Is the 'Brat Summer' Trend Here to Stay?

As the summer season ends, it is clear that ‘Brat Summer’, the campaign built around British pop singer Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ album, dominated social media and marketing trends. 

From lime-green coloured memes and the biggest names taking part in the TikTok dance challenge for the song “Apple” to fashion brands catering to the style associated with ‘Brat Summer’ it was impossible to escape this brilliant campaign rollout by Charli XCX and her team. 

Data from different social media platforms including Google, Instagram and TikTok prove just how massive Brat Summer has become. Google searches for the colour “Brat Green” skyrocketed making it the un-official colour of the season. The hashtag #bratsummer on Instagram had over 2.6 million posts in July alone. Even foreign platforms, like the Chinese platform ‘Little Red Book’, garnered millions and millions of views on content centred around Brat Summer proving it had become a global phenomenon.

So, what did Charli XCX and her team do that lead the concept of an album to become a modern cultural movement? 

Authenticity At Its Core

At the surface level, the image of a ‘brat’ seems to be of a messy and unapologetic ‘club rat’ whose only concern seems to be how many cigarettes they have left.

While this image is true to some extent about the attitude of a brat, a deeper dive will showcase how being a ‘brat’ and having a ‘brat summer’ is actually about accepting the imperfections we have as humans and embracing the chaos that comes with life. 

While describing her album Charli XCX herself said it was “me, my flaws, my f--- ups, my ego all rolled into one.”

The album allowed audiences to witness Charli XCX as they had never done before. In a new raw, unwavering and unfiltered persona. She put all her feelings into the album including ones that people aren’t quite ready to admit to, such as jealousy and anger. 

This new level of authenticity deeply resonated with the masses, especially Gen Z, who are found to be drawn towards influencers, brands and artists that showcase reality and honesty over perfection. 

It came at a good time as well. Before this, people may recall that the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic was all the rage. The clean girl was organized, ate well, always had time to do Pilates, was consistent and never seemed to get lost in the chaos of life like other people. This, of course, wasn’t quite a realistic view of life and rather than motivating people towards better habits the oversaturation of content left people feeling worse about their ability to handle the chaos. 

However, then came ‘Brat Summer’, which was the perfect counter to the ‘clean girl’ giving people the space to feel accepted and appreciated in a place that didn’t value perfection. A place that embraced the chaos within life to the extent that it enjoyed and thrived in it.

Charli’s decision not to have overly polished and curated images, along with showcasing both influencers and celebrities in a more relaxed and imperfect light allowed her to push the authentic aspect of the ‘brat summer’, opening more and more people to being a part of it. 

Setting New Heights for Fan Engagement

Another aspect of the ‘Brat Summer’ campaign that made audiences so invested was the fan engagement that was provided. It made the message abundantly clear to the audience; ‘Brat Summer’ is not just about Charli, it’s about you as well.

She and her team achieved this thanks to the power of TikTok and Instagram, implementing an exceptional digital strategy. 

The 'Apple’ dance challenge on TikTok propelled the song to great heights with millions of people attempting to recreate the steps of the catchy song. Aside from this, the viral Brat meme generator allowed fans to create their versions of the cover art, placing power in their hands to create their narratives related to the movement. 

The Brat Wall (a constantly evolving billboard in New York) gave fans an opportunity to post real-time updates and content from their everyday lives along with hints regarding new collaborations, remixes and the extended ‘brat’ album.

Not only did this encourage fans to actively take part in the campaign and even try something new but it helped create content that was as authentic and realistic as it can get. 

By carrying out these fan engagement initiatives, Charli was able to make her audience active participants rather than just consumers as they would have been for any other brand. This allowed her to create a deeper connection with them, cementing their support for the remainder of the campaign. 

Nostalgia is Key

Another very crucial aspect of Brat Summer was its ode to the 2000s party era which made its cultural resonance even more significant. 

This era symbolized being anti-aesthetic and messy. It was all about getting lost in partying and the chaos of the world. By playing to the nostalgia of the 2000s the campaign was not only able to reach and forge a connection with the millennials in their audience, but it also helped to further reject the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic and so-called ‘perfect’ world of social media.

This throwback to 2000s pop culture also helped to reach the rebellious side of the current generation. 

As history can prove, whenever there is some sort of big disruption or recession, people tend to be more geared towards rejecting normality. With the current political and economic climate of the world, it was only natural for us to reach this stage where the idea of rebellion and rejecting the systems in place would be something audiences would be more and more geared towards. 

‘Brat Summer’ perfectly plays into these urges of the audience allowing them to be rebellious. It rejects normality, rules and perfection while chasing the disruption and chaos that they currently crave. 

Conclusion

With its simple yet effective aesthetic ‘Brat Summer’ proves that the success of a campaign depends on the interaction that the audience has with the brand. 'Brat Summer' was more than just a music campaign—it became a cultural movement by embracing imperfection and authenticity. Through creative fan engagement, nostalgic nods to the chaotic 2000s, and tapping into a sense of rebellion and disruption, Charli XCX turned her album into a phenomenon, proving that embracing imperfection and creating a genuine connection can have a powerful impact on modern culture.