Hello fellow Charli XCX dykes, LGBTQXCXs (testing this one out, lmk what you think), and I’m So Julias! Brat hype is here to stay, and as a lesbian who is almost never actually in the club, I am thrilled to be bumpin that on a spiritual level 24/7. Yes, I listen to this album while mincing garlic in my kitchen, while showering, while brushing my teeth, while doing so many things that are not actually dancing in the club, and yet, I cannot stop. I’ve been Brat pilled, and there’s no end in sight. So here I am, turning my obsession into some useful content for you. Watch a lesbian movie that pairs perfectly with your favorite Brat track!

360 // La Llamada

When you’re in the party b-b-bumpin’ that beat
666 with a princess streak

This Spanish-language movie musical is a campy, blasphemous delight. Lesbians, nuns, musical numbers! What more could you want?

Also, “I’m so Julia” really does have a certain je nais se queer now, innit?

Club classics // Bottoms

Sweat marks all on my clothes, tight like my kinda flow
Yeah, I wanna be blinded by the lights, lights, lights

When I go to the club (almost never)? Yeah, I wanna here those club classics. And when I join a fight club? I wanna fight lesbians.

Sympathy is a knife // Je Tu Il Elle

I feel all these feelings I can’t control
Oh no, don’t know why
All this sympathy is just a knife
Why I can’t even grit my teeth and lie?
I feel all these feelings I can’t control
Oh no, don’t know

Chantal Akerman’s Je Tu Il Elle is as depressing as it is horny, a balance of contrasting states of feeling found throughout Brat as well. “Sympathy is a knife” is one of Charli’s more vulnerable tracks about mental health and even makes reference to suicide, making it an appropriate match for this deeply devastating, deeply sexy film.

I might say something stupid // Appropriate Behavior

I don’t feel like nothing special
I snag my tights out on the lawn chair
Guess I’m a mess and play the role
Used to live just for the party, door is open

You never know what’s going to come out of the mouth of Desiree Akhavan’s Shirin in the wonderful breakup comedy Appropriate Behavior. She might indeed say something cringe, but it’ll make you laugh. Like Charli, she’s a mess. But you can’t help but love her!

Talk talk // A Date for Mad Mary

Are you thinking ’bout me?
I’m kind of thinking you are
I followed you to the bathroom
But then I felt crazy
I’m feeling like I’m on fire
‘Cause we’ve been keeping this a sеcret
And all your friends are still thеre
And I’m just wondering what they know

Another film that harnesses many tones and scopes at once (just like Brat!!!!!!), A Date for Mad Mary captures some of the insecurities and yearnings present in “Talk talk,” which IMO is one of the queerest tracks on the album.

Von dutch // Bodies Bodies Bodies

It’s okay to just admit that you’re jealous of me
Yeah, I heard you talk about me, that’s the word on the street
You’re obsessing, just confess it, put your hands up
It’s obvious I’m your number one

Bodies Bodies Bodies honestly fits the vibe of several songs on Brat, so if you like Brat and haven’t seen Bodies Bodies Bodies yet, what are you doing???? This is THEEE movie for Brat heads, and the soundtrack even features a Charli bop, “Hot Girl.”

Everything is romantic // Desert Hearts

Bad tattoos on leather-tanned skin
Jesus Christ on a plastic sign
Fall in love again and again
Winding roads, doing manual drive

Genuinely one of the most romantic movies ever made, Desert Hearts finds beauty and grandeur in unexpected places much like this Brat track.

Rewind // Clouds of Sils Maria

I hate these doubts that keep running through my mind
Sometimes I really think it would be cool to rewind

Much like this song, Clouds of Sils Maria is about the past, over-analyzing your own success as an artist, and performance.

So I // All About My Mother

Always on my mind (Every day, every night)
Your star burns so bright (Why did I push you away?)

Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother tackles deep grief, and “So I” is Charli’s tribute song to her late friend and fellow artist SOPHIE. All About My Mother also centers trans women and explores the nuances of friendship.

Girl, so confusing // Black Swan

Yeah, I don’t know if you like me
Sometimes I think you might hate me
Sometimes I think I might hate you
Maybe you just wanna be me
You always say, “Let’s go out”
So we go eat at a restaurant
Sometimes it feels a bit awkward
‘Cause we don’t have much in common

I mean, if you think about it, those excerpted lyrics are kind of a plot summary of Nina and Lily’s whole dynamic in Black Swan? P.S. This movie pairing also works for the “Girl, so confusing” remix with Lorde, though I suppose Nina and Lily never worked it out on the remix 😔

Apple // Saving Face

I wanna know where you go
When you’re feeling alone
When you’re feeling alone, do you?

I meeeeean, a dramatic, romantic airport kiss? In the words of Charli: “the airport.”

B2b // Bad Things

I don’t wanna fall right back to us
Maybe you should run right back to her
I don’t wanna go back, back to
Back to, back to, back to, back to you

Drama with exes, going back to a place one probably shouldn’t go back to but is drawn to anyway? Bad Things — the queer The Shining — is a great fit for “B2b.”

Mean girls // Jennifer’s Body

This one’s for all my mean girls
This one’s for all my bad girls
This one’s for all my break your boyfriend’s heart girls
For all my tear his shit apart girls

This one’s for all my cannibalize him dead girls.

I think about it all the time // The Five Devils

I think about it all the time
That I might run out of time
But I finally met my baby
And a baby might be mine
‘Cause maybe one day I might
If I don’t run out of time
Would it give my life a new purpose?

Time, a collapsing between past/present/future, the idea of past selves, and parenting are all themes shared by this song and this fantastical film.

365 // Mommy Is Coming

Should we do a little key?
Should we have a little line? (Ah-ah, ah)
Wanna go real wild when I’m (Bumpin’ that)
Meet me in the bathroom if you’re (Bumpin’ that)
3-6-5, party girl (Bumpin’ that)

If Mommy Is Coming has no fans, then I am dead. I knew I had to include this wild ride of a sex comedy from Cheryl Dunye set in the ultra queer underworld of Berlin, and party girl anthem “365” feels like a great fit. This one’s for my freaks.

Hello goodbye // Carol

Felt a little fear and some anxiety
The second you arrived and kind of smiled at me
My heart began to rise
I panicked quietly, so silently

Oh you thought we weren’t gonna do the bonus tracks? GUESS AGAIN! Therese and Carol are the patron saints of saying hello and goodbye emotionally in quick succession, constantly pulling toward and then away from each other.

Guess // Shakedown

Try it, bite it, lick it, spit it
Pull it to the side and get all up in it

You know, I do wish more narrative films about lesbians came to mind for this song…we need more lesbian films that are simply about dykes in the CLUB. In any case, it feels like a good opportunity to plug the excellent documentary about lesbian strippers in an underground queer Black club, Shakedown.

Spring breakers // Love Lies Bleeding

Hi, it’s me, you’re all in danger
Never get invited ’cause I’m such a hater
Got my finger on the detonator
Crazy girl shit, gonna go Spring Breakers

I was maybe tempted to troll and refer to the movie Spring Breakers as a lesbian film, but my desire to hype my favorite film of recent years, Love Lies Bleeding, won out in the end! Luckily the sweaty, acid feel of this song is a great fit for the 1980s muscle dyke sensation.

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