I am not a marketing student, just a pop-culture observer who is chronically scrolling on the ‘gram. But if there’s anything about marketing that these last two years taught me, it is that associating yourself with a colour might as well be the best way to promote yourself.
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If you look at it, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, being the mother of all mothers, made this movement famous. And now, Charli XCX’s latest album Brat made this particular shade of green the colour of the season. I mean, green is a colour that would rank pretty low on my list of favourites. And that too an almost NEON tint of green. On another day, I would have cringed at the thought of it. Yet I have seriously considered changing my Instagram profile picture to a brat green background with hot girl shit written on it (this confession already gave me the ick now that I’m writing it, but whatever. I admit I get swayed by social media trends a lot).
Anyway, I’ve overshared a lot. Back to the article.
So What’s The Story Behind All Of This?
Okay, time for the history lesson. Charlotte Emma Aitchison, aka Charli XCX released her sixth studio album on 7th June 2024. Now Charli’s music is normally very dance-pop-ish. Except for this time, there was this added layer of vulnerability that just hit at all the right places.
Need an example? Consider this. For quite some time now, Charli and Lorde – yes, the Royals singer Lorde – have been compared with each other because of how similar they look. Their music is vastly different – Lorde’s signature vibe is sad girl melancholia, while Charli XCX is all about partying the night away. But in her song, Girl, So Confusing, Charli opened up about what it felt like to always be compared to someone who’s so successful. Now, she didn’t name who the muse in her song was. So right when people started speculating that there might be beef, the Beg For You singer dropped a remix of the song with Lorde, with both singers acknowledging what it felt like always being pitted against each other. The Internet. Went. Nuts.
The entire album has many such personal and self-reflective songs, which, considering Charli XCX’s past discography, is quite a refreshing take. For now, I’ll leave it here for you to vibe to it.
Okay, But Brat Girl Summer Still Doesn’t Make Sense To Me
Right. This is the fun part. So, “brat” is a word that you would probably use for a kid who is spoiled and annoying. Think of a teen who always parties out, gets everything before she even asks for it and is probably too entitled. Now think about Charli XCX, a pop star whose entire discography is party bops, her image is all about clubbing all night. She has had a bunch of songs that have gone viral before. She is a celebrity. Of course, she will be entitled, right?
Except, she isn’t. This brat is deeply vulnerable. Behind the veil of her bass are her insecurities and self-examination that flow through her lyrics. Of course, she is a brat, and of course, she is proud to be one. But the point of the album is to give a new definition to the word brat. It tries to de-stigmatise it. And in doing so, it tries to de-stigmatise and break the stereotype of the spoilt, one-dimensional party animal.
Beyond music, where Charli XCX hit the jackpot is the album cover and its marketing. Brat’s cover design is deceptively simple – an instantly recognisable shade of green with the word brat written in what looks like the Ariel font. FYI that’s the default font of Microsoft Word.
And that makes the album cover very easy to reproduce. Anyone can be a brat – just paint your notes app the right shade of green and whip out the right font, and now you’re a part of the tribe. In Charli’s own words, “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. 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.”
And if you are not very active on social media, it’s still cool, you could wear the closest shade of green you have, and pair it with black as below:
Or wear black from head to toe like this:
Or take a cue from the singer’s music videos and public appearances.
Or just go all out and be as edgy as you like. The memo, as they say, is “to serve c*nt”.
The whole point of Brat Girl Summer, after all, is to accept the imperfections in ourselves, which is a tried and tested concept. But against the yearly hot girl summer’s modelesque bikini bodies and unrealistic beauty expectations that we still love to glorify, embracing your chipped edges is actually a refreshing take.
For God’s sake, just let the girls be girls for once.
