Music analysis: The Bratz soundtracks that deserved to escape the DVD menu
Nostalgia has become one of Gen Z's favourite pastimes, writes Music News Blitz’s Victoria Bruwer.
Whether it's rediscovering old shows or replaying the songs that soundtracked our childhoods, there's something comforting about revisiting the early 2000s.
Many of the biggest hits from that era have found a second life thanks to social media, with forgotten tracks becoming viral sounds and introducing a whole new generation to the music.
But while we've spent years celebrating the fashion, films and pop stars of the 2000s, there's one soundtrack that deserves far more recognition than it gets: the music from the Bratz movies.
Every baddie knows the girls with a passion for fashion, an iconic group of Yasmin, Sasha, Jade and Cloe.
Yet somehow, the music has remained trapped in the "kids' movie soundtrack" category.
And that's unfortunate, because it had absolutely no business being this good.
The soundtrack with main pop girl energy
Today, Bratz has just under 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Considering how influential the franchise remains in fashion, beauty and internet culture, that number feels surprisingly small.
The music has a range of pop rock, teen pop and R&B, genres that completely defined the early 2000s. The songs capture that unmistakable Y2K feeling that people actively search for today.
Tracks from albums like Rock Angelz (2005), Forever Diamondz (2006) and the Bratz: Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007) feel like time capsules from one of pop music's most colourful eras.
If someone told you these songs came from an unreleased album by Christina Aguilera, The Pussycat Dolls or another early-2000s pop act, you probably wouldn't question it.
It wasn't just good, it was chart-worthy
The Bratz weren't just throwing together background music.
The virtual band released six soundtrack albums, three compilation albums, an EP, multiple singles and music videos throughout the franchise's peak.
Their debut single, ‘Show Me What You Got,’ even featured BoA alongside Howie D from the Backstreet Boys, while another release featured Christina Milian.
Their first soundtrack, Rock Angelz, reached No. 79 on the Billboard 200 and charted internationally across Australia, Norway and the UK.
Its standout single, ‘So Good,’ became an international hit, reaching the Top 5 in Norway and earning a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Song for a Children's Animated Show.
Those aren't the achievements of music that lacked quality.
They're the achievements of music that simply carried the wrong label.
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Maybe the cartoon held it back
It's difficult not to wonder what would've happened if these exact songs had been released by a real-life pop star instead of animated dolls.
Would ‘So Good’ now sit alongside Britney Spears classics on Y2K playlists?
Would people be making TikToks to ‘My Attitude’ and ‘You’ve Got It’ the same way they rediscovered songs from Natasha Bedingfield, The Pussycat Dolls or The Veronicas?
Without a doubt!
Unfortunately, because the songs were attached to children's films, many listeners dismissed them before even giving them a chance.
People heard "Bratz soundtrack" rather than simply hearing good pop music.
That perception may have stopped these songs from becoming the timeless throwback anthems they deserved to be.
More than just a guilty pleasure
The funny thing about relistening to the Bratz soundtracks as an adult is realising they genuinely hold up.
It feels less like children's movie music and more like a playlist you'd hear while getting ready with your friends before a night out, dancing around your bedroom with a hairbrush microphone or imagining yourself starring in your own coming-of-age movie.
They're catchy and make you feel glamorous, the fantasy many young girls bought into when they watched the movies.
Maybe that's why so many fans still return to them years later.
Not ironically.
But because they're genuinely enjoyable.
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Give the Bratz girls their flowers
When we think about iconic throwback music, our minds jump to Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child, Alicia Keys, Nelly Furtado and countless other pop legends who defined the decade.
They absolutely deserve their place.
The Bratz albums may never have received the same mainstream recognition, yet they captured the same energy that made the era unforgettable.
So the next time you're feeling nostalgic, don't just revisit the dolls, the fashion or the movies.
Revisit the music.
Because if these songs had been released outside of a cartoon, there's every chance we'd be calling them Y2K classics today.
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