Summer’s color? Lime green.

If you spend the majority of your time chronically online, then you likely already know exactly what the color of the summer is in reference to. If you happen to live under a rock and missed the constant usage of lime green and big bold Arial font these past three months, well then, prepare to be enlightened on the trend sparked by none other than icon Charli XCX.  

June 7, 2024, marked the very start of what was deemed "brat summer," with the release of  Charli XCX's sixth studio album, Brat. An album channeling hyperpop, 2000s club music, and the rave culture of London, where Charli started her career, Brat succeeded immediately. With each single released, fans clung onto the loud and bold beats of the songs, anticipating the sheer power of the entire album drop—one that did not disappoint. Each song contains a balancing act between the raw vulnerability of the lyrics, and the deep, hitting power of the full songs. Charli used songs such as "Girl, So Confusing," to explore the impacts of pitting female musicians against each other in the industry. "So I" addresses grief from losing a close friend, and "Mean Girls" highlights the societal fascination with the dubbed "mean girl." Along with these heavier topics, Charli maintains a distinct hyperpop focus in her album, and many songs take a much flirtier, energetic vibe, including "Guess" and "Apple." No matter the topic being addressed, whether deep-cutting or fun and bratty, the rave influence is clear, embedded throughout the entire album.  

After the release of Brat, social media platforms went into a tailspin. Charli XCX had  single-handedly brought back the fun, edgy, and often messy aesthetic of early 2000s clubbing. The  album art was immediately everywhere, whether it be in meme form or advertisements. Dance trends were created to multiple songs on the album, infecting TikTok users with exciting new dance moves to show off on repeat. And above all else, the summer of 2024 was deemed “brat.” But what exactly did "brat summer" entail? Yes, there's the obvious return of animal prints, bright green colors, and the overall fashion aesthetic that Charli herself deemed as "so trashy." But more than that, "brat summer" gave the world the chance to openly embrace and accept the chaos that comes with our individuality and imperfections. "Brat summer" was the return of being human, not the curated perfect "it girl" we see everywhere in the media. You can be yourself, and have fun doing it.  

The rise of "brat summer" grew so impactful that it even began to play a role in the political  campaign of Kamala Harris. Presidential Candidate and Vice President Harris' social media platform embraced the chaos of "brat summer" when they began to use the bright green colors and black Arial font in their advertisements, after Charli XCX tweeted "kamala IS brat," on her personal X platform. The Harris HQ team immediately took this endorsement and ran, incurring a connection between "brat summer," Brat, the album, and Kamala Harris' presidential campaign—a move that could have an interesting effect on the voting demographics of younger generations.