It’s a Friday night, you are doing your mascara, eyeliner, blush and lip gloss in a frenzy trying to get ready. Each outfit, hairstyle and vibe is perfect. The camaraderie is immaculate, you’re about to have the time of your life. You and your friends are going to a club downtown, the goal: To have a “Brat summer.”
Charli XCX, born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, is living her best life right now. She’s making music, she’s engaged and she wants you to live your best life too — despite all of its struggles. “Brat” is no ordinary electronic pop, dance fusion record, “Brat” is a way of being.
When the album was first announced and the cover art was revealed, fans were skeptical. Why the minimalist, compressed art? Why the lowercase spelling? Why “Brat”?
The answers are clear now: “Brat” is a lifestyle and it is a part of the culture zeitgeist that many young people find themselves in. Gen Z in particular has been drawn to not only this record, but the culture and spectacle behind it.
A trend on TikTok right now is the infamous “Apple dance” from the track “Apple” off “Brat.” Like most TikTok dances, the “Apple dance” is a synched up dance that has excited a lot of corners of the internet. Even the casts of popular TV shows and movies have gotten in on this trend — the “Twisters” cast’s interpretation in particular is hilarious.
“I think the apple’s rotten right to the core/From all the things passed down/From all the apples coming before/I split the apple down symmetrical lines/And what I find is kinda scary/Makes me just wanna drive,” Charli sings.
“Apple” is a song that is a microcosm of “Brat.” It’s eclectic, eccentric and filled to the brim with electronic melodies and rhythms. The beats and Charli’s vocals are mesmerizing at times, her vocal delivery rides the line between monotone and excruciatingly emotional.
The grasp “Brat” has on the culture right now is staggering. The opening week of sales for “Brat” had her number two on the U.K. charts, trailing behind the extended, U.K. exclusive tracks released for Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“Brat” fans were furious. Was this calculated? How could Taylor release U.K. exclusive tracks just to spite Charli? Do Taylor and Charli have beef?
However, what is clear is that Taylor may have won the charts, but Charli has conquered the culture.
“Brat” is not just for the girls and the gays, it is not just for Gen Z and younger listeners — hell it is not just for fans of her music. “Brat” is for people who are trying to make a change.
On Sunday, July 21, President Biden announced that he would not seek a second term in office and that he would be dropping out of the presidential race. Biden then pledged that he would wholeheartedly support his vice president, Kamala Harris, for her bid for the presidency.
The official account for the Harris campaign on X, “Kamala HQ,” has rebranded to a “Brat” theme. Charli has even come out in her support for Harris, saying in a tweet that, “kamala IS brat.”
The seamless rebrand and Charli’s endorsement of Harris is a moment in which this complicated, excruciatingly painful summer — at least politically and culturally — finally seems like it is converging to a singular point.
The culture is uniting around “Brat.” Every sector of the internet seems to be obsessing around the cultural icon that is Charli XCX. She has been making music for over a decade, but her time is now.
Now, is “Brat summer.”
