OLIVIA J. BENNETT

I’m an arts writer, researcher and critic based in Australia, open to commissions and collaborations.

I also work as a freelance communications specialist across brand, content and cultural strategy.

If you’d like to see my portfolio or chat about a project, feel free to get in touch.

Gertrude Contemporary Emerging Writers Program | 2020
Melbourne International Film Festival’s Critics Campus | 2019

BRAT

Charli XCX

Written by Olivia J. Bennett
Edited by Isabella Trimboli
Published in print by The Big Issue AU
Issue #715 | 05 July 2024

With over a decade under her belt, the people’s party princess Charli XCX’s Brat has firmly secured her position in pop’s hall of fame. Rallying a 19-piece girl gang of pop culture’s off-kilter elite for the launch of headline track "360," Charli defines a unique vision of womanhood. Not one to mince words, the album captures the silly, sad, sexy, and sensational feelings of being a girl while delicately reinventing genre-worn tropes. Featuring nasty synths, electro-disco beats, frenetic bass, and 00s earworms, all supported by producer A.G. Cook, it’s a masterclass in modern pop. From the anxieties of missing out on motherhood in “I think about it all the time” (I think I might run out of time / But I finally met my baby / And a baby might be mine), to “Girl, so confusing” exploring the compassionate competitiveness of female friendships, to “So I” paying a painfully honest tribute to late collaborator SOPHIE, and “Guess” exploiting the playful power dynamics of desire, Charli struck untouched chords with this decade-defining album.