Charli XCX’s dominant year went out with a bang as the London Eye was lit up in Brat Green during its New Year’s Eve fireworks display last night.
At midnight, the annual celebration to usher in the new year once again saw the centre of London adorned in lights, fireworks and music to reflect on some of the biggest news and trends of the old year alongside optimism for the 12 months ahead.
This time, that included a section where the London Eye – itself celebrating its 25th birthday – was cloaked in the distinctive shade of lime green that came to dominate 2024’s Brat Summer, while the strains of the album’s track ‘Apple’ rang out. Text reading “london” in the album’s signature lower-case typeface was also projected onto the big wheel.
See the excerpt from the display below, and find the entire fireworks show via BBC iPlayer here.
The full brat-themed fireworks section at the London Eye💚💚 pic.twitter.com/HuUeRIVqMs
— xcx source (@xcxsource) January 1, 2025
Other moments of 2024 to be referenced in the celebration included the Summer Olympics in Paris, England’s run to the final of Euro 2024 and the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The soundtrack included a number of the year’s biggest hits, including Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ and Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’, as well as some older tracks that had notable resurgences in 2024, such as Natasha Bedingfield’s ‘Unwritten’ and Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’.
Reflecting on her big year, Charli recently shared her original ‘Brat’ manifesto from 2023 in a series of screenshots, revealing the detail of her ambitions for the album’s concept, execution and promotion ahead of its release.
Writing about her vision for the album’s design, she wrote: “The artwork for ‘Brat’ will be obnoxious, arrogant and bold. Some people will hate it. It will be heavily text based, either font on a plain background or some kind of painting on a wall or disregarded object.”
The release of ‘Brat’, her sixth studio album, saw an unprecedented surge in popularity for the pop singer, resulting in successful arena tours, including a co-headlining tour with Troye Sivan.
Charli also has a busy year planned for 2025. As well as headlining Primavera, she has been confirmed as the first headliner for next year’s Parklife and she will also curate a day at London’s LIDO Festival, where she will deliver a bill-topping performance.
Additionally, she will play two outdoor shows in Belfast and Dublin, perform at Coachella 2025, and, on top of that, she’s also announced a US arena tour for April and May. You can purchase any remaining tickets for that here.
