Brat is the hottest word in the 2024 political lexicon. It’s a direct reference to Charli XCX’s new album "brat," which was released last month and started the trend "brat summer."
On TikTok, Charli XCX defined brat, saying, “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself but then also maybe has a breakdown but kinda parties through it. It’s very honest. It’s very blunt. Little bit volatile.”
Brat has come to mean someone who is bold, cheeky, aggressively independent and imperfect.
Charli XCX is a British pop star who rose to stardom when she was featured on Icona Pop’s 2013 hit “I Love It" and Iggy Azalea’s 2014 sensation “Fancy,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nearly two months. She has released six studio albums, including "brat."
On Sunday evening, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Charli XCX posted on X that “kamala IS brat” and Harris' brat summer took off. As of Friday afternoon, the post has over 53.3 million views, 55,000 reposts and more than 332,000 likes.
kamala IS brat
— Charli (@charli_xcx) July 22, 2024
The Harris campaign aligned itself with the brat trend by branding its X banner, which reads "kamala hq," in the intentionally obnoxious green and blurry font of the "brat" album cover. The X bio reads “Providing context.,” a reference to Harris’ now viral May 2023 coconut tree remarks when she — paraphrasing what her mother used to tell her — said, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
Thomas Bowen, a political strategist who founded and is the managing partner at New Chicago Consulting, said it's hard to pin down how much staying power a cultural moment in politics may have.
“But, the impression left — that Vice President Harris is cool or worthy of celebrity interest — is usually something that applies to many different pop culture leaders as opposed to just Charli XCX," Bowen said. "I would expect something like the ‘Kamala is brat’ social media post to be a leading indicator of celebrity interest as opposed to something that kicked off celebrity interest.”
The Democratic National Convention commences in Chicago on Aug. 19. While the DNC has yet to embrace the brat green, they have mirrored the album’s other stylistic choices in new advertisements. The DNC has also committed to providing the same level of access and information to content creators as traditional media sources, allowing credentialed creators to access work spaces in the United Center, where the convention's evening sessions will occur, and has hired full-time staff to handle influencer engagement.
Bowen said there’s no “magic formula” to understand how this mix of politics and pop culture will impact the race. While politicians hope marketing like "kamala hq" may reach voters who are generally removed from politics, this unconventional approach “involves losing some control over message content to those non-traditional audiences. But anything that communicates a favorable impression to voters is helpful and gets you a few more votes.”
Charli XCX isn’t the only pop star fueling Harris’ buzz on social media. Users on TikTok, including Harris’ campaign, have used Chappell Roan’s 2022 single “Femininomenon” in posts of the presidential candidate. On Thursday, Harris’ campaign dropped its first official ad set to Beyoncé’s song “Freedom.” In comparison to Donald Trump’s walk-out song at the Republican National Convention, James Brown's “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World,” and President Joe Biden tapping Bruce Springsteen for his 2020 campaign ad featuring The Boss' 1984 hit "My Hometown," Harris is running with the soundtrack of young people.
