoy and bask in, while of course being physically and intellectually perceived. I love how inclusive of a space the garden is, and how refreshingly low its stakes are. Elizabeth Street Garden offers a pocket of peace in a big bustling city, perfect for every type of weather and time of day.
In honor of the minor change in Charli’s stage name, I followed suit and changed my Instagram handle from @karolina_judd to @karolina.judd … I totally get it now.
Shoutout to the piano solo in Mean Girls which is so Jason Robert Brown coded - an important distinction to me!
Mock’s is my favorite cameo of the series so far, earnestly portraying the letter Z.