The queen of BimboTok is back with a banger. On Friday, Chrissy Chlapecka released the colorful video for her song “Brat,” inspired by the iconic makeover scenes in the best Nineties movies, and featuring drag queens Sugar and Spice.
“It’s campy, it’s fun. It’s a Nineties makeover montage, which is the most iconic part of every Nineties or 2000s movie! Sugar and Spice basically Bratzify me,” Chalpecka tells Rolling Stone. “It’s about becoming a little bratty bitch and stepping into your anger and rightful emotions.”
The Michael Arellano-directed video follows Chlapecka as she undergoes a transformation from being a “plain Jane, doll-like girl” who can’t move on her own and is “very stuck” to getting out of her shell and embodying her full power through the help of Sugar and Spice.
“Growing up I was so conditioned to not feel things and always put that smile on and literally be a plastic doll,” Chlapecka says. “In ‘Brat,’ it shows that difference in how much cooler I became after the people around me hype me up.”
Despite the song’s silly, upbeat nature, Chlapecka says the lyrics were inspired by something more serious. The lyrics are a reflection of the power she wishes she had the night prior when she says she was assaulted.
“It was inspired by a not-so-wonderful experience I went through the night before and the things I wish I said when I was assaulted,” she says. “It’s about all the things I wish I said: I wouldn’t touch a man with a ten-foot pole or I wouldn’t give a fuck if you’re bleeding.”
The video was directed by the “fucking phenomenal” Arellano, who DM’d one of Chlapecka’s songwriters saying that he was interested in working with her. “It just started with him believing in me,” she says. “He changed my mindset from being really anxious in my career to ‘Wait, I’ve got this.’”
The video stars Chlapecka’s friends, RuPaul‘s Drag Race queens Sugar and Spice, whom she connected with thanks to their dominance over BimboTok. She first met the twins during their performance at the legendary queer bar Roscoe’s in Chicago, where Chlapecka lived.
“Once I moved to LA, they instantly took me under their wing. They really made sure I didn’t feel lonely coming here which was so sweet,” she says. “They’re two of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” Spice even did her makeup for the visual.
Chalpecka made a splash with her debut single “I’m So Hot” earlier this year, and has led a movement to reclaim the term “bimbo” to be one of self-empowerment. Chlapecka has also released tracks like the Britney Spears-reminiscent “Alpha” and WeHo bar-ready “Head Bitch.”