You can stake your claims that BRAT summer is over all you want — but the fact of the matter is, Charli XCX remains untouchable. She's one of the "big three" pop stars of 2024, and arguably has the most critically acclaimed album among them. Now, the British artist is the latest cover star for New York Magazine, which sees her speak about all kinds of things in a profile by Brock Colyar, including the Kamala Harris tweet that prompted Pitchfork to declare the death of BRAT summer.
Last month, after Joe Biden dropped out of the US presidential race and endorsed Vice President Harris as the new Democratic nominee, Charli was quick to tweet, "kamala IS brat." Apparently, she was hanging out by the pool at her home in Los Angeles when she sent the dispatch, waiting for fiancé George Daniel to finish making her lunch. She told Colyar that she meant the statement as "something positive and lighthearted" rather than a declarative political endorsement.
It's hard to say whether or not the musician could have predicted that Harris's marketing team would immediately run with it, giving the politician's campaign a complete BRAT makeover — something that, to be fair, many brands have hopped on the bandwagon of doing over the past couple of months. However, the crossover into politics turned being BRAT into a cable-news talking point, with mainstream media likewise running with the viral moment, hoping it might encourage Gen Z voters.
"To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women's rights, is hugely important to me," Charli told Colyar. "I'm happy to help to prevent democracy from failing forever."
"I obviously knew what I was doing," she continued, reportedly rolling her eyes. "Did I think me talking about being a messy bitch and, like, partying and needing a Bic lighter and a pack of Marlboro Lights would end up on CNN? No."
Denying being or ever wanting to be a "political artist," Charli added, "I'm not Bob Dylan, and I've never pretended to be. My music is not political. Everything I do in my life feeds back into my art. Everything I say, wear, think, enjoy — it all funnels back into my art. Politics doesn't feed my art."
When Pitchfork ran the story memorializing BRAT summer, Charli shared a screenshot to her Instagram story, adding, "oh? see u next week :)" and proceeded to drop her "Guess" remix with Billie Eilish, which hit No. 1 in the UK.
"I'm very well aware that you can't be omnipresent forever," the artist told Colyar. "I've known for a minute that at some point, someone will say this is over. I actually think the press and outlets don't get to decide when it's over. The kids get to decide when it's over. This is a 'sit back and watch it burn' situation for me."