How Charli XCX’s “Brat” Became the Soundtrack of Summer

Feature image: Brat album cover, 2024, Asylum, Atlantic and Warner UK, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

If you’ve been online at all this summer, you’ve likely been inundated with black, blurry, all-lowercase text on lime-green squares, references to a “brat summer,” and videos of people doing the “Apple” dance far too many times to count. And it feels like it all came out of nowhere.

So how did British singer Charli XCX ’s latest album, " Brat," dominate pop culture this summer? Its success is a unique combination of clever marketing, timing, and the build-up of a career that has spanned over a decade. We’ll uncover the influences, inspirations, and evolution behind the production of “Brat” and analyze its resulting cultural explosion.

Charli XCX was born in Cambridge, England on August 2, 1992, and was raised in Essex. She started posting her music—“gimmicky dance tracks,” in her words —to Myspace in 2008. She was discovered by a promoter and began performing at illegal warehouse raves throughout East London. The “XCX” in her stage name is leftover from her early days online: “‘XCX' was my MSN screen name when I was younger, which is really nerdy of me. It stood for 'kiss Charli kiss,'" she told On Air With Ryan Seacrest in 2014. Charli XCX was officially signed to a record label in 2010.

You may think you don’t know who Charli XCX is, but if you were listening to pop music in the early 2010s, you would most likely have heard her music. The early 2010s marked a significant shift in Charli XCX’s career, propelling her into the mainstream thanks to songwriting credits, features and collaborations, and the release of her debut album.

Her first big break came in 2012, when Charli XCX wrote the song “I Love It” for Swedish synth-pop duo Icona Pop, providing vocals for the final recorded version as well. The song eventually peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number seven. “True Romance,” Charli XCX’s debut album, was released in April 2013. In 2014, Charli XCX was featured on rapper Iggy Azalea’s hit “Fancy.” Also during that year, Charli XCX was featured on the soundtrack for the film “The Fault in Our Stars,” an adaptation of the young adult romance novel of the same name by John Green, with “Boom Clap,” a standout track on her second album “Sucker.”

Charli XCX has always been “brat”—confident, provocative, inventive, a little arrogant, and most certainly destined for bigger things. You can hear it emerging in the lyrics and sound of these earlier works. Just as Charli's "brat" persona was taking shape, so was the musical subgenre that became the foundation for "Brat."

Charli XCX’s music has always fallen under the labels of dance and electropop, but the development of a new sound created during the “do-it-yourself” era of the early and mid-2010s helped her further define her identity as an artist and songwriter, hyperpop.

Hyperpop is classified as a “microgenre” of pop music. It’s characterized by the use of synths, auto-tuned vocals, drum machines, pitch shifters, and self-referential, surreal lyrics. It takes a “maximalist” approach to pop, with hyperpop tracks often being brash, loud, distorted collections of electronic effects. 

Pioneers of the microgenre include UK-based producer A.G. Cook, whose label PC Music is largely credited with platforming the earliest examples of hyperpop via SoundCloud, and the late SOPHIE, a trans producer and DJ who worked closely with PC Music and is also credited with cementing hyperpop’s experimental nature. Both receive shoutouts from Charli XCX on “Brat”: Cook in “360”—“You gon’ jump if A.G. made it,”—and SOPHIE on “Club classics”—“I want to dance to SOPHIE, I want to dance to her flow.” Thanks to artists like them, hyperpop became solidified as a defined genre around 2020 through its exposure and spread on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples of hyperpop artists who saw growth online around this time include 100 gecs, Addison Rae, and Dorian Electra.

Charli XCX’s music began to shift in the direction of hyperpop with her 2020 album “How I’m Feeling Now,” which saw her fully embrace the niche genre by the release of 2022’s “Crash.”Hits from this era include “Good Ones,” “ Crash,” “pink diamond,” and “party 4 u.”

Hyperpop’s appeal today comes from the fact that hyperpop is everything mainstream pop is too afraid to be, while also pulling elements from dance and house music. A 2021 article from The Atlantic on hyperpop notes the irony that “the rebellion now marches under the seemingly tame mantle of pop.” It’s not for everyone, and hyperpop artists are keenly aware of how polarizing the genre can be to outsiders. 

Nobody ever expected “Brat” to be the hyperpop project to break into the mainstream. But it did. 

Before you even begin to understand the concept of “brat summer,” you must first understand “Brat” as an album in and of itself.

Brat’s creative risks are evident even before a listener presses play on the opening track. The cover—featuring a simple yet eye-catching bright lime green background with the word "brat" written in blurry Arial text, now a defining feature of the "Brat" brand—generated buzz well before its release.

In response to a post on X that criticized the apparent lack of creativity of the cover, which was designed by New York City-based studio Special Offer, Inc., Charli XCX said, “I think the constant demand for access to women’s bodies and faces in our album artwork is [misogynistic] and boring.” Her response brings to light the double standard female artists often face when putting out their art—no matter what they do, they will always be criticized and expected to sell their bodies in addition to their musical talents.

Despite the initial criticism, the eye-popping shade of green served as the backdrop for a large mural in Brooklyn used to promote “Brat” in the month leading up to the album’s release. After Charli XCX put on an initial pop-off performance on May 2, 2024, the “Brat wall” continued to be updated with various “Brat” lyrics and short messages from Charli XCX. The Brat wall became a place of pilgrimage for those in the know, and fans online could continue to track updates through social media, which fostered a tight-knit community that those involved felt rewarded for being a part of.

To promote the album, Charli XCX also DJed a Boiler Room set in Ibiza.

Those who initially doubted the power of “Brat green” (hex code #8ACE00) and the genius simplicity of the “Brat” cover art would be put in their place after the album’s release on June 7, 2024, when scores of users changed their profile pictures across the internet to lime green, thanks to the official Brat Generator site created by Charli XCX’s team. An ingenious marketing maneuver, the site allows users to superimpose any text they want over a “Brat” colored background, opening up the “Brat” album art to endless parody. 

The album itself draws influences from the British rave scene of the 2000s, harkening back to Charli XCX’s teenage years when she first began performing her music. The majority of its tracks are meant to be played in a darkened club with flashing, migraine-inducing strobe lights. “Brat” demands to be heard in the club, and it wants you to know it.

In the music video for “360,” released on May 9, 2024, Charli XCX’s confidence is on full display as she interrupts a discussion between her friends—the likes of which include actresses Chloe Sevigny, Rachel Sennott and Julia Fox (yes, the Julia Fox of “I’m so Julia” lyric fame), internet personalities Blizzy McGuire, Quenlin Blackwell, and Alex Consani, models Chloe Cherry, Gabbriette, and Hari Nef; among others—for the purpose of discovering “a new, hot internet girl.” 

Riddled with references and features for the always-online crowd to pick apart, the “360” music video was the perfect set-up and introduction to what “Brat” stands for. It was also the beginning of something about to become much bigger: brat summer.

“Brat,” as formally defined, denotes “a child, typically a badly behaved one.” To Charli XCX, “brat” is more than that.

“You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party,” Charli XCX said in a TikTok video that asked: “What is the meaning behind brat?” “And says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself, but then maybe has a breakdown but parties through it. Very honest, very blunt, a little bit volatile.”

A brat summer, then, is an extension of that. “It can be quite luxury, but it can also be so trashy,” Charli XCX explained in an interview. “A pack of cigs and a Bic lighter, a strappy white top with no bra. That’s kind of all you need.”

Social media has taken the concept of “brat” and ran with it, with posts declaring random items, behaviors, and ideas as either “brat” or “not brat” becoming ubiquitous in the wake of the album’s release.

Although the “vibes” of “Brat” are very carefully curated toward the outgoing, that doesn’t mean the non-party girls among us can’t relate to it. Fans have praised the album’s unexpected emotional and relatable lyricism in vulnerable tracks like “ I think about it all the time,” which contrast with the upbeat, high-energy main tracks. 

The variety in “Brat” isn’t the only reason the album exploded this summer: Charli XCX had timing on her side. As we approach the fourth year since the outbreak of COVID-19, the societal urge for gregarious, messy, lighthearted activities has seldom been stronger. And if there’s ever an excuse to go to a club and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with someone in a huge crowd, “Brat” might as well be it.

It’s also an example of what some are now beginning to dub “recession pop.” The term refers specifically to pop music created during and after the 2008 recession but has been used to describe some of today’s post-pandemic music. The desire to feel carefree in a world that feels more and more suffocating is more palpable than ever. Therefore, it makes sense that being “brat” would appeal to so many.

References, remixes, and collaborations with other artists have also encouraged the spread of brat summer. In addition to associating with those in the aforementioned “360” music video, Charli XCX has released remixes with Addison Rae, Robyn and Young Lean, Lorde, and Billie Eilish, building a Marvel Cinematic Universe-esque group of who’s who, slightly reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s “squad” in her “Bad Blood” music video. This way, fans of her collaborators gained exposure to her album, and vice versa. 

Some fans have included Charli XCX in the so-called “ Powerpop Girls ”—a play on “Powerpuff Girls” that includes Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, two other women whose music has been topping charts and drawing record crowds all summer long.

It looks like Charli XCX was right after all—she is everywhere (and she is so Julia).

On September 2, 2024, Charli XCX tweeted “goodbye forever brat summer.” 

Brat Summer is officially over, but the broader cultural impact and implications of "Brat" are only just beginning. It's evident that fans have been craving a moment like this—one where an artist embraces the messiness of avant-garde creativity and rewards their listeners for their investment in the niche. Seasonal trends come and go, but the resulting attention "Brat" has garnered since its release has ensured its legacy as being synonymous with Summer 2024.

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