Brat Summer: The Pop-Culture Trend that Took the World by Storm

When we think of summer, we think of sky blues and sunflower yellows. What we don’t think of is lime greens.

Yet in June 2024 when Charli XCX released her latest album, the colour of the summer season became lime green. The album cover featured a green background with the word ‘brat’ in somewhat eyesore-ish black font. Even with the basic album cover, the album and release of the lead single Von Dutch prompted Gen-Z to declare they’ll have a ‘brat summer’. But what is BRAT summer?

You might think brat summer is just about having a summer of partying and being wild if you consider the lyrics of some songs on the album. 360 is a fun, upbeat girl party anthem, as is 365. Ironically, the Urban Dictionary echoes this idea, defining Brat Summer as an “unapologetic party or ‘messy’ girl aesthetic for the summer based on the vibes of Charli XCX’s new album, Brat”. But not all BRAT albums are about partying like it’s your last night, and neither is the pop culture trend.

That is, at least, how it started. The ‘brat summer’ search on TikTok is adorned with videos of young people dancing, wearing the ‘brat’ colour of green and doing the popular Apple dance. It’s a pop culture movement mainly based on having a fun, worry-free summer, not thinking about aesthetics and how clean things are. It’s the complete opposite of the trends that have swarmed social media in recent years, like the clean girl aesthetic.

However, the interpretation from Gen Z of what brat summer fashion and what brat summer stands for is subjective. Some seem to see it as a fun fashion movement, but its cultural impact remains as we descend into autumn. Brat Summer is not the only movement of its kind, last summer we had Barbie Summer with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, all about embracing your authentic girly self and feminism and a few years prior in 2019, we had Hot Girl Summer, propelled by Megan Thee Stallion’s summer hit of the same name, about self-love and enjoying the summer season. 

If you think about it, the brat summer trend is just like those trends. It’s a movement propelled by a woman in creative industries interpreted by women and Gen-Z in many different ways. Interestingly, Maddy thinks that Barbie’s summer helped to give birth to the brat summer trend. 

“The origins trace back to the Barbie movie that swept through pop culture the summer before. Barbie’s unapologetic, pink-fuelled empowerment set the tone for this playful rebellion, but Charli brought the bratty, edgy twist that made it truly explode.”

Now, we could take it even further and say that brat summer, or the idea of being a ‘brat’ was inspired by the Bratz doll franchise, and commercially, helped by the success of last summer’s Barbie hype. After all, there has been a revival of the doll community in recent years.

In 2001, the first four original Bratz dolls, Cloe, Yasmin, Sasha and Jade, were released. They were the polar opposite to the clean and pristine pretty-in-pink Barbie dolls, being racially diverse and dressed in edgier clothing. In the first Bratz feature film, Bratz: Rock Angelz, the Bratz girls start a magazine which they affectionately name Bratz after being called ‘brats’ by their enemies, the Tweevils. They turn the word on its head, using the word ‘brat’ to mean independent women, who have a passion and are self-assured. 

Brat summer in itself is kind of like that. 

The fashion trends that are associated with brat summer are similar to the 2000s Bratz dolls’ style, with short skirts, big heels and statement pieces that create stand-out outfits popular. While we don’t know if Charli XCX was directly inspired by Bratz for the aesthetic of her album, the word seems to have evolved into something more positive meant as a compliment rather than an insult. Also similar to the values of the Bratz dolls, is the promotion of girlhood and female friendship. Charli solidified this with her collaborations on the album, in her song Guess with Billie Eilish, and the Girl, So Confusing remix with Lorde. 

Outside of music, the idea now of being a brat in pop culture is simply about letting go of societal expectations and living a realistic lifestyle that doesn’t promote perfection. It is a rejection of the overconsumption, over-organised and perfectly curated TikTok content that we are used to having to flood our feeds. Brat summer encourages living a little chaotically and with a short-form video style, TikTok has been the perfect place to take over with the movement. 

Gen Z are the main users of TikTok, the trend has been facilitated by young people in their twenties and late teens who are more likely to be interested in partying and clubbing. But brat summer has not just been embraced by those in their twenties. It has reached the mainstream media and celebrities, thanks to the Apple dance which currently has over 1.6 million posts on TikTok. This part of the ‘brat summer’ pop culture movement reached Hollywood, in a dance created by TikTok user Kelley Heyer. Charli even danced herself, alongside Troye Sivan ahead of their upcoming Sweat joint concert tour. 

To some, brat summer is just about fun, but to others, it has created a chance to channel self-expression through fashion, dancing and creative means, as evidenced by the ‘brat’ lime green aesthetic and the viral Apple dance. For some brands, brat summer has become commercial with it being used by brands and marketing online, especially for fashion brands and products that fit into the brat style. Celebrities who have participated in the trend have danced for fun, but the Apple dance created, as Maddy so eloquently puts it, a “viral multiplier effect” that has been replicated by fans and users everywhere. 

But like many recent trends, brat summer is seasonal. On TikTok especially, the cycle life of trends usually lasts a few weeks, or a couple of months if it sticks. Since summer is over, brat summer is fading, and we’re expecting a new seasonal trend to take over for autumn. Maddy predicts with us being just over a week into autumn that a new seasonal trend will come to replace Brat Summer online.

“TikTok’s cyclical nature means we’re bound to see shifts as we move into autumn. Sad Girl Autumn is already taking off, and it ties into the seasonal mood change where nostalgia and introspective vibes become more popular.” 

She adds that identifiable trends and autumn aesthetics such as the ‘pumpkin spice aesthetic’ and ‘cosy core’ exist. A newer phenomenon, Hoa Hoa Hoa Season, has also emerged recently on TikTok, inspired by the autumnal and wintery vibes of the Twilight movie aesthetic and soundtrack. Maybe if Hoa Hoa Hoa takes off, it will follow the same pattern as Brat Summer, originating from a musical project and blossoming into a trend of lifestyle and aesthetic with which a new group of people identify. 

Undisputable is the impact that brat summer has had on the culture of young people and young people’s lifestyles. There has been a move away from partying and drinking for Gen Z in the last few years with reports indicating that Gen Z are drinking less than before and are moving towards sobriety or becoming sober curious. Brat Summer doesn’t reject that idea but offers an alternative for those who don’t fit the traditional lifestyle, encouraging them to embrace a more carefree and unconventional lifestyle. 

Brat has been rebranded and no longer has negative connotations, similar to the phrase ‘cunt’, which out of context is also regarded as derogatory. Brat Summer and Charli XCX have created a movement where girls who enjoy nightlife and wearing distinctive fashions can thrive without being defined by lifestyle and artistic choices. 

Brat summer is a season of unapologetic self-expression, where everyone can break the mould and welcome their individuality.