Sheer white tank tops. Skinny cigarettes (not vapes). Questionable 3 a.m. decisions.
These may be some of the trappings of a “brat,” otherwise known as a fan of the new Charli XCX album by the same name. Its arrival last week ushered in not only a slate of potential songs of the summer, but also an intense identification with the term — and a shift in mind-set.
“I think there’s a bravado to Charli’s persona, and that’s often what people see in her and what they’d like to see in themselves,” said Biz Sherbert, a host of “Nymphet Alumni,” a culture podcast. “I think the word ‘brat’ is in on that — wanting things to go your way, being badly behaved or self-centered, acting pouty and having an attitude.”
Kelly Chapman, a longtime Charli fan based in Washington, D.C., similarly defined a “brat” as “someone who misbehaves in a cheeky way and doesn’t conform to expectations.”
Ms. Chapman, 30, mused that a “brat” summer would involve: “embracing being a woman in your 30s, rejecting expectations, being honest, having fun but making moves, dating a guy from Twitter.”
Ever since Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” five years ago, pop stars and brands, as well as everyday people on social media, have spent each spring competing for the summer’s naming rights. There was the ill-fated Hot Vax Summer, Feral Girl Summer the following year, and of course, most recently, hot pink “Barbie” summer.
There were not many contenders on the scene when “Brat” dropped. With its callback to the sweat-stained, mascara-smudged aughts — when singers danced away their pain rather than therapizing it — and its eye-catching toxic-sludge-green album art, “Brat” seemed to fill a gap in the culture.
