it's gonna be a brat summer

Charli xcx's 'brat' has taken over the internet, but just what makes up a 'brat'?

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It's gonna be a brat summer

Maybe you discovered Charli xcx when ‘I Love It’, ‘Fancy’ and ‘Boom Clap’ were at the top of the charts. Maybe you got addicted to her ‘Vroom Vroom EP.’ Or maybe you didn’t know her, but thanks to TikTok and a compelling party-girl marketing campaign, you’re all over her new album, brat. Whenever and however you discovered her, I think we can all agree, it’s about to be a brat summer.

The highly anticipated album debuted earlier this month, but for several weeks Charli has been running a ‘spur of the moment’ (but diligently planned) guerilla campaign filled with pop-up DJ sets, club drop-ins and street parties that cause roadblocks and mayhem. At these ‘impromptu’ performance art type drop-ins, Charli inhabits the unbothered bratty-girl aesthetic - wearing a casual mini tee with no bra, paired with either a pair of baggy jeans or micro mini skirt and black racer sunglasses (she might not be able to see but she doesn’t care and that’s kinda the point) that fall in between her perfectly messy hair. On stage, whether it be behind a DJ deck, on the upper balcony of a club, or on top of a large black car in the middle of a street in Brooklyn, she blasts a track or two from brat, lip-syncing and dancing, taking over every camera in her foresight. Just like what we know a typical ‘brat’ to be, she unapologetically demands the attention of the room, taking what she wants (as women should) and not caring what others think, living up to and cementing her 365 party-girl persona, with a bit of attitude. 

These performances have captured a large part of the internet, with various of them going viral on TikTok, and have helped Charli’s sixth album gain unmitigated success, with it currently being one of the highest-ranking albums of the year on Metacritic, surpassing records from Beyonce and Billie Eilish. 

Like her other albums, brat delivers on the bouncy bops with Von Dutch and 360, but as the album progresses it becomes multi-faceted, spinning off into something more complex, and pulls back the strobe lights to explore the depths of grief, paranoia, shame, friendship, and the complicated question of motherhood.

As Charli explores the highs and lows of womanhood, what it means to be a so-called ‘brat’ is revealed - life is messy and complicated and as a result, we roll our eyes, complain over the most trivial things, cry too much or not enough, feel hotly insecure, question everything and hold on to madness until it explodes.

There are joyous moments and pockets of sunshine, but when everything is out of control it’s difficult to put on a smile and be polite. So when everything has gone to shit, what else is there to do? Let loose and be a brat.

As I’ve been consuming the brat campaign over the last few weeks, which has been easy because it seems like Charli has taken over every corner of the internet, I thought about why the brat persona appeals to so many of us. 

Firstly, it's the aesthetic. Smokes cigs, drinks black coffee, wears messy eyeliner and a ratty (but cute) top with no bra, and stilettos that are torn and sticky from the dance floor. Alternatively, there’s the more high-brow brat; who wears retro oval sunglasses, glitzy matching sets or a cashmere cardigan, has perfectly manicured nails and only drinks bottled water. The two are completely different, but the attitude is the same. They know who they are, say what most of us are thinking, and shamelessly take and do what they want, and we love it. 

Secondly, brat comes at a time when many of us feel washed, drained and angry from what's going on in the world, and are ready for an energy shift. Over the past few years we’ve had various wars and attacks on human rights, a viral disease that kept us locked inside and messed with our mental health, economic turmoil, and in parts of the world women have lost (or continue to not have) control over their own body and medical care. Whilst we don’t want to pretend our problems aren’t there, we also want to switch off from the bad and dance in a smoke-filled basement this summer. 

Thirdly, I, like many other women, have always been attracted to complicated, bratty, bold and whip-smart fictional female characters. In a world where women are told to stay in their lane, be good and leave the intellect to men, I love when female protagonists manipulate, outsmart, gaslight and undermine the world around them, rightly or wrongly so. Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf is a classic example of this - she never pretended to be anything she wasn’t, and she revelled in being the anti-hero/villain to get what she wanted in the name of power and pleasure. Charlotte from Sex and the City is another iconic bratty female character - always clear about what she wanted (especially with men), never let her standards falter no matter how high they were, and when pushed into a corner she fought back (yes, she deserved that apartment and is worth a million dollars). Amy from Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl walks the line between psychopath and brat, and whilst her methods were extreme, you have to admit it was kind of satisfying to watch her take her cheating husband along for a ride and enact revenge. 

The list as to why Charli XCX’s brat is so successful and resonates with us right now could go on and on. It’s arguably Charli’s best work, and I’m just glad it arrived in time for #bratsummer. 

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who wrote this?

Ella is an Australian writer and stylist based in London. When she is not writing about all things pop culture, fashion and the musings of adulthood, she’s chronically surfing the web for a new TV show/movie to binge or a restaurant to critique. Her work has been published in SALife, CityMag, InDaily and Homebound, but you can find her unfiltered thoughts and ideas on her Substack.

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