Girls, undo your slick back buns and wipe off your ‘no-make-up make-up look’ because it’s ‘Brat Girl Summer’ and we don’t have to look effortless anymore. Each summer, the media churns out a new aesthetic for us to mould ourselves to. In the space of a couple of years, we have had ‘Hot Girl Summer,’ ‘Barbie Core,’ and ‘Clean Girl,’ but now, thanks to Charli XCX’s (Charlotte Emma Aitchison) 6th studio album ‘Brat,’ a new cultural phenomenon has emerged, and it might be my favourite yet.
The Soundtrack of the Summer
‘Brat,’ released on June 7th this year (and predicted by Metacritic to be the highest-rated album of 2024), has become the soundtrack of our summer. Musically, this album captures nightclub culture, but lyrically, it encapsulates the confusing chaos of girlhood. It’s about Aitchison’s “flaws,” “fuck ups,” and “ego” packaged into lyrics that sound like voice notes to friends. The songs are club bangers while being incredibly introspective. It’s two very different things at once, but it works. Not being confined to one thing, in essence, is what ‘Brat Girl Summer’ is all about. It pushes back against recent trends and aesthetics that make girls one-dimensional.
The fleeting ‘girl’ trends on the internet that define how women should look and behave are inherently silly. ‘It girl,’ ‘That girl,’ ‘Feral girl,’ ‘Rat girl,’ ‘Girl boss,’ ‘Clean girl.’ It’s exhausting. Yet Monica Heisey, author of ‘Really Good, Actually’ and writer on the show Schitt’s Creek, makes an interesting point when she says, “Being looked at and judged as women isn’t a new trend…” so we should try “to find ways to combat the constant surveillance” and “enjoy oneself despite it…” So, while I’m against changing yourself to fit an online image, ‘Brat Summer’ is a fun iteration of ‘girl’ trends that permit us to do whatever we want.
Defining Brat: More Than a Trend
So, other than a trendy album, what exactly is Brat? In an interview with BBC Sounds, Aitchison describes it as “…a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.” This is why ‘Brat’ is refreshing. The aesthetic is more a collection of vibes than a checklist of what to wear and do. The internet can be an incredibly exhausting place for women, but ‘Brat’ is fun and harmless and champions girls who are a little messy. Finally, being put together is out, and being unhinged is in.
Brat Girl Summer doesn’t perpetuate a singular feminist ideal, and that’s the best thing about it. Anyone can be ‘Brat’; it’s self-defining, chaotic, and hedonistic. It’s having big feelings, no answers and going to the club with your girlfriends. It’s a girl “who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” someone “a little bit volatile,” as Aitchison says on her Instagram. Like the lime green cover art with ‘Brat’ written in low-res Arial font, it’s ugly, loud, and unaesthetic.
Brat is everything ‘clean girl’ was not. Clean girls are often thin, white, and rich enough to afford a Pilates membership. Brats are regular girls with boob sweat and smudged eyeliner who are trying to make it out alive with a smile on their face. Clean girls are palatable, appealing to the male gaze, while Brats dress for themselves or the girls in the nightclub bathroom. Just because they are opposites, Brats can also participate in clean living. They can wear neutral sets or short skirts and wraparound Y2K sunglasses. They can like journaling and tearing it up on the dance floor because you get to decide. Brat is more of a mindset than a look.
The Album’s Message: Embrace Complexity
The album reminds us that we are allowed to be two things at once. That women are complex and multi-faceted, and we can contradict ourselves. In the song ‘I Think About It All the Time,’ Aitchison worries about being a mother and how that could impact her career. In ‘Girl, So Confusing,’ she opens up about the messiness of female friendships, and in ‘So I,’ she grieves her late producer SOPHIE. These songs are nestled next to ‘365’ and ‘Club Classics,’ which are solely dance floor anthems. Kelly Bertrand from Capsule describes it perfectly as an album with the “carefree, grungy, and hedonistic vibes of the 80s and 90s, mingled with 2024 millennial and Gen Z anxiety.”
It’s like Aitchison is saying, we are all going to be stressed and confused, but we might as well have fun at the same time. Clean girls slick back their hair, journal, and go to Pilates to gain some semblance of control in this world. Brats accept they can’t control everything, so they let their hair down and sweat their makeup off while dancing. It’s trying to enjoy yourself amidst the chaos. Bertrand says “Brat Summer” is the acknowledgement that things have gone to shit, and you’re doing your best.
Even politicians have picked up on the power of Brat. When Joe Biden stepped down from the Presidential race and Kamala Harris stepped up in his place, Charli XCX posted on ‘X’ “Kamala IS brat.” Harris’s team then made her HQ ‘X’ cover photo slime green with the same Arial font spelling out ‘Kamala HQ.’ Leah Dolan from CNN Style reported that Kamala being the first Black and Asian American woman to lead a presidential campaign was ‘Brat’ because it was “boundary-breaking, feminine, and intersectional.” This is why Brat is more than just a stupid, money-making fad on the internet. Yes, being ‘Brat’ can be about messing around, but it’s also about taking up space and being seen as a woman.
Conclusion: A Fun and Inclusive Trend
If the internet must create these trends anew each year, I’m happy with 2024’s version. At the end of the day, ‘Brat Girl Summer’ is a bit of fun. Yes, it’s a meme and Gen Z at its finest, but it also says so much more. It reminds us to let our hair down and be a little stupid while experiencing life’s big feelings. It encourages us to find our version of cool instead of someone else’s. The best thing is that Brat is for everyone, guys too, and an inclusive trend is hard to come by these days. As Aitchison says, “It’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
By Ella Ruddle
