How politics killed brat summer 

LONDON — In hindsight, the dream of a “brat summer” 2024 was always a mirage.

On the surface, there was so much potential. The sun was shining, the rosé was on ice, and an achingly cool new album by British pop star Charli XCX — “BRAT” — was lined up as the soundtrack.

The memes were good, the songs catchy, the TikTok dances groovy. 

But then … something happened. Kamala Harris was announced de-facto Democrat candidate for U.S. president, and Charli XCX declared that Kamala was brat. Politicos who should know better went wild. They too wanted to be brat — even if they weren’t entirely sure what any of it meant.

And that meant that brat was in danger. Like over-excited parents hijacking their teenagers’ slang, U.K. politicians spent much of the summer trying — and largely failing — to do brat.

Cultural expert Hugh Morris remains optimistic that brat can live — but agrees its impact has been “diluted” by politicians jumping on the bandwagon. “What it has shown is the worst instincts of the political class,” he said.

Charli XCX herself described a brat as a “girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things.”

kamala IS brat— Charli (@charli_xcx) July 22, 2024

It was a definition that seemed to speak to half of Westminster.

One eager Tory adviser briefed PoliticsHome that Priti Patel was the “brat” Conservative leadership candidate. Speaking on Politics Live, Lib Dem MP Max Wilkinson even quoted “365” — the second single on the BRAT album — to explain his middle-aged, centrist leader Ed Davey’s policy approach.

And former Conservative MP Robert Buckland suggested in the wake of his defeat in July’s general election he might have a brat summer … even if he didn’t know “what on earth it means.”

Back in the States, Harris’s official campaign X account was rebranded in lime green, which, for reasons too complicated to explain to anyone over 25, is the official brat color.

… What is brat?

To be fair on Buckland, and other over-25s, brat does seem somewhat undefinable. Speaking to Vulture magazine, Charli XCX responded to a request for a definition, and tips to stay bratty, with “Who gives a f***?”

A neatly defined term is not brat, it seems.

Morris, who has written extensively on the phenomenon, says brat revels in its unexplainable-ness. It’s just not something you can pin down.

And be believes the trend, and politicians’ reaction to it, has highlighted “the complete disconnect between politicians and the popular culture of younger people.” He criticized “the opportunistic co-opting of Brat’s branding to make politicians seem ‘down with the kids.’”

Meanwhile, writing in the New Statesman, columnist Sarah Manavis said that U.S. Democrats’ excitable response to Harris’s brat status put the entire concept in doubt. “Harris’ team is falling into an obvious social media trap: attempting to turbo-charge online hype when doing so is a guaranteed way to burst that bubble.”

Breaking point 

But despite countless cringe attempts to co-opt the term in Westminster and beyond, all might not have been lost for the brat summer were it not for the pollsters.

After the major U.K. polling companies collectively got the result of the general wrong, it was a survey by Ipsos which finally broke brat, with a poll that asked an innocent public which U.K. politician was the most brattish.

While, understandably, 58 percent said they had never heard of the concept, those in the know ranked former Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the politician most clearly fitting the bill.

Of those identified as knowing a “great deal” or “fair amount” about brat, almost one in five (19 percent) pointed to Johnson as a brat politician.

Right-wing Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage was the second most brat, on 18 percent. Leftie Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Prime Minister Keir Starmer tied on 17 percent, perhaps some kind of postmodern joke given the Labour leader’s suited lawyer aesthetic and accusations of being a “political robot.”

It was clear — brat was officially over. At least in Westminster. 

And with SW1 returning from the long summer break Monday, now the Westminster village waits for the memes to stop and for politicians to chase the next political zeitgeist. Or, as Morris puts it, bide their time “until the next brat summer trend comes along.”

But Charli has other ideas. Speaking to Vulture, she said “I actually think the press and outlets don’t get to decide when it’s over. The kids get to decide when it’s over.”

Over to you, kids.