I was looking for something to watch as I finalized my end of year apartment deep clean when YouTube recommended the entirety of Bratz Rock Angels. How could I resist?
In Bratz Rock Angels, Jade was trying to live her dream working at Your Thing magazine. After her dreams are crushed due to the Tweevil’s sabotaging her, she emotionally tells her friends of the horrible three hours she had. It’s then that they come up with the idea to create their own music and fashion magazine. They somehow had enough money to purchase an office space in the same building as Your Thing and rummage through the invitations Jade swiped from Burdine Maxwell’s (the Editor-in-Chief, Founder, and reigning queen of Your Thing magazine) trash. They found an exclusive invitation to the opening of the most anticipated punk club in London. I don’t know how they got their parent’s permission to book a flight, but they did. And they had the adventure of a lifetime (I won’t spoil the movie for those who want to see it).
It was during the first 15 minutes of it when I thought, “Did I subconsciously start a music magazine because of this movie?” It was my favorite as a child. I played the video game on PlayStation 2 so many times I could memorize the character’s lines (I never completed the game, mainly because I didn’t have enough memory on the built-in card). I still remember driving around their silver convertible with a working built-in radio. The movie was on repeat so many times I scratched the DVD. Bratz was my favorite franchise, and it still continues to be my fashion inspiration.
Its been so long since I’ve seen the movie. The excitement on those girls’ faces after they finished decorating their office space and pitched ideas to each other reflected my same feelings when I created Cut It Out in 2019. They were raw, they wanted to share the “scoop” on cutting edge music and culture. I unintentionally made an magazine with an almost similar aesthetic to Bratz, and I didn’t realize until now. The tagline for Cut It Out is “showcasing artists going against the norm.” This is the exact mantra the Bratz went for when creating their publication. We both distributre print issues. There are just too many coincidences.
I won’t be let into an exclusive club in London by Simon Cowell anytime soon. Nor will I be in a five-piece band where everyone sings and plays guitar (no other instruments are on stage). But I have had some amazing experiences while running this mag. Maybe the next print issue should replicate that 2000s aesthetic? I think we can pull it off.
