To be a brat is a negative concept, right? Since the announcement of singer and songwriter Charli XCX’s newest hyper pop album, “BRAT,” Gen Z has taken a new positive twist to the word. ‘Brat summer’ became the trend of the season, and Internet users have started to wonder whether ‘brat autumn’ will become the new trending phrase.
Questions about the meaning of brat immediately came from older generations who witnessed the media phenomenon unfold. The basic definition of being ‘brat’ or ‘bratty,’ inspired by Charli XCX’s “BRAT” album, is being confident, unapologetic, rebellious, bold, carefree, playful, defiant, sassy and fun-loving.
Charli XCX herself made a statement on her TikTok page about what being brat means.
“You're just that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” Charli XCX said. “Who feels herself but then also maybe has a breakdown. But kind of parties through it, is very honest, is very blunt. A little bit volatile, does dumb things, but it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
Here on the IU campus, students feel similarly.
“(Brat is) a lot of letting go, being carefree, partying, doing what you want, just being who you are unapologetically,” IU freshman McKenzie Vitale said.
IU junior Sammi Zeldin narrowed brat down to the phrase “party girl.”
The iInternet has transformed into a space filled with “BRAT” references left and right, everywhere you look. The album itself drew a huge amount of support immediately, quickly rising to number one on Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and moving up on other music charts around the world. The deluxe album, released three days after the original “BRAT” album, quickly garnered a growing 46.72 million on-demand streams.
A community of “BRAT” listeners and lovers joined together to make brat the word of the year. Most commonly, brat has been used with the word ‘summer’ to describe the fun and excitement that the season entails.
“Brat summer is having the mindset of ‘dance like no one is watching,’” Vitale said. “It’s a lot of going out, being who you are, not worrying about tomorrow, and having fun. That’s the most important part.”
Having a brat summer quickly came to the forefront of many Internet memes and conversations, serving as a perfect phrase for people to describe their carefree and chaotic summers.
“Brat summer is basically like hot girl summer,” Zeldin said. “Going out and obviously listening to ‘BRAT.’ Brat is a confidence boost for sure.”
The songs on “BRAT” include themes of women being pit against each other and the complexity of womanhood, as well as themes of unapologetically being who you are and not caring what society thinks, making “BRAT” a commentary on feminism.
This unapologetic and carefree twist on feminism in music provides women with the confidence to be whoever they are and live life however they want to. The novelty of these concepts sheds light on the lack of freedom many women have been raised to feel that they have over their bodies and their life choices.
Though some of the lyrics from “BRAT” focus on existential dread and comparing oneself to others, Charli XCX successfully balances the negative themes with optimistic ones of acknowledging faults, being vulnerable and being self-aware. This balance conveys the symbiosis between the negative and positive parts of womanhood. Charli XCX emphasizes that though we are all human and have flaws, we can and should live our lives to the fullest by accepting ourselves and others.
As the seasons change, there has been much online discourse on whether brat summer will transform into brat autumn. The brat trend will likely continue, considering that Charli XCX will be touring with Troye Sivan for their SWEAT tour through Oct. 23. Following that, Charli XCX will continue her BRAT 2024 tour with dates in November and December.
On top of her tours, Charli XCX is continuing to release different versions of her “BRAT” album into the fall months. On Sept. 12, Charli XCX took to Instagram to post a new “BRAT” album cover captioned “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat – Out oct 11.,” announcing the release date of a third version of “BRAT.” This post gave rise to thousands of comments such as “BRAUTUMN” and “Brat Autumn loading....,” seemingly confirming that brat is here to stay.
“I don’t know if brat fall is going to be the term coined for the following season, but I do think we are going to be carrying the mindset of just expressing yourself and being who you are into this fall,” Vitale said.
This seems to be the consensus online as well, as mentions of brat autumn can be found across many different media platforms.
“I think there will be another term for fall but same energy,” Zeldin said. “I’ve seen people say bratumn.”
Like brat, other common slang words used by IU students are often derived from online conversations and meme culture on the Internet. Words like slay, ate, mother and more are slang with similar connotations to brat.
“A big word used as slang I'm hearing more often is ‘diva,’” Vitale said. “One of my friends has answered the phone and went, ‘Hey diva!’”
The IU Archives collection c627 contains records of slang words used in the past on IU Bloomington’s campus from the 1970-1980's. Some of the words are comparable in definition to brat.
Research papers showed that in 1978, fabulous, tremendous and sharp were used as brat is today on IU’s campus. During 1983, intense, awesome, bodacious, bad and excellent were some of the top slang words for IU students. In 1987, mamahoochie and miss thing were used similarly to brat, as well as cool, cool beans, tough, nifty, awesome, hip and spiffy.
The concept of brat became a cultural phenomenon overnight as fans took “BRAT” branding into their own hands. At this point, the use of brat as a slang word has promoted Charli XCX’s album more than she has.
People have even started calling Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris brat after Charli XCX herself tweeted “kamala IS brat,” seemingly expressing her support of Harris in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
“BRAT” has resulted in a new generation of confident people and an entirely new category of memes, not to mention the many fantastic songs on the album. Charli XCX is not stopping here, and we can look forward to “BRAT” continuing to have an impact on internet culture as a whole for the foreseeable future
