It’s a “brat summer,” according to social media. But what exactly IS brat? And why is Vice President Kamala Harris involved?

The trend is inspired by British pop star Charli XCX’s album “Brat,” which was released on June 7 and features a neon lime green cover with the word “brat” in blurry black lettering.

On Sunday, Charli XCX showed her support of Harris by tweeting “kamala IS brat” shortly after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race.

Harris embraced the social media frenzy surrounding the album — and plethora of memes that have come along with it — for her presidential election campaign.

So what does that all mean?

“You are just that girl who is a little messy and maybe says dumb things sometimes, who feels herself but then also maybe has a breakdown but parties through it,” Charli XCX said in a TikTok interview, USA Today reported. “It is honest, blunt and a little bit volatile. That’s Brat.”

The album embraces “a hot-mess pop star aesthetic, prioritizing club culture at its core but still offering introspective lyrics on aging, womanhood, grief and anxiety,” USA Today said.

Brats have fun, embrace their community and are unapologetic in their individuality, USA Today said.

“Brat summer” is embracing the lifestyle associated with being a “brat” — as defined by Charli XCX.

The #bratsummer trend has nearly 1 million posts on TikTok, and the lime green theme has been used by thousands of individuals and businesses, according to BBC.

Harris’ “Kamala HQ” account on the social media platform X features a reference to the album in its lime green banner with black lettering.

Charli XCX’s tweet solidified Harris’ “brat status,” USA Today reported. Other artists’ tunes have been featured in various edits as well, including Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon.”

The viral posts could help Harris reach younger voters — who could play a pivotal role in the upcoming election, Reuters said.

Gen Z fans have turned the trend into an aesthetic, and Harris-related memes like her famed “coconut tree” line have taken the internet by storm.

It’s an audio clip from a 2023 speech that was formerly criticized but is now being embraced by Gen Z as a sort of existential philosophy, according to Reuters.

“ ‘You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’ ” Harris asks in the speech, quoting what her mother used to say, before laughing and then growing serious, Reuters said. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.

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