Kamala Harris to matcha lattes: Why Brat Summer is everywhere
Kamala Harris is an official 'brat'. Photo: TND/AAP
In 2014, Charli XCX hit the big time thanks to her collaboration with Australia’s own Iggy Azalea for Fancy, one of the most popular songs of the year.
More than a decade later, Charli’s latest solo album Brat has taken the world by storm, with its influence spreading from dance floors all the way to the US presidential election.
US vice-president Kamala Harris’ new status as presumptive Democrat presidential nominee sparked a wave of coconut-themed memes on social media.
Some of the most viral videos used Brat‘s lime green colour scheme, along with songs from the album era such as 360 and The von dutch remix featuring Addison Rae and AG Cook.
@flextillerson kamala harris edit to 360 by charli xcx. brat presidency #kamalaharris #kamala #biden #harris2024 #charli #charlixcx #brat #360 ♬ original sound – aly
Harris – or more likely her savvy social media team – fully embraced the craze by changing the background of her campaign’s offical X account to match the low-resolution, lime green Brat album cover.
This came after British singer/songwriter Charli took a moment from enjoying what has been dubbed ‘Brat Summer’ (it is currently summertime in the northern hemisphere) to give her backing, proclaiming on X that “kamala IS brat”.
Charli previously told the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast ‘brat’ is a concept which represents a person who might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.
Biden HQ rebranded as Kamala HQ. The Brat banner image is gonna get the most attention but honestly it’s the “providing context” bio that killed me 😂 pic.twitter.com/yZWhazdOsf
— Alyssa Franke (@AlyssaFranke) July 22, 2024
“You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party, and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” Charli explained in a TikTok posted earlier this month.
“Who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it.
“Is very honest, very blunt, little bit volatile … that’s brat.”
This is not the polished, clean-cut image politicians tend to chase, but it clearly resonates with Gen Z.
The Harris campaign may be counting on that to get younger people into voting booths, and voting for Harris, who seems to have earned some extra cool points by leaning in to Brat Summer.
this is worth more than a million dollars of paid media https://t.co/FSxhJmbfs8
— Jasmine Wright (@JasJWright) July 22, 2024
Why Brat has gone mainstream
Harris’s acknowledgement of Brat is not the only sign the album has gone mainstream, with other politicians using it to appeal to younger demographics on social media.
Before the UK general election in June, the Green Party similarly replicated the Brat artwork to encourage voters to “vote green”.
This week, Queensland Premier Stephen Miles posted a TikTok – and borrowed some Gen Z slang – to boast that the state’s newlybuilt (and green-hued) buses were “giving brat”.
@stevenmilesmp We’re building these buses right here in Queensland. #brat #qld ♬ original sound – 📓
The album also seems to be everywhere outside of politics, from a Care Bears shoutout, to matcha latte art, to street art.
Wardrobes are also getting a Brat makeover, with data from retail intelligence firm Edited showing a 171 per cent spike in lime green apparel sales in June 2024 compared to the previous year.
Brat is a work of autotuned hyperpop that harkens back to the days of ‘recession pop‘ – a musical era that birthed stars like Lady Gaga and Kesha, as people wanted to focus on having a good time amid the stressful economic downturn.
With countries around the world facing cost-of-living crises, upbeat electronic club music is returning to popularity.
The success of Brat is also seen as a rejection of the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic that has dominated pop culture for some time, with messy hair and grungy, 2000s rave-inspired streetwear the new It look.
For Charli, her latest album serves as a tribute to the underground club culture and queer community that raised her as an artist.
“When I first started making music, I was playing at illegal warehouse raves in Hackney in London. That’s home to me,” Charli told Vogue Singapore in April.
“I truly feel like I wouldn’t have a career without the LGBTQ+ community. They have made so much possible for me and supported me when everyone else had given up.”
She said some of the album’s contents also address “the commodification of women within the music industry” as well as the idea of “ownership” some fans feel they have over artists.
“I wanted to go with an offensive, off-trend shade of green [for the album cover] to trigger the idea of something being wrong,” Charli said.
“I’d like for us to question our expectations of pop culture – why are some things considered good and acceptable, and some things deemed bad?
“I’m interested in the narratives behind that and I want to provoke people. I’m not doing things to be nice.”
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