Studio album “brat” was released by pop artist Charlie XCX on June 7, starting what became known as “Brat Summer.” “Brat Summer” is a theme that centers around lime green colors, obnoxiously having fun, and repeatedly playing Charlie XCX’s songs on repeat. In addition, social media videos played a vital role in this viral sensation surrounding many Millenials and Gen-Z.
“brat” is Charlie XCX’s most successful studio album. In addition, the album was the highest-rated album of 2024 and the 16th-highest-rated album of all time as of August 2024.
Some may regard this as a cultural movement, having women all around TikTok wearing lime green, Von Dutch, and dancing to the same simple choreography to the song “Apple,” the eleventh track on the album. In fact, the singer herself has done the dance on Atlantic Records’ TikTok page, with over 120,000 likes on the post.
This summer theme is popular amongst Gen-Z and the Millenial generation alike. It gives off a free and fun mood, giving women and young girls the confidence to be who they are on social media. The word “brat” means to have poor child-like behavior, and that is definitely implemented in the brat summer theme. This can be seen in how Charlie XCX described the brat summer herself.
In a podcast interview found on TikTok, Charlie XCX explained the variations of brat summer: “It can go that way–like–kind of like luxury. But it can also be like, so like, trashy.”
On July 25, Charlie posted this slideshow displaying images of people assuming that “brat summer” was over. With the caption saying “Oh? see u next week :),” she confirmed a revived brat summer which later became a collaboration between Charlie and Billie Eilish in their song, “Guess.”
The following week in early August, the two pop stars posted on their social media about their collaboration, and the song was streamed on several platforms, with Spotify having over 32,000 streams. “Brat Summer” was officially revived.
