BY DERON DALTON
I’m not going to hold you. I missed “Brat Summer” in 2024. And needless to say, I regret that.
But don’t worry, I gave myself a Brat 2025—falling absolutely in love with this era of Charli XCX. And my admiration for Charli’s cuntiness came at a time when I thought I wasn’t going to let any other pop girlies into my kingdom of pop music royalty as a gay Black man in his mid-30s. My queens are set, I thought.
P.S. I love pop culture too much not to give newer or breakthrough pop girlies at least a shot. And I love a catchy pop bop, and okay—a dance track I can jig to.
But imagine my shock when I discovered my favorite bop from Charli’s “Brat” did not even make my top 100 most-played songs on my 2025 Spotify Wrapped. Charli’s “b2b” helped me dance through some dark times in 2025. The song that was produced in a lyrical loop remained in the top five of my “On Repeat” playlist throughout the year. I waited in anticipation, thinking “b2b” or Tate McRae’s “Sports Car” would take the top spot. But one song was nowhere to be found.
Here’s the background on how I found my way to Charli, how I fell in love with “b2b,” and what the hell happened to my Spotify Wrapped!
In 2024, when “Brat” became a thing, I was fighting for my financial life while I, funny enough, cut back on partying. I was looking for steadier full-time work outside of event bartending and serving, or app-based service gigs. I was far from finding my way “back to, back to, back to, back to” writing about pop culture, identity, social issues or anything journalistic.
Trust me, I still had some fun in the summer of 2024. But it just wasn’t this “Brat” summer for me that I kept seeing it in all those memes or hearing about from friends still in their ‘20s. Though in early 2025, I gave the instant club classic “360” repeated listens.
“Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat” came out in fall 2024, and by early 2025, I was bumping that. “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish caught me by the back of my neck; “Sympathy is a knife” featuring Ariana Grande became this lyrically relatable mid-tempo vibe; and “365” definitely sounded like an “amped up” version of “360.”
So it comes as no shock that any of these electronic-pop bops made it onto my Spotify Wrapped in 2025. Though the song that solidified me as a lifelong Charli’s Angel was missing from my Wrapped, leaving me confused and devastatedly pissed off. Enter “b2b,” the bop with a lyrical loop I mentioned earlier, which sent me down a rabbit hole, and I had to get to the bottom of it.
Why does this even matter, you ask? I’m glad you did. Well, I was really hoping my 2025 Wrapped would holistically showcase the insights in my listening data. As I said, the music I’ve been listening to has helped me get through some of the most challenging times in my life and continues to offer deep reflection on where I am and where I’m going.
Plus, I have been wanting to write about it for months! And I have written about it, as you, the reader, or I think I’ll call you all Pophearts, are reading it now, and you’re probably snickering as you read this part of my blog as I ramble. But you know what I mean? I wanted to write solely about the insights of my 2025 Spotify Wrapped and give the gurls the last listicle and playlist!
I wasn’t planning on writing about this weird narrative on how my data and insights got screwed up. Though it definitely makes for a more interesting story, and I’m still going to get to that listicle and playlist in any moment now.
While Beyoncé is still my “Alien Superstar” and “Renaissance” would still be cozy in the top five, new dance music and pop girlies will top this year’s lists. I was expecting a lighthearted showdown for the top spot.
Genius documented, in a loop on “b2b,” Charli sings:
“Back to, back to, back to, back to you I don’t wanna fall right back to us Maybe you should run right back to her I don’t wanna go back, back to.”
The song’s lyrics are simple yet impactful, helping me move on from past “situationships” and get over bad situations I’ve been in. I proclaimed, “I didn’t want to go back” to any of “that mess.”
Hence, “b2b” was an anthem for both self-reflection and moving forward.
So imagine the puzzling look on my face as I scrolled and couldn’t find it on my Wrapped. And I couldn’t let it go because I REALLY played that song. On Thursday, May 22, 2025, I sent one of my besties a screenshot of my number-one song on my “On Repeat” playlist, and it stayed among the most-played songs for the rest of the year.
Read more via Pop Queen Journal.