In case you’re yet to get the memo, we’re firmly in the grip of Brat Summer, and an exceedingly weird new twist of events, the phenomenon has ended up having a surprising influence on the shape of US politics.
To bring you up to speed, Kamala Harris – currently the frontrunner to replace Joe Biden after he dramatically bowed out of the race for the White House – is Brat. Even Brat’s creator Charli XCX herself agrees: following Biden’s announcement, she posted the following.
kamala IS brat
— Charli (@charli_xcx) July 22, 2024
Confused? We’ve got you. Here’s a rundown of what’s been going on.
So, what is Brat again?
To understand the Brat ideology, we must trace the trend back to its genesis: Charli XCX’s sixth album, Brat. Released at the beginning of June, the record charted at number two in the UK, and its neon-green album artwork has quickly become the colour of summer 2024.
At Glastonbury, it was impossible to move for Brat tribute flags, waving in front of sets from everyone from The Last Dinner Party to Sugababes. Back in London, countless aspiring Brats have been sporting plain green t-shirts emblazoned with lyrics in blown-out, pixelated letters.
Heavily influenced by the wonkiest strains of dance music and hyperpop, Brat struck a balance between carefree party girl hedonism and more complicated themes: the insecurity Charli feels as a woman in the limelight, for example. and the pressure that ramps up for women in their 30s around the subject of motherhood. “Maybe one day I might, if I don't run out of time, would it make me miss all my freedom?” Charli sings on I Think About It All The Time.
So is it a Gen-Z thing?
Not quite. Though the Brat aesthetic is now all over TikTok, leading plenty of perplexed commentators to label Brat as a ‘Gen-Z thing’, that isn’t necessarily where this whole thing started: if anything, it’s an album for the younger millennials who grew up during the Noughties and wore Y2K fashion the first time around.
In a nutshell, a Brat is an unapologetically messy partygirl: they don’t necessarily have to be a millennial, but the ramped up pressure to have your life in some kind of order by your 30s (and the more feral urge to go out partying instead) certainly contributes to the Brat mentality.
In stark opposition to the TikTokkers who share their 10-step skincare regimes, post their daily tidying routines, and decant everything into carefully labelled mason jars, Brat is much less organised, and perhaps a little more realistic; it’s someone who is prone to saying dumb things, likes to indulge in the odd blow-out, and though she probably doesn’t smoke all of the time, habitually buys a pack of cigs for the pub. Sure, at first it doesn’t sound very much like Kamala Harris, but just try to lean into the absurdity of it all.
Fortunately, it is also acceptable to point at random green items (Lime Bikes, appropriately-coloured lighters and apples are all acceptable) and declare them Brat. That works perfectly well, too, and will impress those who are fully in the know.
What on earth has this got to do with politics, then?
‘Charli XCX influences global politics’ was probably not on your bingo card for 2024, but alas, the world moves in mysterious ways.
Though Brat is currently inspiring countless memes around the US presidential race, it previously held some sway in the UK’s recent general election. During the run-up to polling day, the Green Party shared a suitably pixelated parody version of her album cover urging the public to “vote green”.
14 days to go pic.twitter.com/qM3CwHvsD5
— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) June 20, 2024
Now, something similar is happening in the US...
It all began with the current US president Joe Biden dramatically removing himself from the race for the White House on July 21, following a number of big questions about the 81-year-old’s health. His current Vice President, Kamala Harris, quickly emerged as the favourite to take over as the new Democratic candidate.
The internet already enjoys Harris’ jolly political persona: footage of the VP cheerfully singing The Wheels On The Bus to herself as she boards a campaign bus is already an online mainstay, as is a snippet from an interview in which she discusses her passion for venn diagrams. Another favourite is a much-memed speech in which Harris discusses the importance of understanding your historical context, and recounts something her mother used to tell her.
"Everything is in context. My mother used to give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, 'I don't know what's wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?!’” she said with an exceedingly hearty chuckle. “You exist in the context of all in which you live what came before you.”
All of these clips – but especially Harris’ “coconut tree” quote – have now begun to crop up in a number of amateur dance edits, combining her voice with Brat tracks such as Von Dutch and 360.
why did I stay up till 3am making a von dutch brat coconut tree edit featuring kamala harris and why can’t I stop watching it on repeat pic.twitter.com/hqcmerD1Pb
— ryan (@ryanlong03) July 3, 2024
kamala harris edit to 360 by charli xcx.
— Dream for America (@DreamAmerica_) July 11, 2024
gen-z wants a brat presidency 💅🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/INhEiPdQx3
What does this all mean?
Fast forward a day, and reference to the strange and surreal crossover is everywhere: presenters on CNN dedicated an entire segment to attempting to make sense of the meme, TikTok feeds are awash with incredibly niche dance edits that set well-known Harris quotes to songs from the album, and Kamala Harris’ own campaigning page on X has even given itself a Brat-inspired makeover.
If you told me 6 months ago that CNN would have a group of panelists discussing how Charli xcx’s 6th album is being a major voting influence in the 2024 US presidential election I’d laugh in your face pic.twitter.com/3elqmXCb1J
— frankie 𖤐 (@360_brat) July 22, 2024
On the surface, it all feels like a bit of fun, but one upshot is that Harris is now plastered all over virtually everyone’s timelines, exposing her to exactly the sort of younger audiences that politicians are constantly chasing after. While they often try to engage with online humour – often with quite cringeworthy results – this happened, for the most part, organically; at least, before Harris and the Democrats joined in.
So will it genuinely sway a portion of the vote or engage first-time voters as the election approaches? That remains to be seen, but for now one thing is clear as day: Kamala is Brat, and a few more people have now heard her speeches.
