The brat summer has now evolved to include playing with big trucks and huge piles of underwear, per a new music video released by musical powerhouses Charli XCX and Billie Eilish this afternoon. After teasing the new single, “Guess”—a remix of a song from the deluxe version of the critically acclaimed album—yesterday, Charli unleashed it on the world today, in all its provocative, very deliberately homoerotic glory.
The most memorable moment of the video—from a visual viewpoint, at least—comes about a minute in, when Eilish literally crashes the song by driving a bulldozer into the underwear rave that apparently generates, spontaneously, in any abandoned apartment where Charli XCX cares to roost. (Thus freeing us from our compulsion to wonder who was going to clean up the drink Charli starts the video by casually throwing on the floor, because post-bulldozer, the effort is probably moot.) The most aggressive lyrical moment, meanwhile, is that bit where Eilish croons “Charli likes boys but she knows I’d hit it,” after giving an extended verse about how she’d like to “try it, bite it, lick it, spit it, pull it to the side and get all up in it” re: her fellow performer’s much-mentioned bloomers. This is not a subtle track, is all we’re saying, even as it ends with the pair winking at the whole concept with a final line that invites the listener to “Guess if we’re serious about this song.”
More importantly, for our peace of mind, the credits for the video include a note that the huge amounts of unworn underwear used in the video won’t go to waste: They’ll instead be donated to survivors of domestic violence via charity I Support The Girls. We’d genuinely been worrying. It’s a lot of underwear!
It’s a Brat and Billie summer! On Thursday, Charli XCX and Billie Eilish released a remix for Charli’s song “Guess” that’s sending the internet into a frenzy.
The pair also released a video that follows the stars at a steamy house party with underwear flying, playing on Charli’s lyric, “You wanna guess the color of my underwear/You wanna know what I got going on down there.”
Mid-video, Eilish (literally) crashes the flying-panty party as she drives into the building on a massive tractor. In her verse, Eilish offers a sexy response to Charli’s undie-guessing verse as she sings about her “lacy black pair with the little bows/the ones I picked out for you in Tokyo.”
ICharli and Eilish then walk through a post-apocalyptic, undergarment-overtaken city. “Charli likes boys but she knows I’d hit it,” declares Eilish. The video was directed by Aidan Zamiri, who also shot Rolling Stone‘s Eilish cover and Charli’s “360” video.
All of the bras and underwear used in the music video (and there were hundreds) were donated to I Support the Girls, a nonprofit organization that distributes undergarments and menstrual hygiene products to those experiencing homelessness.
“This was like too much fun to make,” Finneas, Eilish’s brother and producer, wrote on Instagram Stories hours before the track’s release.
The new remix comes a day after Charli posted a photo of her back next to another artist, showing off three boxers, as she asked fans to guess who was on the new version of the song. Last week, the singer teased the new drop by sharing a post from different outlets claiming that “Brat summer is over.” In the caption, Charli wrote, “Oh? See u next week.” Her manager Brandon Creed added in the comments, “They don’t even know.”
Brat — in all its iterations — has taken over social media, even inspiring memes of Vice President Kamala Harris after she launched her presidential campaign in Atlanta. Charli’s last Brat track arrived in late June when she dropped a version of “Girl, So Confusing,” alongside Lorde. She also followed up the original release of Brat with a deluxe edition titled, Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not.
Since dropping Brat‘s lead single “Von Dutch,” Charli has released several new versions of the LP’s songs, including a reimagining of “Von Dutch” with Addison Rae and A.G. Cook and a remix of “360” with Yung Lean and Robyn.
“Brat seesaws between extremes from song to song, a hyperpop roller coaster of post-Saturn return, early-thirties anxieties, and It-girl bravado,” read a Rolling Stone review of the album.
Brat summer continues with the release of Charli XCX‘s remix for “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish.
The Aidan Zamiri-directed video for the song sees Charli and Billie taking the lyric “You wanna guess the color of my underwear” literally, with both climbing up a mountain of lingerie and Eilish driving a bulldozer carrying loads of laundry.
Charli first teased the “Guess” remix earlier this week by posting a photo of her standing with the guest artist, cropping out their faces. Though no singer was named, fans were quick to deduce that the mystery musician was Eilish based on the rings she was wearing in the picture, as she’d had on the same ones during her Chicken Shop interview with Amelia Dimoldenberg that posted two weeks ago.
Eilish’s brother and collaborator Finneas confirmed his participation in the song earlier today, reposting a video teaser from Charli on Instagram and captioning it, “This was like, too much fun to make.” Fans noted that Eilish and Finneas were potentially hinting at the Charli collaboration during a recent interview with Zane Lowe, with Eilish stating that it was her first time working with another artist in many years.
“I was really nervous, because I haven’t worked with anyone but Finneas in six years, and I hated it back in the day,” said Eilish. Finneas added, “Billie was sitting and telling me why she loved this one artist, and we were watching their music videos together and I know them, and I was texting them like, ‘We’re sitting here watching your stuff, it’s so good.’ They were like, ‘I’m in L.A.’ I was like, ‘You want to do a day?'”
It’s been a big summer thus far for Charli, who released her sixth album “Brat” last month. In addition to putting out a deluxe edition of the record with three new songs, including “Guess,” she’s dropped numerous remixes of songs off the project, tapping Addison Rae and A.G. Cook for “Von Dutch,” Robyn and Yung Lean for “360,” and Lorde for “Girl, So Confusing.” The latter song came about after Charli dropped its original version where she expressed her frustration with an unnamed pop star. After she sent a voice note to Lorde explaining it was about her, the New Zealand artist hopped on the track and, as she put it, they worked it out on the remix.
Beyond the album itself, “Brat” has become a cultural moment. Having a “brat summer” is a lifestyle — wearing lime green, making DIY clothes to mimic the album cover, hitting the club, being confident and living loudly are just a few signifiers. It’s become so ubiquitous that, shortly after President Joe Biden withdrew his reelection campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up to fill his shoes, Charli tweeted, “Kamala IS brat,” giving Harris her coveted endorsement.
Harris’ campaign responded on its @KamalaHQ profile page, changing its header banner to “kamala hq” in black text over a green background — a nod to the simple yet effective cover art for Charli’s “Brat.”
Charli is currently planning to transition from brat summer to sweaty fall, as she’s hitting the road with Troye Sivan for their joint Sweat tour. The trek kicks off on September 14 in Detroit, with dates scheduled until its conclusion at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on October 23.
There was “Girl, so confusing” with Lorde, “360” with Yung Lean and Robyn, “Von dutch” with Addison Rae, and now, there’s “Guess” with Billie Eilish. After teasing a “Guess” rework with a surprise collaborator the other day, Charli XCX has unveiled the latest remix from the Bratosphere.
Charli co-wrote “Guess” with 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady and indie-sleaze revivalist the Dare; it didn’t appear on the original Brat tracklist, but was one of the three additional songs on Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not. The remix was produced by the Dare and Eilish’s brother/producer Finneas. “This was like, too much fun to make,” Finneas wrote on Instagram.
Here’s some of Eilish’s part:
Don’t have to guess the color of your underwear Already know what you’ve got goin’ on down there It’s that lacy black pair with the little bows The ones I picked out for you in Tokyo saw them when you sat down, they were peekin’ out I’m gonna tell you right now, they’re all I’m thinkin’ about
I wanna try it, bite it, lick it, spit it Pull it to the side and get all up in it Kiss it, bite it, can I fit it? Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it Charli, call me if you’re with it
Charli’s Angels, there’s no need to “Guess” anymore — Billie Eilish has officially joined Charli XCX‘s latest remix.
In the new music video released on Thursday (Aug. 1), Charli muses the lyrics at a house party, where everyone starts throwing their underpants in the air. Eventually, Eilish busts through the party in a tractor with her verse. “Charli likes boys but she knows I’d hit it,” she playfully sings to the camera, as the duo roll around in a street full of undergarments.
Charli confirmed the collaboration via Instagram earlier this week. In the clip, Charli calls up the “Lunch” singer before the song’s electronic beat comes pounding in. “Hey Billie, you there?” she asks, before showing a brief clip of the two of them collapsing on top of a pile of bras.
All bras and underwear used in the music video have been donated to I Support The Girls, according to a press release. ISTG collects and distributes essential items, including bras, underwear and menstrual hygiene products to people experiencing homelessness, impoverishment or distress.
Fans first began speculating that Eilish would be the surprise guest on the new track when Charli teased a new collaborative version of the song, with her special guest’s face cropped out of the photo. Spotting a set of rings Eilish has been wearing lately, fans immediately placed their bets that the “360” singer tapped Eilish for the guest spot.
The original version of the track comes off the deluxe version of Charli’s smash-hit album Brat, which has so far peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The album is also dominating the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with 16 of the deluxe version’s 18 tracks currently landing on the chart dated Aug. 3 (“360” claims its highest position at No. 2 on the chart).
Speaking to Billboard for her July cover story, Charli teased that there were still more Brat remixes to come, while also speculating about her own future in the music business. “I saw this tweet the other day that was like, ‘Does anyone think that this is Charli’s last album?’ … Then I was like, ‘Actually, that could be cool if I didn’t really make music anymore after this,'” she said. “I don’t know. I’m just so deep in this, I can’t see outside of brat.”
Watch the music video for Charli XCX’s “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish below.
