Obama Praises Charli XCX’s ‘brat’: “She Knows What She’s Doing”

Former President Obama praised Charli XCX‘s brat this week, the newest in a long line of politicians becoming part of the pop album’s legacy this summer.

Obama included “365,” the final track of brat, on his annual summer playlist earlier this month.

“It is a great album,” the former president said on the I’ve Had It Podcast. “People question sometimes whether I’m actually listening to all this music. As I’ve testified before, I am. I get input from my daughters, who undeniably are a little more up-to-speed on a day-to-day basis. I’ve got a bunch of young staff who will occasionally make recommendations. Charli XCX, she knows what she’s doing.”

Following its June release, brat took on a fascinating (and political) life of its own when Charli XCX — who is British — endorsed Kamala Harris in the aftermath of President Biden’s stepping aside from the 2024 election. Her three-word tweet, “Kamala IS brat,” went viral, and left pundits on CNN and Fox News alike discussing the vice president’s “brat” status. Many at last month’s DNC could be seen wearing and holding Kamala-brat merch, and fan videos of the new Democratic nominee set to brat‘s music spread across the internet.

The pop star later embraced the memes in a New York magazine feature, when she stood by her support of Harris despite the fact that she cannot vote. “To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women’s rights, is hugely important to me,” she said. “I’m happy to help to prevent democracy from failing forever.

Obama has long defended the fact that he listens to all the music on his summer playlists, despite much skepticism. The former President told Hasan Minhaj last year, “Somehow y’all [young people] think you invented rock n’ roll, you invented hip-hop.”

He continued, “People seem to think, ‘Well, he must have had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out his latest cut’ — No, man! It’s on my iPad right now… I am very scrupulous about making sure that this is stuff that I actually like. I will confess that there are times on the playlists, where I will get suggestions because it’s not like I got time to be listening to music all the time. So, typically, at the end of the year, what happens is folks will be like, ‘Man, you need to listen to this, this is good.’ But unless I’m actually listening to it, watching it, I won’t put it on there.”