You’ve Got to Be Real to Be a Pop Girl (2024)

A new vanguard of pop girls is rising to prominence. Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Tinashe—mostly niche acts with hyper specific fan bases—are now front and center in the mainstream. But why, after staying in their lanes, in some cases for years, are they hitting it big now?

Charli XCX was unearthed on Myspace at 16 by a club promoter in 2008 and inked a deal by 2010. But it wasn’t until 2012, when she featured on Icona Pop’s hit “I Love It,” that she gained widespread recognition. In 2014, she contributed to Iggy Azalea's “Fancy,” a global hit, and released “Boom Clap,” her first solo top-ten single. In 2015, she began collaborating with the UK collective PC Music and the late, great producer and songwriter Sophie, releasing the Vroom Vroom EP and mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 in 2017, pushing her sound into a more experimental place. Fast forward to 2022 and her fifth album, Crash, became her biggest commercial success, followed by the single “Speed Drive” for Barbie the Album in 2023. Then along came Brat, her pithy sixth studio album, which has erupted into a meme-making, politically charged global phenomenon.

“The Brat attitude, or the ‘bratitude’—being unashamedly yourself, embracing a bit of messiness, and not caring about others’ opinions—is all about being sexy, sweaty, and fiercely personal,” says photographer and director Aidan Zamiri, who directed Charli XCX’s “360” music video, as well as the freshly released “Guess,” featuring Billie Eilish. The former included a lineup of the internet’s favorite It girls, including Gabriette, Rachel Sennott, and Hari Nef, not to mention SSENSE cover stars Chloë Sevigny, Julia Fox, and Alex Consani. The album felt indicative of this cultural moment: Its diaristic songwriting was candid and unpolished, featuring lyrics so personal that they ignited social media speculation, with many questioning if “Sympathy Is a Knife” was about Swift (Swift previously dated Charli’s boyfriend’s bandmate Matty Healy from The 1975). Her choice of a neon lime-green backdrop with a lo-fi Arial font—accessible, easily customizable—launched a tsunami of memes and TikTok videos, marking the birth of Brat summer.

In a TikTok video, Charli herself describes the anti-hero Brat mood as “that girl who likes to party, maybe says some dumb things sometimes, feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown and kind of parties through it.” When it comes to her aesthetic, her stylist Chris Horan says, “Her look is eclectic, and because of that, we don’t feel like we have to stick to any set rules, other than a contrast of masculine and feminine, and sunglasses that snatch upwards—anything bitchy. The incredible part about working with Charli is that she gives the big picture but then lets me bring her the rest. She’s open and receptive, and it works because she knows who she is.”

Brat also staged a reconciliation between Charli and Lorde, who had apparently nursed a media-fueled feud of insecurity and rivalry these last few years. The original “Girl, So Confusing” described Charli’s feelings for the Kiwi singer-songwriter, and then Lorde joined in to share her side, allowing them to “work it out on the remix.” “Apple,” initially one of the album’s lesser-discussed tracks, skyrocketed thanks to a viral TikTok dance by creator Kelley Heyer. Celebrities like Brooke Shields, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Lisa Rinna, and Kerry Washington dominated FYPs with the trend.

And then the album turned historical. Charli tweeted “kamala IS brat” after US Vice President Kamala Harris announced her presidential bid. This led Harris’s campaign Twitter page to change its backdrop to Brat green. This move—for better or worse—kept Brat at the forefront of mainstream conversations and made headlines worldwide, all while Charli continued to DJ sets for Boiler Room. Brat fatigue might be real for some—especially as brands co-opt its impact in their marketing emails—but seeing the culture at large catch up to the art of an underrated artist like Charli XCX is a cause for celebration.

Roan—born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz—started her music journey as a teenager, uploading songs to YouTube before signing with Atlantic Records at 17 in 2015. She released an EP and several singles, many co-written with writer-producer Dan Nigro, acclaimed for his work with Olivia Rodrigo. However, Atlantic dropped her in 2020. Disheartened and without a label, Roan retreated to her Missouri roots, taking on odd jobs at drive-throughs while watching Rodrigo’s career soar. Roan’s break came when Nigro signed her to his Island Records imprint, Amusem*nt, leading to the 2023 release of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, a queer-coded album featuring unapologetic tracks like “Casual” with its raw lyrics: “Knee-deep in the passenger seat, and you’re eating me out / Is it casual now?” Other standout songs include “Pink Pony Club,” “Femininomenon,” and “HOT TO GO!”—the latter complete with its own crowd-pleasing dance routine.

But it wasn’t until this year when Roan skyrocketed to fame, transforming from relative obscurity to sensation thanks to her performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk. “It was unlike anything people had seen before,” shares her hairstylist Dom Forletta. “When that came out, it was shocking—she was a hot mess with lipstick on her teeth and wild hair—but it landed perfectly. She’s gorgeous, but not in a conventional way, and she embraces pushing the boundaries of what’s considered ugly. Her unique aesthetic imprints on our minds—talent matters, but visuals make it unforgettable.”

Later on in the year, Roan opened on Rodrigo’s Guts tour and delivered showstopping performances at Coachella and Governors Ball, where she delighted fans by painting herself green as the Statue of Liberty. Her now-viral tagline, “I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist,” pays homage to drag queen Sasha Colby, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15. Roan’s latest single, “Good Luck, Babe!,” has garnered significant attention with its nostalgic, buoyant vibe, reminiscent of a young Alanis Morissette, Kate Bush, or Cyndi Lauper, setting the stage for her upcoming album later this year. Even Elton John is singing her praises, sharing on his Apple Music radio show Rocket Hour, “I rang you the other night and said, ‘Listen, I’m not stalking you, but I’m as excited about your album’s success as you are.’ It’s wonderful to see true talent being recognized.”

“She’s incredibly gifted—a ball of fire, if you will—and her music cuts deep,” says Andrew Dahling, Roan’s makeup artist and a drag star in his own right. “But it’s her drag-like persona, which she compares to Hannah Montana, that helps create the enigmatic superstar her audience loves. In these bleak and depressing times, she’s the antidote, bringing excitement, freedom, and inspiration. Her mainstream representation of queerness positively impacts both younger and older generations—it’s the perfect time for her to shine, and everything she’s doing feels so necessary right now.” British designer Charles Jeffrey of Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY is also obsessed, sharing, “She’s got her own take on these incredible drag references that have always been quite fixed, like Divine, and twisting them into a new hyperpop paradigm—it feels a bit like Gaga when she first came about. Chappell reminds me of friends I’ve made on nights out, and I weirdly feel protective of her.”

At nine years old, Sabrina Carpenter posted her first YouTube video, a cover of Swift’s “Picture to Burn.” Fifteen years later, she’s sharing the stage with Swift on the Eras tour. Carpenter’s music journey wasn’t straightforward, though. She placed third in Miley Cyrus’s 2009 singing contest, The Next Miley Cyrus Project, but didn’t launch her singing career until 2014, the same year she gained fame on Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World. Throughout the 2010s, she released four studio albums—Eyes Wide Open (2015), EVOLution (2016), Singular: Act I (2018), and Singular: Act II (2019)—with limited commercial success. Her breakthrough came in 2021 when she signed with Island Records and released “Skin,” her first entry on the Hot 100. This track is rumored to be a response to Rodrigo’s “drivers license,” which is speculated to be about Carpenter and her relationship with Rodrigo’s ex, Joshua Bassett. Her fifth album in 2022, Emails I Can’t Send, included popular singles “Nonsense” and “Feather.” But it was in late 2023 that Carpenter catapulted to international fame.

Anticipation swirls around Carpenter’s 2024 release, Short n’ Sweet, poised to drop later this month, following the meteoric success of singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.” Both tracks dominated the Billboard Global 200, with “Please Please Please” marking her first number-one on the Hot 100. The viral lyrics “That’s that me, espresso” and “I’m working late ‘cause I’m a singer” triggered a meme hysteria that left everyone gagged (including her new beau, actor Barry Keoghan). To the uninitiated, she might seem like an overnight sensation in a superficial pop world, but Carpenter has long been a gifted songwriter with a track record of goosebump-inducing live performances (check out her cover of “Good Luck, Babe!”). “She’s been at this forever—she started as a child star—so she has a clear vision of her message, and she’s grown into her vibe, which is fun and a little bit sultry,” says her stylist Ron Hartleben, who has worked with her for the past few years. “What captures everyone’s hearts is her clever double entendres and self-deprecating humor—she’s in on the joke.”

Echoing Charli XCX’s trajectory, Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe, known simply as Tinashe, has spent over a decade crafting genre-blurring sounds. She started her career as a child actor, appearing in The Polar Express and Two and a Half Men before transitioning to music with the girl group The Stunners, who opened for Justin Bieber's 2010 tour. Her 2014 debut album, Aquarius, featuring the hit “2 On,” established her as an emerging star. Subsequent albums Nightride and Joyride showcased her versatility and artistic growth despite creative disputes with her label and delays. In 2019, she went independent with Songs for You, earning critical acclaim (and vindicating her fanbase, who long felt that her label had forsaken her).

Now, Tinashe is having another major breakthrough with “Nasty,” a viral hit released alongside her Coachella performance and set to be the lead single of her upcoming seventh studio album, Quantum Baby. With its catchy sounds and provocative lyrics, “Nasty” has dominated TikTok, hinting that Tinashe could soon rise from cult talent to megastar. Plus, her reactions to fan videos—including an lols yet excruciatingly awkward encounter with “Can I sing for you?” creator Harry Daniels—show that she wholeheartedly connects with the unseriousness of today’s youth.

While it’s crucial to recognize the trailblazing recent moments in confessional stardom—like Beyoncé’s deeply personal self-titled album and Lemonade, and SZA’s soul-baring CTRL—the pop landscape is ever-evolving. As DJ Louie XIV, the pop expert and host of the podcast Pop Pantheon, explains, “Prior to the internet era, there was a premium placed on hallmark stars—figures of virtuosity and untouchability—such as Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, and Lady Gaga, who were all about blowing your mind. Now, due to the proliferation of social media over the past 15 years, which has democratized our social lives, people are seeking authenticity—they want stars to be generators of their own ethos, aesthetics, and material.” He adds, “Artists that used to inhabit the big tent mode of classic pop stardom, which we don’t see very often outside of Taylor Swift these days, attempting to make a comeback right now, appear unable to figure out how they fit in either aesthetically or commercially at this moment.”

The new wave of pop girls gets it—today’s audience craves relatability. Charli, Roan, Carpenter, and Tinashe aren’t just dropping hits; they’re sharing their raw, unfiltered selves and forging genuine connections with fans. While polished stars are losing traction, these artists prove that being a pop girl today is about more than just looks—you’ve got to be real. While many in media live in a bubble, quick to dismiss trends once they hit the mainstream, we forget that it’s not about us; it’s for the masses. So if you want to keep bumpin’ that to a Brat-coded summer, go off.