If Barbie’s Pepto-Bismol pink defined the carefree nostalgia of last summer, then Charli XCX’s neon-hued Brat has quickly enshrined itself as the backdrop of this year’s sultry season. Driven by social media trends, the album introduces us to the so-called “brat summer,” a term Charli XCX uses to encapsulate a blithe attitude defined by an unkempt lifestyle, rife with partying and poor decisions, largely influenced by her own upbringing in Essex, England, where she frequented raves and dance clubs.

These are the underpinnings of Brat, balancing drunken revelry with respites of introspection. With the upbeat main theme of “360,” the opening track, Charli XCX asks listeners to take a full 360-degree turn and recognize how her influence permeates every corner of culture. The song lays the groundwork for the boastful, audacious side of the “brat girl” persona, highlighting her pervasive cultural impact. This boldness contrasts sharply with the more vulnerable and introspective moments that emerge later in the album.

But despite the accolades from music critics, Brat lacks musical intrigue. The weakest point comes midway through the record, where Charli’s lyrics suffer from repetition and a lack of rhythm — starting with “Everything is romantic,” a three-minute song, half of which consists of the words, “Fall in love again and again,” repeated multiple times. Or “Rewind,” where you find insipid lyrics such as, “Sometimes I just want to turn back time / to a different time.”

Perhaps it is such meaningless tautologies that make Charli XCX’s christening of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as “brat” all the more apropos. It even gives way to new drinking games: A lyric from Charli XCX’s Brat or a quote from the vice president?

“It’s time for us to do what we have been doing / and that time is every day.”

“Winding roads, doing manual drive / Bad tattoos on leather-tanned skin.”

“Ukraine is a country in Europe / It exists next to another country called Russia / Russia is a bigger country.”

“I guess the apple could turn yellow or green / I know there’s lots of different nuances.”

(Answer: Harris, Charli, Harris, Charli.)

Despite these shortcomings, the album does have some redeeming qualities. The jazzy piano interlude on “Mean Girls,” for example, is among the record’s highlights, diverting the song from its otherwise bland 2000s throwback aesthetic. Moreover, Brat clocks in at a respectable 42 minutes, avoiding the common trap of bloated, meandering beats that exploit the way streaming platforms pay artists.

Given Charli XCX’s popularity, Harris’s campaign was right to embrace the endorsement. The KamalaHQ social media page wasted little time adorning itself with the neon-green background and pixelated ‘90s font from the album cover — there is no substitute for such organic free press and cultural cachet.

Much like the duality of Brat, Harris oscillates between curated artifice and fleeting moments of authenticity. In a 2019 interview, she claimed to have spent her college years, the early ‘80s, listening to Snoop Dogg and Tupac, neither of whom produced any music until the early ‘90s. But just last month, Harris was seen walking out of a record store in Washington holding an obscure Charles Mingus jazz record, Let My Children Hear Music, a rarity that presented no political upside to her but hinted at a deeper appreciation for the arts than one would expect.

Similarly, an interesting contrast to Charli’s “brat girl” persona is found in “So I,” which revisits the main theme but in a more introspective and tender ballad. Here, Charli reflects on her complex relationships, particularly with her late friend and collaborator SOPHIE. She admits to pushing SOPHIE away out of fear, a vulnerability that starkly contrasts with the confidence displayed in “360.” Toward the end of the chorus, the song hints at Charli’s vocal range but regrettably holds back, opting instead for a staccato delivery in the verse that undercuts the emotional weight the song could have carried.

This theme of conflicted relationships is also present in “Girl, So Confusing,” featuring the catchiest hook on the record, where Charli explores her complicated dynamics with other women.

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There are moments when Charli XCX tries to delve into more personal territory, such as in “I Think About It All the Time,” where she contemplates motherhood, and “Talk Talk,” which explores a yearning for love. These tracks hint at a deeper, more introspective album that never fully materializes. Instead, Brat quickly relapses into the superficiality of tracks such as “365,” the closing track that returns to Charli’s comfort zone of party anthems, both thematically and musically.

In the end, Brat feels like an album at odds with itself, struggling to balance its glib dance-floor ambitions with the emotional depth it desperately wants to convey. Much like Harris’s sound bites, it strives for resonance but falls short on substance. It is transient music for a transient era. Here for now, until “brat summer” is swept away for “demure and mindful” fall, the next TikTok trend.

Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a computer engineer in Toronto pursuing his MBA.