A lot of people have been called a “brat” in their lifetime, mostly as an insult, but more recently Generation Z has reclaimed that title with pride. A social media trend called “Brat” summer has become a phenomenon.

Inspired by British pop star Charli XCX’s newest album “Brat,” the buzzword quickly made cultural, and even political, headlines. Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris even made “Brat” a major part of her campaign. 

The album displays a notable Shrek-green cover with black pixelated letters and features 15 songs. The Brat movement uses the album as an origin for the larger trend of glamorizing Gen Z’s party culture. 

“The meaning of the trend is living chaotically in every sense, mostly regarding party culture,” senior Emma Turner said. “It’s going out until sunrise. It’s being undone. It’s being effortless. It’s having a kind of attitude about it. It’s living in the moment, and being wild.”

The trend is intended to shift Gen Z’s perception of success within adulthood to a more lighthearted lifestyle. 

“It is messy, chaotic, party girl, and grunge style,” senior Ruth Kirsch said. “It’s hair extensions that you can see. You just don’t care. It’s the opposite of a clean ‘put-together’ girl.”

The appeal for Gen Zers is to move away from traditional responsibilities in adulthood and stay young and free as long as possible.

“Being Brat is cool. We all get too caught up in jobs and the future and becoming adults, and Brat is meant to romanticize life,” Kirsch said. 

Turner said the trend, although a Gen Z movement, shares a similarity to trends in other generations.

“The music in that album is edgy and is like the ’90s and 2000s party culture,” Turner said.

However the summer trend is a phenomenon that is confusing not only to the culture of Hillsdale students, but to American culture as well. 

The Washington Free Beacon reported that merely 20 percent of Americans would feel “complimented” being equated to “Brat.” Thirty-six percent claimed they would be “offended,” and 24 percent said they would feel “confused.” The final 20 percent were unsure of the word’s meaning, but for Hillsdale student culture, it is different. 

“I know that it all stemmed from the green album with the word brat on it,” junior Lulu Celecia said. “I would not think it has anything to do with college students. I just don’t see ‘Brat’ being a mature thing.” 

Junior Lily Paccassi said Brat is not a trend that people would even need to understand in order to endorse it. 

“It says more about our generation’s relationship to trends than it does to have a ‘Brat summer,’” she said. 

The influence of social media has been the driving force for the Brat trend, reaching and intriguing Hillsdale students alike, but not because the trend appeals to them. 

“I thought you were talking about ‘Brat’ as in bratwurst,” senior Ben Papez said, “But the fact that young people have made being irresponsible a trend is nothing particularly new.”

However, Turner said Hillsdale students do not fit the cultural stereotype. 

“Hillsdale can lack cultural awareness with our age group. The education and the values promoted here are very different from culture’s,” Turner said. “Our values don’t align with staying out all night, not sleeping, and hurting our brains. People are focused on their futures. This trend just glamorizes wasting your time.”

While social media has made the trend about behavior, the meaning points to something more significant about Gen Z culture, according to Kirsch.  

“Gen Z has a nostalgia for something that they never even lived through which we seem to feel about all generations before ours,” Kirsch said.

With nostalgia for the popular 2000s party culture, Brat has been the perfect vessel for reconciling the COVID19 years for Gen Z, according to Celecia. 

“People have gotten sick of the rigor of life. I think it started when COVID started, we took life for granted. So our generation takes negative words and things and makes them our own,” Celecia said. “It’s easier to control being sloppy than to have your life in order.” 

While the trend can be viewed as a waste of time for Gen Z, the recent political weaponization of the term is showcasing significant sway in the Gen Z voting block. With an endorsement of Harris for president from Charlie XCX, saying “Kamala is Brat,” on the social media platform X, Harris was able to integrate Brat as part of her campaign strategy.

But campaigning on social media trends does not sell some Hillsdale students. 

“The political aspect shows how easily influenced our generation is,” Celecia said. “If we understand Brat to be about having apathy, then a presidential candidate promoting herself as that is not something we should applaud.”

The Brat trend showcases how social media is for Gen Z’s formation of their generation’s culture, and not as a positive thing. 

“The problem with trends now is that before social media it took people a second before going with the trend, it was a slow adjustment,” Celecia said. “But now you don’t even think about it, you see something you are immediately on board, whatever it may be. Brat is just another example of that.”