Ranking No. 3 on the Billboard music charts, the album “brat” by Charli xcx is more than the soundtrack to our summer. After “brat” released on June 7, the chaotic, high energy album became a viral sensation, and has transformed into an aesthetic and lifestyle trend called “brat summer. Brat summer has swarmed social media and truly took on a life of its own. We are certainly “bumpin’ that.”
One of the trends associated with “Brat” is its lime green album cover– the new color of the summer. The color has had an impact similar to the aesthetic trends of last summer’s blockbuster movie release, “Barbie.”
Brat has also codified its own slang. Catchy songs from the album like “Apple” and “365” have taken off on TikTok, with Charli xcx fans and celebrities alike participating in viral dance trends.
The singer has defined brat summer as an aesthetic for messy and rebellious party girls to embrace a lifestyle of being your perfectly imperfect self. The trend has been deemed by the general public as an opposite of the “clean girl” aesthetic of 2022, which popularized a groomed and filtered version of femininity. Here at the Lanthorn, we think this acceptance of a real and sometimes messy lifestyle is “so Julia.”
However, lime-green memes and a new “that girl” mindset haven’t been the only thing influenced by the brat album. While the attitude of brat has, of course, been embraced by media everywhere, fashion is following close behind. “Brat summer style” is meant to portray party girls that have a “polished edge,” according to Women’s Wear Daily, and was picked up by celebrities such as Charli xcx herself, Amelia Gray, Maika Monroe, and the original inspiration for the brat attitude, Julia Fox.
The overall aesthetic features Y2K aspects, brightly colored accessories and loud statement outfit pieces, in comparison to the more sophisticated style or comfortable athleisure trends that have been prominent in fashion over the past few years. For many who enjoy a more eclectic or daring fit, this shift in fashion mainstream has been a breath of fresh air, and it’s impossible to deny how it makes room for self expressiveness and boldness– the very definition of being brat.
There is, however, one flaw we find with brat summer: bratty politics. After Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party, Charli xcx tweeted, “Kamala IS brat.” Immediately after this, Harris’ campaign rebranded with the lime green logo, earning her $15.9 million in media impact value in just 48 hours, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
While this is great news for the Harris campaign, we think this branding is wrong for one simple reason: Kamala is not actually brat. We don’t think there is anything brat about a 59-year-old politician in a pantsuit. As a candidate for the presidential race, we just find the “bratification” of Harris simply too unserious.
After this misstep, multiple articles reported that “brat summer is dead,” after being over politicized and used out of context. Charli xcx reposted articles making this claim before announcing the release of a remix of her song “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish. The song debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the highest-charting single from the album. We think this remix was able to revive brat summer for the rest of August.
With brat summer officially starting to cool down, Charli xcx has teased one last remix for the album. We are excited to see what she has in store for this final moment of brat summer. We’re sure it will be iconic.
