Jack Antonoff has praised Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan for their work this year, saying that “Brat summer” should be renamed “artist development summer”.
- READ MORE: It’s Charli XCX’s world and we’re just living in it: a timeline of ‘Brat’ summer so far
The producer was referencing Charli XCX’s ‘Brat‘ album, which became a pop culture phenomenon upon its release. In a new interview with Billboard, Antonoff credited Charli, alongside Carpenter and Roan, for their role in shaping pop music in 2024, after years of honing their crafts as artists.
“Sabrina, Charli and Chappell Roan — the three of them have had this shared experience of artists who have been crystallising, and that’s where you get gems,” he told the publication. “And that’s the story of being an artist. That’s true artist development. And it doesn’t matter where we are in tech or streaming or anything — the only way to win is to create your own language.”
Antonoff co-wrote four songs on Carpenter’s latest album ‘Short N’ Sweet‘, including her hit ‘Please Please Please’. On her rise to acclaim this year, he said: “Sabrina’s been quietly growing, and her albums have been getting more awesome, and she’s been honing her sound and performances. It’s not like she just popped onto the scene — this has been a decade of grinding toward it.”
Carpenter’s ‘Short N’ Sweet’ was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America last month, meaning the record has sold more than one million units. This also makes ‘Short N’ Sweet’ her first album to reach the milestone, according to the RIAA’s records.
As for Roan, earlier this year she revealed that her first label didn’t want her to release her hit ‘Pink Pony Club’, despite it later becoming a fan-favourite song.
In 2020, she released the single via Atlantic Records, before being dropped by the label a few months later. Last year, she then released her debut album ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’ via Island and Amusement Records – ‘Pink Pony Club’ featured on the record and would go on to become one of her most popular hits.
Since then, she achieved her first UK Number One album almost a year after its release, something Elton John congratulated her on recently. And, after sharing the single ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ this April, the song went to Number Four in the UK, and was covered by Sabrina Carpenter in the BBC Live Lounge in June.
The ‘Hot To Go’ singer has gone on to experience a meteoric rise to fame and earlier this year drew in the largest daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history, as confirmed by Lolla reps.
Meanwhile, Charli XCX recently confirmed all the artists who will feature on her ‘Brat’ remix album, titled ‘Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat’. It will be released October 11 and can be pre-saved here.
The album has so far been previewed with ‘Von Dutch’ featuring Addison Rae, ‘Girl, So Confusing’ with Lorde, ‘360’ with Robyn and Yung Lean, ‘Guess’ with Billie Eilish, and ‘Talk Talk’ with Troye Sivan, plus a spoken contribution from Dua Lipa.
The ‘Guess’ singer has now shared that the 1975, Bon Iver, Tinashe, Ariana Grande, Julian Casablancas, BB Trickz, Bladee, The Japanese House, Shygirl, Jon Hopkins and Caroline Polachek will join the album.
In other news, Antonoff recently confirmed he’s currently working on Lana Del Rey’s upcoming 10th studio album ‘Lasso’. Del Rey announced the LP earlier this year, which she teased will see her venture into country music. Antanoff is working on the record alongside country music maker Luke Laird.
The producer revealed that he has been in the studio with Del Rey to work on the record, but that he’s not eager to share any information on their collaborations. In a new interview with TIME, he said: “A story for another time. The reason why I don’t talk about things until they’re out is very succinct: I like to let the music be the first entry point for people.”
