We may be coming out of Brat Summer , where Charli XCX’s lime-green hedonism defined the season – but it’s also been the summer of the defiant “childless cat lady”. The insult Trump’s running mate JD Vance flung at Kamala Harris came back to hit him in the face, with women everywhere celebrating being child-free (and loving their cats.) Last month, even the world’s most famous popstar claimed the epithet: under an Instagram post signalling her support for Harris , Taylor Swift signed off “Childless Cat Lady”.
While you might assume there’s a gulf between “brat” and “childless cat lady”, nestled near the end of Charli xcx’s album there is actually a song that closes the gap. “I think about it all the time” explores the question of whether or not to have children – less Brat energy, more 31-year-old woman getting existential about her fertility window. Charli sings about holding a friend’s baby and wondering: “Should I stop my birth control?/ Cause my career feels so small/ In the existential scheme of it all”.
Her acknowledgement of how huge and ever-present this decision is for women in their thirties feels very real. As does the questioning tone of the track, turning over the pros and cons of having a baby: “Would it give my life a new purpose?” “Would it make me miss all my freedom?” Charli nails the uncertainty that chases around the minds of thirty-something women who are constantly told their fertility is about to fall of.
