Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you’ve likely heard the term ‘brat’ being used as a defining, thematic word that is used to describe none other than Summer 2024. Over the course of the past few months, ‘brat summer’ has been taking over pop culture and politics alike; a fever-dream aesthetic crafted by none other than British singer Charli XCX. The pop sensation released her latest album, “Brat” On June 7, 2024 — just in time for warm weather and patio day drinking. Soon thereafter claiming this sixth album would be her most “confrontational, but vulnerable”, the cover became all the rage, unofficially marking lime green as the colour of the summer.
The 15-track album has since been turned into a massive marketing campaign, even a lifestyle, embraced by Gen Z-ers and Millenials across the world. The album, which acts as an ode to nostalgia, nihilistic feelings, insecurity and an F-it attitude, is a mix of sounds sure to get the ultimate Party Girl’s seal of approval. The trend, brat, defines itself with ‘cool-girl style’ and party aesthetics; chaos in the midst of opportunity, some would say. Honest and blunt, it’s brat. And so with that came the ‘Brat Summer.’ Recent Tiktok trends emerged, specifically a dance centred around the singers’ hit song ‘Apple’ that, shockingly, almost didn’t make the album. In its first month, however, the song “saw“ 55.5 Million streams and is considered the album’s ‘breakthrough’ track. The choreography, thought up by longtime Charli XCX fan Kelley Heyer, has taken the internet by storm. The middle-school angst comes out in this dance, perfectly embodying the messy, wild, luxurious brat summer trend in the best kind of way.
Since the album has come out, Charli has re-recorded and re-released songs off the album. ‘Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not’ recontextualizes the album as a whole. Charli has even collaborated with Lorde and Billie Eilish in an effort to reconstruct her popular songs in different ways. Needless to say, these collabs are unique and totally worthy of being named the best pop hits of the summer.
At some point during this whole thing, Vice President Kamala Harris came in hot, fully immersed in the brat trend. Based on a tweet from Charli XCX herself that reads ‘Kamala IS brat’, the notable VP and her team gained a lot of exposure once they began to embrace the brat memes. Harris leaned heavily into this trend coined by Charli by rebranding her socials in the true lime green colour and a low resolution Arial font that Charli claims ‘is so brat.’ Thanks to Charli, Harris has begun to appeal to a younger fanbase, gaining their support and improved social traction and recognition since this campaign started.
Some pop critics were quick to note that the ‘brat summer’ trend is the opposing party and long-lost relative of the ‘clean girl aesthetic’ trend — users were quick to jump on that bandwagon with a minimalistic aesthetic, paired with french chrome and a slickback. Already, a meme from a Tiktok by Jools Lebron came about— the tiktoker talked about making her makeup ‘very demure, very mindful’, and since then, her catchphrase has gone viral; the overused word ‘demure’ looks like it will be taking a front seat heading into the colder seasons, leaving brat on the backburner. This refined Y2K trend seems like it might be coming to an end — or will it?