When singer Charli XCX released “Brat,” her sixth album, on June 7, 2024, she could have never predicted the fervor around the aesthetics of the album. Much like how Pantone assigns a trendy color each year, suddenly the lime-green “Brat” color was everywhere. The album was not only critically acclaimed, but it inspired a bunch of memes!
Photo via Wikipedia
What is Brat summer? Well, as Ms. XCX explains, it's a mix of trashiness and luxury. It's like wearing a crop top, sneakers, and winged eyeliner to the club, dancing til 4 AM, getting a slice of pizza with your friends, and then sliding into bed without taking off your makeup. “You're just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels like herself but maybe also has a breakdown,” she shared in a TikTok explainer. “But kind of like parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat,” the singer explained.
This comes on the heels of the year of musical megaliths: Taylor Swift's squeaky-clean Eras tour and Beyonce's glamorous Renaissance tour were inescapable. Now, the vibe has shifted a bit, and clearly, the internet is ready for its “club classics” era. Instead of colorful friendship bracelets and glitter-coated cowboy hats, the pendulum has swayed to the opposite aesthetic: grungy, dirty, punk, and bratty.
The Memes
This one is personal for New Yorkers: the G train has shut down for the summer, and that neon G sign was just begging to be memed.
Photo via @colipher
Others found inspiration in architecture:
Photo via @benvyle and Know Your Meme
Photo via @lllliatttt
Suddenly, almost any green item could be assigned a “Brat” title:
Photo via @GatorsDaily
Photo via Cara Mia and Know Your Meme
How far can a meme travel?
Many memes have a short shelf life, but Brat's amorphous nature transcends the flash-in-the-pan expectation. It's not just the color, either: people joked about the lyrics and contents of the album as well, like the phrase “bumpin' that” from the song “360."
Photo via @dogrcops666
Photo via @KatieChow
Photo via @taylorgarron
Photo via @bandarmoment
Before “Brat,” Charli XCX had already found success in the music world with songs and features like “I Love It,” “Boom Clap,” and “Fancy." She's been making music since age 2008, but her successes were largely in the United Kingdom, where Charli hails from.
Then came a second meme
Playing on the simple font of the first Brat album release, Charli XCX then added a few extra songs to the album and released it as a deluxe version. The distinct font and kerning were once again instantly iconic, spawning a fresh wave of jokes and memes.
The album cover both acknowledges and pokes fun at artists who constantly re-release their own albums with extra songs, acoustic versions, or remixes. They aren't new albums; they're just adding what should have been considered bonus tracks. But still, people eat this up. The elephant in the room here is pop juggernaut Taylor Swift, who released literally dozens of versions of her “Tortured Poets Department” album in 2024, making fans clamor for the different vinyl variants that included voice memos or acoustic songs.
On this re-release, Charli XCX collaborated with singer Lorde on the remix of “Girl, So Confusing.” Charli released a song snippet where Lorde sings, “Well honestly, I was speechless when I woke up to your voicemail when you told me how you're feeling, let's work it out on the remix" (per Rolling Stone). Incredibly, this gave birth to another phrase that got instantly meme-ified: “Let's work it out on the remix” was added to the Brat jargon. (Not to mention that reportedly, the song was originally about Lorde! In the song's lyrics, Charli laments that she and Lorde get mistaken for each other and adds, “Sometimes I think you might hate me / Sometimes I think I might hate you.")
Photo via Charli XCX official website
Photo via @lordestruggles
Photo via @memesofcharli_
Photo via @Neil_McNeil
Photo via @olsencassidy
What's next for Brat summer?
There seems to be no end in sight for Brat Summer as the internet continues to create green memes! Only time will tell which direction the viral green meme will go next.
Photo via @64605K4
Photo via @anndemeulememe
Photo via @atha_online
Once you've taken in all of the internet's greenest memes, check out some musical instruments of chaos.
