For those of you who read the title and were immediately met with furrowed brows, I think Charli XCX would tell you to unfurrow those brows, don’t stress and keep bumpin’ it. “Brat Summer” is a multi-faceted concept that stems from the creative mind of English popstar Charli XCX. I say “multifaceted” because what was the initial marketing strategy for “brat” as a social media trend has flourished into an aesthetic, mindset and cultural phenomenon.
“brat” is the artist’s sixth studio album and quite a musical feat. Charli is known for her painfully simple album covers, but nobody could estimate the pain that would be endured for “brat”. The word stands against a horribly gruesome neon green shade, and the artist makes it known that this was no mistake. In an interview with “Billboard”, Charli shares how the cover’s creative choice was made.” The album cover is actually quite disgusting,” and picked it because it “spark[s] a really interesting conversation about [desirability]… It had to be really unfriendly and uncool.” This kind of rebellious laziness perfectly summarizes the true essence and attitude of the album. She’s not taking this too seriously and neither should you.
So what is “brat summer” exactly? Beyond just the fashion and accessorizing, which is a major component as Charli details in the songs, it’s also an “It girl” mindset. It’s about applying a sense of carelessness to your life, enjoying even the hardships. Charli addresses these different hardships lyrically by offering an emotional defense of adapting this tough,”brat” attitude. She centralizes much of this attitude with navigating her complexities with relationships and friendships with women. This is given the most focus in the track “Girl, so confusing”, one that caught much of the media’s attention.
The song describes Charli’s strained relationship with another female artist over the years. Many of her fans took it as a “diss track”, which just proves Charli’s intent with the song. Women are either pitted against each other or expected to love each other and “Girl, so confusing” narrates the vast complexity of the in-between, especially in regard to her relationship with pop artist Lorde. To cement this message, she defied all expectations by including Lorde on her remix.
This explosively mature move of including the “problem” in the song is one I’ve never seen in music. Such a move defines the passion and innovativeness that drives “brat” to be so influential.
The iconic nature of the album has grown more and more since its release date. Charli herself has appeared at different events, DJ-ing her own album, and the iconic green “brat” wall lives beyond the Instagram live Charli made of the paint drying. Recently, Charli supported new electoral candidate Kamala Harris by tweeting “kamala IS brat” which was followed by Harris’ official campaign account changing its backdrop to the iconic brat green. She sings of phrases like “So Julia” to reflect the hot girl energy that highly controversial model and actress Julia Fox constantly emanates.
What makes the album so iconic and timeless is its direct approach with things most artists avoid at all costs. “brat” is un-cancellable because of its unapologetic pettiness and dramatics. Charli knows what she’s saying is aggressive and controversial, and she doesn’t care. This comfort with the uncomfortable is a refreshing break from the constantly fearful and “polite” behavior most artists take with media. I see “brat’ as a continuation of the fervent feminism displayed in media we saw last summer in “Barbie”, while adding multiple definitions of what it means to be a feminist. I hope this trend of women supporting women while also celebrating themselves and their own “bratty” behaviors becomes a permanent trend. Brat summer is considered a phenomenon/lifestyle for a reason- it’s impact will be lasting. I hope Charli hasn’t reached her influential peak and her musical and pop cultural reign continues.
