Charli xcx: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

“Now I swear this green is just everywhere,” Charli xcx jokes. The British pop star is sitting in a crisp leather seat within a black Mercedes-Benz van, a few minutes into the long journey across London from her home to Wembley Arena. Tonight, Charli will be making a surprise appearance at her friend, collaborator and soon-to-be tourmate Troye Sivan’s late-June concert there — but right now, she’s focused on the neon green hue of both the tissue box across the seat from her and my laptop case. Outside, I spot a car of the same color passing by, then a man in a neon green construction vest. Has this color always been so prominent, or are we only just now noticing it?

Everything about Charli’s sixth studio album, brat, released June 7 to massive critical acclaim and commercial success, started with its title and its cover: the now ubiquitous lime green square with “brat” printed on it in slightly blurred Arial font. Scrolling through her old texts later, Charli searches for the exact day when she came up with the cover art. “OK, found it,” she says finally, leaning in to share. “On March 16, 2022, I texted my friends, ‘I think it should just be one word on the album cover… Maybe it should be called brat.’ ” When she started writing the album’s music about six months later in Mexico City, she used the title as a jumping-off point for the attitude and brazenness she wanted each song to embody.

Read the full Billboard Charli xcx cover story here.