Despite school routines getting back into the swing of things, we can’t forget about what the summer gave us. From having a “Brat Summer” to seeing the jaw-dropping “Love Island USA” drama play out, this summer was one for the books.
Brat Summer
Whether it be the classic lime green background with narrow black font, posters that every company took to use, or the “Apple” dance that rose to fame on TikTok, British singer/songwriter, Charli XCX turned this summer “Brat.”
So, what is a “Brat Summer?” Does anyone truly know? On June 7, Charli took to Instagram letting her fans know her album “brat” resembles “me, my flaws, my f— ups, my ego all rolled into one.” It seemed everyone had their own interpretation of “Brat Summer,” but with the main goal of accepting your imperfections while embracing the chaos.
Three days later, Charli released “Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not,” the deluxe version of “brat.” Which continued the heat of summer even more, especially with her release of “Guess” featuring Billie Eilish.
Quickly, the trend of “cool-girl” style, party animals, disposable camera pictures and lots of lime green everything took over TikTok, with 134.9 thousand posts under the hashtag “bratsummer.” Even the Vice President, Kamala Harris, took to the trend during her campaign rallies.
Following Charli’s X post that said, “Kamala IS Brat,” which circulated 55.5 million views, Harris’ campaign team quickly ran with the opportunity and received over 93,000 likes on their “Brat Summer” post.
Unfortunately, to all the “Brat Summer” fans, Charli took to X on Sept. 2 to officially declare the end of “Brat Summer,” posting “goodbye forever brat summer.” Who knows, there could always be a “Brat Fall.”
Chappell Roan
Grab your “Pink Pony Club” cowboy hats because 26-year-old singer and songwriter Chappell Roan continued to rise to fame this summer. Her album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” was released in September of 2023, but her fan base has grown dramatically since her first headlining concert and continued to do so all summer.
Roan, known for her red, curly hair and performance costumes, took the stage during May for Coachella, and introduced herself as “your favorite artist’s favorite artist” and “your dream girl’s dream girl,” in reference to drag performer Sasha Colby. The video was posted on TikTok, and received 1.5 million likes, with comments like, “I feel like this is how my mom felt watching Madonna in the 80s.”
That was just the beginning. Roan performed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza — where she became the artist with the biggest daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history.
Despite the album being released last year, songs like “Good Luck, Babe!” “HOT TO GO!” “Pink Pony Club” and “Femininomenon” climbed the Billboard Hot 100 all summer and continued to trend on TikTok.
Her first concert video posted this year, on Jan.1, received 734.4 thousand views with her most recent concert video, posted on Aug. 11, receiving 4.5 million views. Unlike some other stars popularized by Tiktok, Roan has surpassed expectations and continues to grow her fanbase offline.
“Love Island”
Grab your monogrammed water bottles, because this season of “Love Island USA” turned up the heat. First-time host Ariana Madix, a cast member of “Vanderpump Rules,” where she was the victim of a cheating scandal involving her boyfriend and best friend, took us all to the villa in Fiji this summer.
Season 6 of the reality dating show was the number one most-watched original series in the U.S. with 919.1 million minutes streamed. Is Madix the one to thank? Or was it the lucky chance that this group of singles had lots of love, drama and friendships to create?
Whether it was the drama between Aaron, Kaylor and even Rob, or the friendships with Leah, Serena and JaNa, every day but hump day brought most of TikTok and the reality tv community together.
Not to mention the somewhat uneventful reunion that just aired Aug. 19. We learned that Serena and Kordell, JaNa and Kenny and Leah and Miguel are all still in relationships, but Kaylor and Aaron and Kendall and Nicole are no longer together.
But the drama didn’t end there. “Power Puff Girls” or PPG (Leah, Serena and JaNa) are continuing to do brand deals and growing their already huge platforms, Rob is still catching snakes, Daniella has a new man and Kaylor and Liv are just living their best life.
We definitely have Madix to thank for bringing in some viewers, but we also have to thank this cast. Who knows, can any other “Love Island” season top this?
Sabrina Carpenter
This Disney Channel star is just getting started. Known for her role in “Girl Meets World,” Sabrina Carpenter took Billboard’s number one song of the summer with “Espresso.” Currently, Carpenter is the only singer with two songs in the top 10, with “Please Please Please” coming in at number six.
This news comes just days after Carpenter’s new album “Short n’ Sweet” took number one on Billboard’s top 200.
But what made Carpenter so popular this summer? Carpenter released “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” as teasers for “Short n’ Sweet” back in April. Fans anticipated the rest of the album, as those songs began to rise in the charts.
Not to mention, her boyfriend, Barry Keoghan, lead in the movie “Saltburn,” had a promenade feature in her music video for “Please Please Please,” confirming to fans their speculated relationship.
Carpenter continues to make this the summer of Sabrina with “Short n’ Sweet.” Featuring actress Jenna Ortega in the music video for the first track “Taste,” fans continue to rave about Carpenter’s ability to keep her songs on repeat in your head.
Who knows what the fall will bring? Until then, stay tuned!
This story was written by Sophie Goldstein. She can be reached at [email protected].
