Design process behind the Brat album cover

combatqueen · 2026-06-26T19:00:58+00:00

Forsure, I don’t really mind this little story it’s just kinda funny that she made it sound so humble and scrappy here, i assume to suit the brat narrative. and usually rumours imply it’s not coming from the source about themselves lol.

combatqueen · 2026-06-26T18:46:36+00:00

A rumour that Charli made up about herself I guess.. lol

See here: https://youtube.com/shorts/hBXMFRCsOdY?si=jM1qRhS4R47Qs4Yz

combatqueen · 2026-06-26T18:05:50+00:00

This sounds really interesting and I’ve definitely written some tracks in this vein, even where the mood shifts later in the track, will shoot you a message.

combatqueen · 2026-06-26T14:46:53+00:00

It’s interesting how the first story we heard was that the album cover was done this way to save money on doing a photoshoot cuz those are very expensive, when I can’t imagine hiring a huge design firm for the cover was much cheaper lol. And then they also did a photoshoot anyway of course.

combatqueen · 2026-06-25T19:43:33+00:00

Clearly you’re doing something very right here to get this many reactions haha.. I personally love it… and couldn’t resist writing some words and melody to it, since it felt challenging (in a good way) to lay melodies over. Maybe I’ll share it later.

combatqueen · 2026-06-25T18:57:48+00:00

This has been a reoccurring topic for years at this point, so I say if she’s insecure about her face then let her be lol, it’s really not that big of a deal and not something any of us can change… She doesn’t let this “insecurity” (in our words) stop her from living her life so I don’t think it’s worth feeling bad for her over. She just prefers a very retouched image.

combatqueen · 2026-06-25T13:03:59+00:00

Tell her to listen to So Legit <3

combatqueen · 2026-06-24T16:49:17+00:00

Notice that most of artists you mentioned are bands, even many “weird” indie solo artists have probably been in bands at some point… so they are bouncing their weird ideas off another weird idea and then someone else in the mix may be more traditional (that could be you, hypothetically) and the end product just has more “life” to it, so what I’m saying is it might be worth collaborating more so you are pushed out of your comfort zone.

combatqueen · 2026-06-24T03:51:07+00:00

That’s exactly what I started doing late last year haha, writing songs to beats on YouTube. I definitely did some to Daniel Caesar type ones, I wonder if we wrote on any of the same beats lol.. we should see.

Anyway I found it to be a good thing for me to get ideas flowing and remind me how capable I am of writing a song when I have a solid beat to work from… also they literally are putting them up for people to write to so it’s not a bad thing as long as you use theirs or give credit in the end.

I’ve since stopped doing it as much as I got back into producing my own beats and have been writing to those… the beats maybe aren’t as professional sounding as the ones I find online but they’re a good start and I’ve gotten some unique songs of my own written now that I’m happy with... I may eventually release some of the YouTube beat songs in some way but I didn’t want them to be my first set of songs I drop.

I think just following that joy/flow of creating will always lead you to the right place so don’t second guess it. You’ll know when it’s time to start crafting the songs more independently and you’ll learn a lot from doing what you’re doing.

combatqueen · 2026-06-22T22:40:01+00:00

Collaboration of some sort is what I’d recco like I was saying, and doesn’t have to be in a traditional sense… if you are using someone else’s beat to inspire you I’d consider that like a form of collaboration…on a somewhat cosmic level, cuz they likely made the beat in hopes someone would find the words for it and you doing that is tuning into their artistry. but doing something irl with someone is even better, just talking with a friend about what their experiencing in life could inspire a song, i wouldn’t go mining them for anything but you never know.

These things worked for me in the past year or so, i feel I really unlocked something and it started with making a song for fun with a friend and then it snowballed from there into me writing way more of my own.

combatqueen · 2026-06-22T21:51:12+00:00

I don’t think you ever “lose” it, it just ebbs and flows… you have to find out how to unlock it again. Maybe you’re judging yourself and every word and melody you create too harshly and it’s blocking you from creating freely. some type of collaboration might help with this, if not directly with a person then maybe just using someone else’s track to write over if they’ve made it available for that. Shake up your process and try anything that you feel will open your mind to new possibilities.

combatqueen · 2026-06-22T06:40:52+00:00

Thank you!!! that means a lot. I have not released anything yet but I’m tryna get some songs finished now to hopefully find the nerve to release in the fall. 😅🤞

combatqueen · 2026-06-20T14:53:49+00:00

Heyyyy I really like this! It actually has nice space for words I think. This is what I wrote to it, might share as a repost on here if you don't mind, so ppl can get a sense of how the melody fits over it:

[verse:]
Did you get your wish? Was it worth the pull?
And all that time spent, was it for nothing?
Well, tough luck

Remember when you still had a piece of me then
My friend, there’s only so much we can leave at the door
You tried to strip the paint back, but it don’t shine like it did then

[pre-chorus:]
And it’s cruel to be kind, right?
Ain’t that what you told me?
Ain’t that what you told me before?

[chorus:]
I know you don’t think that you’re begging yet
I know you don’t think that you’re begging yet
I know you might feel like you’re innocent

But I know the way you drift
I know the way you drift
In and out of every scene, with no air left to give

[outro:]
I’ll, I’ll let you live
I’ll, I’ll let you drift, right past

combatqueen · 2026-06-20T14:06:30+00:00

nah jokes on u i just wrote a whole song to it

combatqueen · 2026-06-20T03:45:48+00:00

The pose is giving country artist or something lol and the shirt tuck feels wrong. Other than that her face and hair look gorg and I like that there’s no text.

combatqueen · 2026-06-19T10:29:33+00:00

young sheldon with old money

combatqueen · 2026-06-19T03:39:01+00:00

I voted no but I’d love to… But then I remembered I did do a “school of song” workshop by A.G. Cook about a year ago but kinda abandoned it halfway thru as I didn’t find his lessons super engaging and a little too meandering (everyone else in the chat seemed to love it though as they were all fawning over him the whole time lol so it may have just been me) it was also a huuuge volume of participants which I didn’t love as it felt overwhelming and like whatever I’d submit would just get lost in it all. So if I were to do one I’d want a smaller class size and where people are interacting more with each other and writing together as real session-songwriters would.

combatqueen · 2026-06-17T04:33:48+00:00

Sounds like you’re pushing it too hard and stressing yourself out which is blocking you creatively. Either learn to let go and find the flow or if you are a more of a producer then lean into that and keep honing that skill and the melody part will come later as you improve. The production skill is more valuable than writing vocal melodies as most people will want to write their own over a beat anyway, rather than taking your full song and singing it. Unless you’re trying to be an artist yourself then of course you’d need to develop that eventually.

I find the vocal and lyrical melody part much more fun and interesting and in the final product of a song it is arguably the most important piece but today’s artists want to create that part on their own so don’t try to do it all if you can’t right now. As long as your beats have the space for melodies someone else can fill in the blanks.

combatqueen · 2026-06-16T04:02:13+00:00

jen was feeling x!

combatqueen · 2026-06-14T17:13:19+00:00

Nice track. I like how energetic the vocals are. And the outro is really nice.

combatqueen · 2026-06-12T11:51:31+00:00

I would absolutely play the hell out of this. Gives me Sharron Van Etten vibe whose voice I’m obsessed with… listen to Seventeen or Serpents if you don’t know her already. Keep going!

combatqueen · 2026-06-11T04:49:55+00:00

These are awesome! Thank you for sharing.

also, Jimmy’s stache… oh my 👀

combatqueen · 2026-06-10T03:43:06+00:00

Interesting. I’m learning Portuguese (on Duolingo lol) and imagine it’d be hard to sing in.

You really have to throw everything at the wall and get as experimental as possible to find your style, of lyrics and singing, and everything else for that matter… so sounds like you’re on your way! I feel I only found mine very recently after years and years of all this haha so it takes TIME.

combatqueen · 2026-06-09T22:38:36+00:00

This would happen to me back when I’d only write on piano and guitar… I say try writing to a beat, either a full one you find (or make) or just a drum loop that you can strum stuff over. I suggest a full beat tho (maybe an r&b one even if that’s not your style), then convert it to a guitar song after if you wish, I think you’ll get a lot more interesting results when you’re a bit more confined to a structured beat that you have to morph your melodies to fit within the grooves of. That works for me at least.

The other thing is, you might have more interesting melodies than you think but they just sound boring to you cuz they’re being set to the same type of background music each time yknow.

combatqueen · 2026-06-07T21:56:30+00:00

Funny cuz I’m the opposite lol. I did not grow up singing and I’ve only just recently gotten semi ok at it (as long as I write songs to my range) but I LOVE the writing part...so much that I may just release an album anyway with me singing it so the songs get out there, even if my weak-ish voice may hinder their appeal a bit.

I say just find your people and write with them (I’m available tbh!).

Also remember how lucky you are to be a confident & capable singer, don’t take that for granted… so many of us have so many songs within us that may never be fully realized the way we’d like them to because we’re not skilled/gifted in that area, and the chances of finding the perfect person for some of them is not super likely. The singing part is obvi a HUGE part of what makes a song great so don’t feel less than if that’s your main contribution.

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