Kevin Collins

References to the album “BRAT” can be found in daily life everywhere.

“BRAT” is the sixth studio album released by English pop star Charli XCX. The album, released on June 7, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. With this, it quickly became Charli XCX’s highest-charting album in the United States. 

However, even more impressive is the immediate social media response to the album. On June 28, Charli XCX posted a video on social media platform TikTok using the sound of her song “Apple,” track 11 on the album “BRAT” which featured Troye Sivan, Terrence O’Connor and Charli XCX herself doing simple choreography to promote their upcoming “Sweat” tour. This video gained tremendous popularity, reaching 43.4 million views as well as 1.4 million other videos being created using Charli XCX’s sound. 

Another huge factor of the album’s social media following is the design of the album cover. The album cover donned a color similar to apple green, the actual color having a hex code #8ACE00, given the name “brat green” as well as pixelated lowercase lettering of the word “brat.” The color, being so distinct, is easily noticeable in day-to-day life and was pointed out by many people on social media for being on matcha tea, motor vehicles and lipsticks to name a few examples.

The album was also featured on the popular Roblox game “Dress To Impress,” including many clothing items themed to match the album.

 All of this just further promotes the phenomenon referred to as “brat summer.” Many people refer to “brat summer” as a movement in which people live freely and stay true to themselves without fear of judgment or being perceived negatively.

Charli XCX herself exemplified this in an interview with Billboard when asked about what the brat green represents. 

“I think there is this idea of making something quite disgusting and turning it into this thing that, you know, people are going to look at quite a lot and think about, and ask you: ‘why that green, why the pixelated font, why is it so crap,’” Charlie XCX said. “I think those questions spark a really interesting conversation about why people are annoyed about certain elements of the artwork.”

“I really enjoyed that some people absolutely hated it and some people were writing these essays on why it was good and obviously, that was the point of the whole thing. [As well as] taking this pop-art angle of ‘yeah you might think it’s bad, but you didn’t do it’ kind of a thing,” Charlie XCX said.

Although summer is coming to an end, “brat summer” will have a lasting pop-culture impact forever.