Charli XCX brought all her charisma, chaos, and club kid energy to her set at Coachella 2025, lighting up the main stage during Saturday night’s festivities.
While BRAT summer has long since ended (or has it?), the set proved that the attention-grabbing album still has plenty of runway; the Grammy winner played a number of cuts from the LP, while also welcoming a trio of special guests. Her “Sweat Tour” collaborator Troye Sivan popped in for “Talk Talk”; Lorde made a surprise cameo to join Charli for the “Girl, so confusing” remix; and Billie Eilish appeared for a rendition of the “Guess” remix.
Elsewhere in the set, Charli performed songs including “Von dutch,” “Apple,” “Sympathy is a knife,” “365,” and “Track 10.” She closed the show with “I Love It,” before displaying a video message suggesting that BRAT summer may not be over after all:
“Thank you so much Coachella. Does this mean that Brat Summer is finally over????? idk? Maybe? yes cuz duh it was already over like last year. wait…was it? NO??? i don’t know who i am if it’s over??? FUCKKKKKKKK wait…i remembered…i’m charli. and honestly i just want moment to last forever. Please don’t let it be over.”
While much of the production behind her set has remained the same from her prior BRAT performances, it’s nonetheless entrancing; in fact, its minimalist, urgent aesthetic served as an antithesis to Lady Gaga’s big-budget theatricality showcased the night before. No costume changes, no backup dancers, no banter — just “Club Brat” for 55 minutes.
Meanwhile, Charli had expressed some nervousness about the last time she played Coachella in 2023, feeling pressure to perform more for the livestream than for her fans in the crowd. But her 2025 set seemed to marry those two modes brilliantly. The camera was another character in the set, echoing the frenetic pace of her music and the sharp cinematography of her videos; all the while, the crowd was electrified, enamored, transfixed, and partying like we’d never get to see Charli again.
In a way, it really felt like the definitive BRAT performance. Which is why her closing statement was, frankly, a little bizarre. It should have ended with “Wait… I remembered… I’m Charli,” a reaffirming message that it’s on us to catch up to her, a quality that made the charged tenor of BRAT so refreshing. But ending her set by begging the crowd to keep the spirit of “BRAT Summer” alive is a peculiar moment of vulnerability from Charli.
I keep thinking of the wording behind “Please don’t let it be over,” with the image of burning carnage behind it on the massive Coachella screens. How far can this ethos really be taken? At what point does the hedonistic glow begin to fizzle out? When does the comedown start — in Trump’s America, has it already begun? How can Charli reinvent herself again after achieving what she’s been striving for since 2012? I have a feeling Charli is asking herself all of these questions, and she doesn’t have any answers yet. So she’s asking we keep those plates spinning in the air for her as she plots her next move: Acting? Motherhood? Another BRAT sequel? Retirement? Time will tell, and luckily, time is the one thing her audience can afford to give her. After all, she deserves it, and this performance was proof.
Charli XCX’s Coachella performance arrives ahead of string of additional 2025 festival appearances, including Glastonbury, LIDO Festival in London, and Parklife in Manchester. She’ll also spend the rest of the spring on the road with the “BRAT 2025 Arena Tour,” which features stops in Austin, Minneapolis, Rosemont, and Brooklyn. Her “Sweat” tour with Troye Sivan was one of the best live shows of last year, so get tickets for her upcoming tour here to keep the party going.
Ever the busy woman, Charli is also stepping into a chapter filled with acting gigs, including a new A24 film titled The Moment. Until her big-screen moment officially arrives, learn how to grab last-minute tickets to Coachella here, and see why we named BRAT our favorite album of 2024.
