A fun meme has devolved into cringe, so you don’t really need to know about it. But, just in case, we explain “brat summer,” the coconut, and Kamala.
On July 21, soon after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, British pop icon Charli XCX broke the internet—and middle-aged political pundits’ brains—by declaring Vice President Kamala Harris “is brat.”
It wasn’t out of the blue; for weeks, scores of chronically online posters flooded social media feeds with edits of Harris set to the songs from Charli XCX’s newest album, Brat.
Harris, who has emerged as the likely Democratic nominee for US president, capitalized on the viral firestorm. Within hours of Charli’s blessing, the new KamalaHQ account on X changed its banner image to the iconic green of Charli’s album cover and posted its own Brat edit, which has amassed over 1.5 million views. This has led many confused, exhausted people over the age of 35 (or so) to ask: What is Brat? Why is this happening? And please will someone help me I was just trying to pay attention to the election and now I feel old?
CNN: Is Kamala Harris brat?*
A good example would be this recent CNN panel:
*added by Zany editor
Sophie Hurwitz is a Ben Bagdikian editorial fellow covering politics and social movements at Mother Jones. Previously, Sophie covered education and the criminal-legal system for the St. Louis American, and worked as a fact-checker for New York magazine. Reach out to [email protected] or @sophiehurwitz on Twitter.
Sarah Szilagy is a Ben Bagdikian fellow based in Columbus, Ohio. After studying journalism and political science at Ohio State University, Sarah was a local news reporter in Columbus reporting on elections, courts, and police misconduct. In addition to politics, they’re keen on covering the US criminal justice system and mental health industry. Follow Sarah @sarahszilagy on Twitter or reach them at [email protected].
Siri Chilukuri (she/her) is a fellow at Mother Jones covering climate change, environmental justice, and politics. She is based in Chicago. You can reach her at [email protected].
