This year, the name of the brash, formerly underground pop star Charli XCX and her album “Brat” showed up a lot of places I never in my wildest dreams expected: the floor of the Democratic National Convention; Fox News and CNN (“I will aspire to be

Blake Lively, Kaia Gerber and Kim Kardashian took pictures under the lights, posing against a backdrop of more than 200 restored street lamps from “Urban Light,” an installation by the artist Chris Burden that served as a stand-in for a red carpet.

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Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifiermanila game, a twice-weekly