TThey say the dead never leave us, as long as they live in our hearts. So was Summer of Brat. She was the bra strap we refused to hide and the bra we never wore at all. She was the cigarette butt that burned holes in our sheets. She was the fifth bottle of wine at dinner for two. And now she’s gone. Like many good things, she was killed by the banks. Let me explain.
If you’ve been online or in close proximity to queer people in the past four and a half months, there’s a good chance your timeline and life has been saturated with neon green (Pantone 3507C, to be exact). This is the work of British pop singer Charli XCX, whose sixth studio album, Brat, was released in June 2024. XCX has been on the brink of superstardom for nearly a decade; her lo-fi aesthetic and unashamed party girl energy have treated us to two of the longest events to ever happen on the planet. John Green’s films and PandemicPrior to Brat, XCX had collaborated with Troye Sivan, Christine and the Queens, and Icona Pop, but with this latest album, XCX has crossed the Rubicon of fame.
Here’s the timeline: In May 2024, XCX performed in front of a Brat Green wall at Brooklyn’s Lot Radio. A few weeks later, the wall was inscribed with the words “i’m your fav reference” in Brat’s trademark lowercase sans serif. Word spread, and Brat’s spirit spread. With each new message painted on the wall, the spirit grew stronger. When it was officially announced, the icon was already a hot topic. For XCX fans, What was clear was that I was going to have to have a Brat summer.
It’s hard to explain what it means to be a selfish man, but I’ll try. Shakespeare once wrote, “A selfish man is a selfish man to forgive.” Does that help? I’ll try again. Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the selfishness of the age, it was the selfishness of the age.” Does that help?
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To live the summer of Brat is to embody the vibe of the album: wild nights, uncertainty of outcome, wild vulnerability, cocaine, existential despair, booze-soaked, ambivalent feelings about motherhood, jealousy, bisexual chaos. After years of sappy, posh pop stardom with Swift-style cottagecore and Grandia-style high ponies, Brat’s summer embraces messiness. About pilates, clean eating, and sober living, Brat’s summer says “thanks, but it’s not for me.” For many of us who naturally tend not to remove our mascara after a night out, Brat felt like liberation, freedom. It was also just plain fun. See that green plant? That’s Brat. Is that Madeline Gray’s Green Dot? It’s Brat again. My editor left me with that last line? It’s Brat.
But in late capitalism, the inevitable happens when you become popular: the co-optation of normalcy and branding. As more and more people jump on the Brat train, the message has of course become diluted as the real Brat energy fades away. Sorry, straight people, but Monster Energy Drinks don’t make you a Brat. Many would argue that the day Kamala Harris’ campaign appropriated Brat symbolism on her social media channels marked the end of Brat Summer. I don’t think so. I think a mixed race female US presidential candidate who calls Trump a “weirdo” is pretty Brat. Instead, I would date the end of Brat Summer to August 9, 2024. On this day, German investment firm Deutsche Bank advertised on Instagram that it was “looking for Brats in the financial industry.” If there’s one thing that’s not Brat, it’s the banking-industrial complex.
Brat Summer may be over, but her spirit lives on. Keep walking like a bitch, and keep bumping. As Emily Dickinson said, “A brat is something with wings.”
