Brat Summer is dead, long live Brat Summer.
Manufactured by the cultural behemoth that is Charli XCX, aka Charlotte Aitchison, Brat was once just a studio album. Released on June 7, it was the Essex native’s sixth studio album since she emerged onto the scene with her debut True Romance in 2013. In its most basic form, Brat is an LP made up of 15 songs, alongside a deluxe edition, entitled “Brat and it's the same but there’s three more songs so it's not”.
It is packed full of unabashed, beat-heavy club bangers, including one self-descriptive track, Club Classics, where Charli says, “When I go to the club, I want to hear those club classics.” The aesthetic? Cigarettes, white tank tops with no bras, Arial fonts and, of course, that iconic neon-lime green. It’s about being a little messy and a little vulnerable – in Charli’s own words, being a “girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes”.
But Brat has since expanded, become bigger than Charli herself. After the album’s success, social media managers quickly adopted the album art’s aesthetic and, soon, X and Instagram were a sea of green. By the end of June, a few weeks after the album had come out, some were beginning to wonder just how long Brat Summer could last.
And then, the inevitable happened – politics got involved. Shortly after President Joe Biden made his announcement that he would be pulling out of the presidential race, and vice president Kamala Harris became the Democrat nominee, Charli posted on X that “kamala IS brat”.
In the hours following, Harris’ social media team leaned into her support, updating their social headers to Brat’s green aesthetic. Soon, news reporters, right-wing politicians and, basically everyone, began to pile in. You couldn’t open any social media app without seeing TikToks editing Harris’ speeches into various Brat songs. The meme had entered the mainstream and so, naturally, it was pronounced dead.
But this is hardly the first time a summer has been defined by a cultural phenomenon. It seems that we love to christen our summers with soubriquets. Hot Girl Summer was all the rage in 2019, and the trend even dates back to the famous Summer of Love. In fact, this isn’t even the first Brat summer – real ones will remember the original Brat Summer in 1983.
From Hot Vax Summer to Feral Girl Summer, here are all of the most iconic summer trends and what they mean.
Summer of Love (1967)
Perhaps the OG-named summer. The hippies kicked off the nicknamed summers with a pivotal moment in the 1960s counterculture movement, when thousands of people, primarily young, converged in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood to embrace peace, love, and music.
Brat Summer (1983)
Yes, you read that right. 40 years ago, while Charli XCX was a mere idea in her parents’ minds, another Brat Summer was already taking shape. The Brat Pack were a group of young actors, who frequently appeared together in movies during the 1980s, including Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Demi Moore. The original Brat Summer of 1983 was a pivotal time when these young actors began to dominate the teen movie genre, leading to their collective recognition and lasting impact on Hollywood.
Summer of the Shark (2001)
This one is a little left-field, but it deserves a mention. It refers to a period marked by intense media coverage of shark attacks in the US, which heightened public fear and fascination with sharks. The media frenzy was sparked by several high-profile incidents, most notably the severe attack on eight-year-old Jessie Arbogast in Florida, who lost his arm to a bull shark. The number of shark attacks wasn’t actually significantly higher than in previous years, but of course, the media works in mysterious ways.
Hot Girl Summer (2019)
Perhaps the summer soubriquet with the greatest lasting impact. Hot Girl Summer, named after rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s 2019 hit, was pretty much what it says on the tin – being a girl, being hot, and enjoying the summertime. Even though it was technically in the summer of 2019, arguably every summer is hot girl summer.
White Boy Summer (2021)
If you’ve never heard of White Boy Summer – congratulations, you probably have a very healthy screen time. Riding on the coat-tails of Hot Girl summer and Christian Girl Autumn came White Boy Summer, the brainchild of everyone’s favourite actor(?), Chet Hanks, the son of Tom. “I just got this feeling man… it’s about to be a White Boy Summer,” Chet Hanks told his Instagram followers. Not in a racist kinda way, he clarified. More like a white male rapper way. “You know what I mean?” Not really, Chet, but thanks for the contribution.
Hot Vax Summer (2021)
For those not on board with White Boy Summer, 2021 also gave us Hot Vax Summer. With Covid-19 vaccines in full swing, everyone was ready to swap their sweatpants for swimsuits and reclaim their social lives with a side of immunity. Social media exploded with vaccinated selfies and eager reunion snaps, as people rushed to catch up on all the lost pandemic time.
Feral Girl Summer (2022)
The antithesis of Hot Girl Summer, 2022 saw the arrival of a new aesthetic – ferality. In February 2022, TikTok user Feral Rat Club branded the theme of the coming months as "feral" in a now-viral video. "Time to wreak havoc, cause chaos, align your rodent chakras, and just completely get after it. Life is supposed to be fun," she preached. The user added further context: "I am feeling some f***ing chaotic energy… I think we all deserve it." Amen.
Brat Summer (2024)
An aesthetic, a way of life, a theology if you will. 2024’s Brat Summer will surely go down in history as one of the most culturally dominant, all-consuming summer trends we’ve ever seen. Green will never be the same again.
