Mini skirts, shiny eye makeup and British accents, this characterizes the internets next big obsession. June 7, 2024, marks the beginning of the phenomenon known as “brat summer.” Brat is an album released by British pop singer Charli XCX, shaking up the summer and giving us something new.
When I first stumbled upon Charli XCX’s newest album, I was fascinated by the album’s hyper-pop/dance electro pop sound, with its interesting beat and its iconic lyrics. My sentiment was shared seeing the “brat summer” come into fruition on social media as videos, sounds, dances and trends were starting to blow up on apps like Tik Tok.
Looking back at Charli XCX’s history, we can see that she isn’t new to churning out popular tracks. In 2012, XCX rose to prominence as she put out her hit “I Love It” with Swedish duo Icona Pop which became an international success.
XCX had also released “Boom Clap” in 2014 for the movie The Fault in Our Stars as well as featuring on “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea, tracks in which basically shaped my childhood.
There’s no doubt that Charli XCX is a talented artist as she’s co-written songs with Selena Gomez, Shawn Mendez, Camilla Cabello and more. With her new album, we see her talent and vision has grown alongside her as she puts effort into her career. From the genius marketing that humorously combined being chronically online with iconic, to the details like picking from 65 shades of green to see which color felt more “brat.”
When analyzing the lime green aesthetic behind the pixilated arial font words, you can see what makes the minimalist yet loud look of “Brat” so alluring to many. To me, the album shows off the bright, “in your face” way that grabs attention and gives us the illusion of chaos. The tone of the album bounces off the music perfectly because it pairs well with the song’s spunky nature that makes you want to go to a rave.
Charli stated in an Instagram post that she used the “element of theory, analyzing each possible outcome, playing out every scenario and then going screw it it’s brat!” That reinstates our belief that the carefree, energetic nature of the album uses the realness of flaws and instability and leaves us something you can just have fun with. “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says dumb things sometimes…” XCX says in a video going on to explain how blunt, honest and just so “brat” the album is.
Charli uses this in her marketing as people, such as me, love her party girl persona she flaunts as her brash lyrics do all the talking. Some of my favorite tracks are “360” with its funny and iconic music video attached and “Talk Talk” which is a song that describes her wanting to “talk” with a guy she’s been eyeing.
More favorites of mine are “Apple” as the dance, based on the song, trending on social media roped me into the hype, and lastly the unexpected “Von Dutch” remix with influencer turned musician Addison Rae. These songs resonate with me the most because of its lighthearted fun and playful message revealing the tone of Brat and really give us more of Charli’s cheeky identity of her new pop music.
Songs like “360” and “365” have a vibrant, “club music” style that make you undergo a transformation of self improvement and self destruction all at the same time.
Brat’s popularity has skyrocketed as even the most unlikely figures have taken a place in the bratosphere. The #Kamalaisbrat hashtag mimics the nature in which Presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign team has used the trending neon green and black album style to imitate the look on social media. This was because of Charli’s support of Harris’s recent amalgamation into candidacy in a tweet during the summer in which they embraced the popularity of brat.
The admiration and adoration of this trend really flips previous ones like minimalism, clean girl, barbie pink and prep on its head by really hammering in the new definition of what it means to be a brat. This asks the question of where does “brat” go from here? The trend has come to a slow decline but even though it’s no longer summer, Charli XCX herself confirms that she’s not done with Brat yet and there’s plenty more projects to come.
All in all, we see the evolution of XCX’s sixth studio album and the commercial success of “brat” along with the takeover it had in the summer, hence the term brat summer. I have no choice but to listen along as the humor side of the lore keeps me entertained and the music keeps me hooked on its shamelessly crass behavior.
As for the actual music itself, this is the type of music you’d enjoy on Tik Tok or in the background at H&M which makes sense for the album’s mindless fun identity. I love the bells and whistles XCX adds and most songs on it give an audience something that lets you let loose and feel confident but it’s not something I would put in my playlist, and that is why I give it 3 apples out of 5.
