Kamala Harris has embraced the social media trend of a “brat summer” in her presidential campaign.
A “brat summer” is inspired by pop star Charli XCX‘s new album Brat – which was released on 7 June.
And the notional Democratic presidential candidate has already flooded her campaign’s social media account with references to it.
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It comes after the British singer-songwriter – whose real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison – endorsed her to be the next Democratic presidential candidate in the early hours of Monday morning, writing in a post on X: “kamala IS brat”.
That post, at the time of writing, has 46.5 million views.
But what exactly is ‘brat’ and a ‘brat summer’?
Brat is the name of Charli XCX’s sixth studio album – the artwork features a simple lime green square, with all lowercase text, centred to the middle of the square in an arial font.
The album was positively received by critics and is the highest-rated album of 2024 so far, according to review website Metacritic, debuting at number two on the UK chart and number three on the US Billboard 200.
Similar artwork has now flooded the Kamala HQ campaign account.
The term brat has been described by the singer as being representative of someone who might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.
She’s explained on social media how it is similar to the “girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” she said.
Charli XCX says this is the sort of person who “feels like herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like parties through it, it is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
In other words, it’s an aesthetic characterised by a carefree mindset and party girl aesthetic.
Some entertainment critics and journalists have said it is the rejection of the “clean girl” aesthetic on TikTok, which is based on ideals of groomed femininity.
Why has Harris adopted this?
Besides Charli XCX’s endorsement, it’s thought the likely Democratic presidential nominee and her campaign’s swift welcoming of support may have adopted this trend due to its already viral nature.
Abigail De Kosnik, an associate professor at the Berkeley Center for New Media at the University of California, Berkeley, told NBC, Sky News’ US partner network, that Ms Harris is “plugged in” to popular culture in a way that other Democratic candidates haven’t been able to in the past.
She called the tactic a refreshing change for voters who often view the Democrats as dull or old-fashioned.
“The brat girl is sort of like the unexpected leader, the unexpected winner,” Ms de Kosnik said.
This is shown by many supporters of the vice president already making fandom edits of her to songs from the album, including 360 and Von Dutch.
A fandom edit is a very short film, sometimes 30 seconds, that uses a careful selection of dialogue, music, video, and images to show appreciation of certain people and characters.
One example was made by US student Ryan Long, who went viral after he posted a mash-up of Von Dutch with clips of Ms Harris on 3 July.
“I’ve never seen people so excited for a candidate,” Mr Long, who described himself as an enthusiastic long-term Harris supporter, told NBC.
“People were pessimistic about Joe Biden, but there is so much enthusiasm right now over Kamala. I really hope that she can capitalise off of it and get a landslide win.”
Ms Harris has also previously been celebrated by celebrities such as Beyonce and Cardi B – with American pop star Kesha also having remixed the politician’ laugh with the intro of the 2011 song Blow.
Ms Harris’s appeal to some social media users seems to be working as according to data from Betfair Exchange her odds are improving – helped by the endorsement from Joe Biden.
However, she still faces a significant challenge to surpass Republican nominee Donald Trump.
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What about the viral coconut tree comments?
Another reason the Harris campaign seems to have gathered momentum online is due to some comments she made at a White House event in 2023.
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There, she said: “My mother used to – she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. 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.”
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Due to this, the tropical fruit quickly became a symbol of support, with the campaign team even changing her biography on X to read “providing context” – referencing the viral moment.
