Charli XCX Brat

Origin

‘Brat’ is the title of the sixth studio album by the English musician Charli XCX, released on June 7th, 2024.

What became a meme was the cover rather than the music: the word ‘brat’ in lower-case, slightly blurred, on a flat field of acid green. With nothing to it but a colour and four letters, anyone could reproduce it in seconds — put any word at all on the same green and you have a brat cover — and parody covers appeared immediately after release.

Spread

From the artwork it spread into the phrase ‘brat summer’, a variation on the earlier ‘hot girl summer’, bundling the visual cues — acid green, sporty sunglasses — with an attitude of doing as you please. Brands followed by turning their own accounts green.

The peak came when it crossed into politics. With Joe Biden having withdrawn from the race and Kamala Harris emerging as the Democratic nominee, Charli XCX posted ‘kamala IS brat’ on X on July 21st, 2024. The Harris campaign promptly restyled its official account banner after the brat cover, turning an album sleeve into presidential campaign material. Charli XCX later said in interviews that her music is not political and that the post had been meant lightly.

Usage

Cover parodies putting a lower-case word on acid green
The construction ‘X IS brat’ to characterise someone or something
‘Brat summer’ as a label for the mood or attitude of a period

The word ordinarily means a spoilt child; in this context it is inverted into something closer to praise for not caring what anyone thinks, and the phrase does not parse without that inversion.