| 360 | |
| Alt: | A woman with long black wavy hair and a defiant look kneels on the floor, her white skirt high enough that her pink panties are visible. |
| Type: | single |
| Cover: | Charli XCX - 360.png |
| Artist: | Charli XCX |
| Album: | Brat |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 2:13 |
| Label: | Atlantic |
| Producer: | |
| Prev Title: | Von Dutch |
| Prev Year: | 2024 |
| Next Title: | Guess |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
"360" is a song by English singer Charli XCX. It was released on 10 May 2024 through Atlantic Records as the second single from her sixth studio album, Brat, wherein it was included as the opening track. Featuring minimalistic electropop and hyperpop production by A. G. Cook and Cirkut and deadpan singing by Charli XCX, its boastful, tongue-in-cheek lyrics make references to her musical career, her reverence in the music industry, and her friends Julia Fox and Gabbriette. Its Aidan Zamiri-directed music video stars an ensemble cast of online "it girl" influencers, models, and actresses, including Fox, Gabbriette, Rachel Sennott, and Chloë Sevigny, and begins with a skit in which they meet at dinner to find a "new hot Internet girl".
"360" was critically acclaimed for its catchiness and memorable lyrical catchphrases—the latter of which, particularly "I'm so Julia", were the subjects of Internet memes, merchandising, and critical analysis—and nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Its music video received similar praise, winning the UK Music Video Award for Video of the Year and earning nominations for an MTV Video Music Award, an MTV Europe Music Award, and the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. "360" also peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart and at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Charli XCX performed "360" live as part of the Sweat tour, her co-headlining tour with Troye Sivan, as well as on an episode of Saturday Night Live that she hosted and as part of a surprise set in Times Square. It was also remixed by Aminé and covered by Tourist and Blossoms, both for BBC Radio 1, while an official remix of "360" featuring Swedish singer Robyn and Swedish rapper Yung Lean was released on 31 May 2024. Critics commended it for Robyn's verses but some criticized it for its underutilization of Robyn.
"360" was released on 10 May 2024 through Atlantic Records as the second single after "Von Dutch" from her sixth studio album, Brat, and fourth single from the album overall following the promotional single release for her songs "Club Classics" and "B2B".[1] Brat was released on 7 June 2024 and "360" appears as its opening track.[2] [3]
Charli XCX first played "360" during a pop-up event in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where, in early May 2024, she danced to the song on top of an SUV in front of a wall featuring the shade of green featured on the cover art for Brat. The wall, which later became known as the "brat wall", was later painted with a lyric from "360" ("i'm your fav reference") in June 2024.[4] [5] T-shirts based on the lyrics of "360" were also sold on Charli XCX's website starting in July 2024.[6]
"360" is a hyperpop,[7] synth-pop,[8] [9] and electropop song, which was produced by her longtime collaborator A. G. Cook and Canadian record producer Cirkut and written by Charli XCX with Blake Slatkin and Omer Fedi.[10] [11] It has minimalistic, synth-led production and Charli rap-sings on it in a deadpan tone.[12] Written in common time in the key of C major, it runs for two minutes and 13 seconds at 120 beats per minute.[13] [14] Natalie Zannikos of Elle compared the song's instrumental opening to a ringtone.[15]
Its lyrics revolve around Charli XCX's attractiveness, egocentrism, vanity, and self-empowerment.[16] [17] The Daily Beasts Coleman Spilde described the song as a "hot girl hymn".[18] The song opens with the lyric "I went my own way and I made it/I'm your favorite reference, baby", which Hannah Mylrea of NME detailed as an avowal of Charli XCX's "self-confidence, celebration and the knowledge of the place [she] holds in the musical landscape" and which Laura Snapes of The Guardian called "indicative of her cult status" and her "wealth of lore".[19] [20] She also "venomously" sings in another verse, "If you love it, if you hate it/I don't fucking care what you think".[21] Spilde surmised that the lyric was Charli XCX's way of expressing that "she couldn't be more tired of critics conflating her ego-inflated persona with the quality of her music".
Its further lyrics reference several of her colleagues and friends:[22] Cook ("You gon' jump if A. G. made it"); model Gabbriette ("Call me Gabbriette, you're so inspired"), the lead singer of the disbanded punk rock band Nasty Cherry—whose formation by Charli XCX was covered in the Netflix docuseries —and fiancée to Matty Healy, Charli XCX's fiancé George Daniel's bandmate in the 1975;[23] and, in the song's chorus, actress Julia Fox ("I'm everywhere, I'm so Julia"), who rose to prominence with a role in the 2019 film Uncut Gems and for her highly publicized relationship with Kanye West.[24] [25] In a 2023 interview with Fox, Charli XCX told her that the latter lyric was "about how [Fox] started every trend of 2022".[26] Matthew Kim, for The Line of Best Fit, wrote that the confident lyrics of "360" "sound less like re-affirmations of [Charli XCX's] greatness and more like attempts to convince herself of it" within the context of Brat, which he called "easily the most insecure, dark album Charli has ever released".[27] Abigail Firth, for Dork, also wrote that the "cocky and cunty" atmosphere of "360" is shown to "serve as a facade" based on the insecurities she expresses throughout the rest of the album.[28]
Jason P. Frank of Vulture and Thom Donovan of American Songwriter both praised "360" as "one of the best pop songs of the year", with Frank calling it "a sonic sugar rush" and Donovan writing that it "may be her best yet".[29] For Pastes review of Brat, Eric Bennett named "360" "an all-timer in her catalog already" due to its "simple but thrilling beat", over which Charli XCX "absolutely floats" with an "icy, disaffected cool". Meaghan Garvey of Pitchfork, in a positive review of Brat, opined that "360" was "her best pure pop tune in ages", with Billboards Kyle Denis referring to it as a "delicious pure-pop opener" and Andrew Unterberger, also for Billboard, calling it "impressively kinetic".[30] [31] [32] For The Daily Beast, Coleman Spilde wrote that "360" was "a lyrical masterclass in hotness" and "an intensive on vanity so hyper-focused that it could be taught at the Learning Annex". For The New York Times, Lindsay Zoladz acclaimed "360" as "wryly funny", "deliriously catchy", and "endlessly quotable". Elles Natalie Zannikos called "360" "an absolute electro-pop ear-worm" with a "sort of inescapable catchiness".
In a review of Brat, Rolling Stones Brittany Spanos called "360" and "Club Classics", the second track on Brat, a "one-two punch" of "bouncy ragers" that were reminiscent of "classic club hits, the kind that don’t do more than tell you to free your mind and keep dancing".[33] Describing it as an "it-girl anthem", Lucas Martins of Beats Per Minute complimented "360" on its "watertight groove", its "undeniably catchy hook", and its lyrics, which, he wrote, "show Charli unafraid to revel in her impact". Dakota West Foss of Sputnikmusic also called its hook "catchy" and "cutesy".[34] For The Independent, Olivia Petter called "360" an "undisputed banger... that make[s] you want to wriggle and bop into the wee hours".[35] Emily Bootle wrote for i that the song's lyrics "I'm so Julia" and "666 with a princess streak" were among the most memorable on Brat and contained tongue-in-cheek millennial irony.[36] Rod Liddle called "360" a "cute modern pop song" by which he was "taken for a moment" in his review of Brat for The Spectator.[37]
The song's lyric "I'm so Julia" also became a popular Internet meme and marketing phrase. It was used in a viral TikTok video edit of then–U.S. vice president Kamala Harris, made and posted by George Washington University student Aly McCormick in July 2024 and based around her "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?" speech, in the wake of her announcing her presidential campaign; it had over one and a half million views by late July.[38] [39] [40] [41] A remix of "360" featuring audio from the "coconut tree" speech also went viral on TikTok and gained over one million likes by August 2024.[42] "360" soundtracked a Marc Jacobs advertisement starring Gabbriette, model Alex Consani, and singer Clairo, among others, in August 2024.[43] The American Heart Association praised the song in September 2024 for being the right tempo at which to perform CPR on someone who has collapsed.
"360" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.[44]
Charli XCX performed "360" on her co-headlining U.S. tour with Troye Sivan, Sweat, which ran from September to October 2024.[45] She also performed the song as the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live on 16 November. Fox, whom Charli XCX asked to appear on the episode two weeks prior, introduced Charli XCX for her performance of the song, in which she performed the song wearing a Lou Reed t-shirt in front of a lime green screen.[46] [47] [48] She performed "360" again during a surprise live performance in Times Square later that month.[49]
"360" peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and on the Irish Singles Chart.[50], "360" is Charli XCX's 12th most commercially successful song on the UK Singles Chart. It debuted at number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week dated 22 June 2024 and peaked at number 41 for the week dated 17 August 2024, the same week that the remix version of Charli XCX's song "Guess" featuring Billie Eilish debuted on the chart.[51] Its American chart success coincided with the announcement of Harris's presidential campaign and Charli XCX tweeting "Kamala IS Brat".[52] It also peaked at number seven on Billboards Pop Airplay chart, making it her first top-ten on the chart since 2014, when her song "Boom Clap" topped the chart, and peaked at number two on Billboards Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, where it became her highest peak on the chart as a lead artist in June 2024.[53] [54] It debuted at number 70 on the Canadian Hot 100 for the week dated June 22, 2024.[55]
The accompanying satirical music video for "360" begins with a skit in which Charli XCX gets invited by Gabbriette to Skyferrori's Trattoria, a fictional restaurant referencing the username of Twitter user @skyferrori. Upon entering through the back door, she finds a group of models, actresses, and influencers, including Gabbriette, Fox, Rachel Sennott, Chloe Cherry, Salem Mitchell and Richie Shazam, all having dinner in order to pick a "new hot Internet girl" to fulfill a prophecy that would prevent their extinction. Charli XCX suggests Fox, to which Sennott replies, "Charli, that's literally Julia Fox," and Charli then picks a waitress, played by Instagram user @randomcontrol, at the restaurant instead. The women start giving vague instructions to the waitress on how to be a hot Internet girl, with Fox describing it as a "je ne sais quoi situation", Gabbriette, who is hitting a vape, telling her she needs to be "really hot in, like, a scary way", and Shazam saying she has to be "known, but at the same time unknowable", before Charli XCX turns around and begins performing the song.[56] [57]
Between several match cuts, Charli appears in various locations: at a gym, where she pours herself a glass of wine in a white tank top with no bra on[58] while she vibrates on a vibration plate and is accompanied by Sennott and Fox, who are unenthusiastically lifting weights and taking selfies; in a hospital hallway, where she straddles an old man in a gurney next to Gabbriette and Consani, both of whom are posing smoking cigarettes and posing next to her; in a photo booth next to actress Hari Nef and influencer Blizzy McGuire; and in the street, where influencers Emma Chamberlain and Quenlin Blackwell apathetically observe a car accident they just caused. Make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench also appears in the video. Toward the end, Chloë Sevigny exits a black Porsche 992 convertible[59] and tosses a cigarette into a garbage can, lighting its contents on fire, as she and Charli XCX strut down the street. The video ends with Sevigny, Charli XCX, and several other girls, including Tess McMillan, posing at the end of the street. The video also features appearances from Cook,[60] Anna Collins—the sister of photographer Petra Collins, who photographed Charli XCX's campaign for Skims—Matisse Andrews, Sakura Bready, Peri Rosenzweig and Niki Takesh.[61] [62] The video's cast also consists of multiple transgender women, including Nef, Consani, and McGuire.[63]
The video's aesthetic was described as "sleek" and comparable to a fashion photoshoot by Léa Zetlaoui of Numéro.[64] Matthew Velasco of W described the video cast as "a Mount Rushmore of internet cool girls".[65] Times Cady Lang wrote that Charli XCX had "summoned an Avengers-level cadre of 'It girls'" for the video, while Thom Waite of Dazed compared the video to a "parallel-universe production of Euphoria or a 2020s it girl twist on Girls".[66] [67]
A promotional teaser for the "360" music video was released days prior to its premiere.[68] Charli XCX hosted a screening for the video at Brain Dead Studios in West Hollywood.[69] The music video was written and directed by Aidan Zamiri and filmed from March 11 to 12, 2024.[70] [71] Charli XCX cast women who she "felt embodied the personality of the record" to star in the video. She described the atmosphere on-set as "silly vibes" with "a lot of TikToks"—many of which were filmed by Charli XCX's photographer, Terrence O'Connor—and "a lot of vaping".[72] Sevigny appeared in it in between filming for the Netflix series after a mutual friend between her and Charli XCX direct messaged her about the song and music video treatment. Despite not being familiar with Charli XCX, she agreed to make a cameo when she found out Sennott, who she was "in love with", would be in it.[73] According to Sevigny, she was instructed by Zamiri to "just act like a brat".[74] Styling was done by Chris Horan, Charli XCX's stylist since 2021. He based each of the girls' looks in the video, including an Yves Saint Laurent jumpsuit worn by Charli XCX, on elevated, "hot and bitchy" versions of their personal style, which he observed on their Instagram accounts. Brands featured in the video include Dion Lee, Knwls, Courrèges, Eytys, Vacquera, and Marni, the last of which was also worn by Charli XCX at the 2024 Met Gala. Art direction for the video was done by Grace Surnow.[75]
In an opinion piece on Brat for British Vogue, Mahoro Seward wrote in July 2024 that "everything that has unfolded since the first minute of Aidan Zamiri's masterful music video for '360'"—which he likened to "a vignette of what The Last Supper would have looked like if Jesus and his disciples were modern-day It-girls"—"amounts to a watershed moment in pop cultural history".[76] For Pitchforks review of Brat, Meaghan Garvey wrote that the video "feels heavy-handed but not unearned". The Observers Kate Mossman wrote that the video "locates [Charli XCX] at the cutting edge of internet culture" and "is almost designed to make people like me [Mossman] feel old". Olivia Petter of The Independent deemed the music video for "360" the introduction to the "brat identity", which she wrote was "fundamentally a celebration and interrogation of girlhood in all its complexities", and Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times called it "instantly iconic". Léa Zetlaoui, writing for Numéro, who named "360" one of the best music videos of 2024, wrote that Charli XCX's "show of self-confidence and individuality" in the video turned her "into a new icon of pop culture". The A.V. Clubs Drew Gillis wrote that "360" was "a pretty standard music video" that "does land one coup with the appearance of Chloë Sevigny".[77]
Social media users and critics compared its ensemble cast to that in Taylor Swift's 2015 music video for "Bad Blood", with Rhian Daly of NME opining that it "felt so much more cutting-edge and exciting" than "Bad Blood".[78] Marisa Aron, Atlantic's VP of marketing, called "360" "one of the most talked about music videos" of 2024.[79] It was nominated at the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Art Direction, at the Grammy Awards for Best Music Video, and the MTV Europe Music Awards for Best Video.[80] [81] It was also nominated for the UK Music Video Awards for Best Pop Video – UK, Best Styling in a Video, and Best Colour Grading in a Video, winning the awards for Video of the Year and Best Pop Video – UK.[82] [83]
The closing track of Brat, "365", is a remix of "360".[84] Nia Archives performed a jungle remix of "360" at Glastonbury Festival 2024. American rapper Aminé released his own remix of "360", titled "360.5" based on the titles of his mixtapes OnePointFive and TwoPointFive and featuring humorous lyrics over the song's original instrumental. It was released in July 2024 with a music video of Aminé on vacation in Ischia.[85] Also that month, British indie rock duo Wet Leg performed a cover of "360" at Truck Festival.[86] For BBC Radio 1, British record producer Tourist performed a piano cover of the song for the station's Piano Sessions series, with elements of the melody from the Artful Dodger song "Movin' Too Fast", in August 2024.[87] On BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in October 2024, the indie pop band Blossoms performed a jangle pop and new wave cover of "360", which ended with a cover of Stardust's 1998 single "Music Sounds Better with You" performed by Rick Astley.[88] [89] An unofficial mashup of "360" with the Fleetwood Mac song "Dreams" was shared online by both Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and by Charli XCX on her TikTok account.[90]
| 360 featuring Robyn and Yung Lean | |
| Cover: | Charli XCX, Robyn, Yung Lean - The 360 Remix with Robyn and Yung Lean (single cover).png |
| Border: | Yes |
| Type: | remix |
| Artist: | Charli XCX featuring Robyn and Yung Lean |
| Album: | Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat |
| Length: | 2:09 |
| Label: | Atlantic |
On 17 February 2023, producer Patrik Berger posted a picture on Instagram from a studio session with Charli XCX and Swedish singer Robyn.[91] When questioned about it on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Charli XCX described the experience of them working together as "amazing" and hinted at the possibility of their collaboration being released before Charli XCX's album Brat.[92] Yung Lean and Charli XCX had been friends prior to releasing the remix.[93]
Charli XCX recorded a remix of "360" featuring Robyn and Swedish rapper Yung Lean during her trip to Stockholm.[94] It was released on 31 May 2024, one week before Brats release.[95] It was the second Brat remix to be released, following a remix of "Von Dutch" featuring Cook and Addison Rae.[96] The "360" remix was included as the opening track of the remix album of Brat, Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat. The remix features braggadocios and retrospective lyrics from all three artists about their musical careers.[97] Robyn sings about her early start in the music industry ("I started so young, I didn't even have e-mail/Now my lyrics on your booby") and references the success of her 2010 song "Dancing on My Own" ("Killin' this shit since 1994/Got everybody in the club dancing on their own") and the Clash's 1979 album London Calling, while Yung Lean compares himself to "David Beckham in the noughties" in the first verse and quotes Tony Montana in the 1983 film Scarface with the lyric "Who do I trust? Me". Charli XCX also raps that she, Robyn, and Yung Lean are "three child stars out here doing damage" with a "really very special language", as all three began their music careers as teenagers.
Callum Foulds of The Line of Best Fit called the remix of "360" "delightfully whimsical" and Karen Gwee of NME called it "a showcase of Swedish excellence".[98] Billboards Katie Bain remarked that it shared the "head-bobbing bubbliness" of the original but turned it "into a breezy, frothy group hang".[99] Pastes Andy Steiner reviewed Robyn's verses positively, writing that she "delivers the line 'Killin' this shit since 1994/Got everybody in the club dancing on their own' with the confidence of someone who's met her own Brat moment with aplomb", and Andrew Unterberger similarly praised Robyn singing "I started so young, I didn't even have e-mail/Now my lyrics on your booby" as the remix's best lyric.[100] Stereogum named it the best song of the week of its release, with Danielle Chelosky writing that it "sounds like friends having fun, not at all forced or insincere" and praising Yung Lean's "effortlessly magnetic intonations", Robyn's "charming" verses, and Charli XCX's "monotone rap".[101] Conversely, Sal Cinquemani of Slant wrote that the remix of "360" "largely wasted" Robyn's contribution to the song and criticized it as "cluttered".[102] Jason P. Frank, for Vulture, picked the original "360" as the better version of the song, adding that Robyn getting less time than Yung Lean was "a little disappointing" considering that "Robyn has been inspiring Charli for years".
| Peak position | |
| Australia Dance (ARIA)[103] | 1 |
|---|---|
| Greece International (IFPI)[104] | 74 |
| Latvia Airplay (TopHit)[105] | 28 |
| Lithuania (AGATA)[106] | 86 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[107] | 33 |
| South Korea (Circle)[108] | 170 |
| Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)[109] | 3 |
| Peak position | ||
| New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[110] | 22 |
|---|
| Peak position | |
| Latvia Airplay (TopHit)[111] | 39 |
|---|---|