Charli XCX said it, so it must be true: Brat’s Summer is over. In a tweet so resonant it received multiple news coverage, the club/pop girl say goodbye to the season that could define her career—and The Political Future of America. It was September 2, 87 days after Charli released the album Spoiled child and 43 days after she announced that Vice President Kamala Harris “IS baby.” Normally, the spooky feeling of late fall doesn’t really kick in until the end of the month, but being online is always a surefire way to distort one’s sense of time.
This year, however, that change has come at a dizzying pace. As Bethy Squires point out At Vulture this week, the internet seemed to be “getting spooky season started early.” Maybe Gentle Autumn doesn’t provide enough of what people need; maybe people just want to get in as much Halloween as possible before everyone has to start preparing for the holiday on October 1st (or later). A few TikTokkers are donate because an autumn dedicated to Magdelena Bay’s album Imaginary Disc.
Furthermore, I think all of this has to do with the fact that being online a lot means having to follow your own calendar, one that is a bit like the Gregorian calendar but has its own holidays and traditions.
You know them: Galentine’s Day, Beyoncé’s birthday (which was just celebrated on Wednesday), that time in the spring when people start posting “It’s gonna be May” with a macro image of Justin Timberlake’s grinning mug. Right now, it’s probably a little early, October of Spooky and a new Pumpkin Spice Latte/PSL Season is upon us. Like many seasons, the last one, similar to National Donut Day, was one that may not have been entirely the work of corporate marketing genius, but it was certainly a season that benefited Starbucks. #Brands love to jump on #trends. Now that they know there’s a surefire way to be a part of something, like Pride MonthThey put it on the calendar and rolled out the whole campaign.
Maybe this is how it was all along. Everyone from Gen Z TikTokers to Dunkin’ social media managers need to know when to jump on the trend and when to back off. Maybe this is why Kamala HQ X Account has shed its Brat Green color. As my colleague Leah Feiger discussed With writer Hunter Harris a few weeks ago, as the United States approaches Election Day in November, the pop culture moment surrounding Harris may be shifting back to a more political one.
