It’s no news that the trend cycle moves fast. Yet the whiplash somehow never fails to surprise me, as the internet somehow moved on from being “brat” to being “demure,” and left me behind. As I kept scrolling, the word demure was everywhere—undeniably the new hottest trend that everyone seemingly had to be a part of.
Although these two trending adjectives seem similar enough, the cultural acceptance of these opposing summer philosophies has been wildly different. Why can one be commercially embraced while the other reads as cringey?
I aim to analyze their origins and executions to examine how they differ. brat is a product of popular culture and therefore can be more widely embraced, whereas demure exists solely as a social media trend. These key differences can be broken down into three main points: their origins, format, and saturation.
brat summer: chaotic, fun, messy
Up until last week, it was all about having a “brat” summer. The term rose to popularity as the title of Charli XCX’s latest album. According to Charli XCX’s Instagram post, the “brat” album is about “me, my flaws, my fuck ups, my ego all rolled into one.” Having a “brat summer” is “accepting your imperfections while embracing the chaos,” argues Associate Lifestyle Reporter Sophie Caldwell.
Charli XCX’s album skyrocketed in popularity and expanded beyond music to become a part of pop culture through its distinct branding of bright green and a simple font, branding which has since been utilized and parodied by countless brands.
brat summer thrived as a social media phenomenon due to its distinct branding and easily embraceable summer philosophy. It sparked a viral dance to one of the songs in the album, and creators across the world were making videos about their own brat summers and embracing the mindset.
The impact of brat summer went beyond social media to the political world after Charli XCX tweeted “kamala IS brat” in an apparent endorsement of Kamala Harris. The Harris campaign embraced the branding and has continuously and intentionally brought youth to the campaign by leaning into memes and internet references. Examples include Harris’ famed and often remixed coconut line, Walz being deemed a “midwest princess” by the internet (a reference to popular singer Chappell Roan), and the KamalaHQ page using trending TikTok sounds and taking part in popular social media trends.
brat summer went beyond Kamala Harris; it was the internet phenomenon of the summer. It’s not new for a song or brand to dominate a summer; for example, last summer was undeniably defined by Barbie (and has been deemed “the summer of Barbie”). “Barbiecore” dominated fashion, the soundtrack consumed the radio, and Barbie-related trends and content thrived on social media. The same can be said for brat this summer: companies are launching advertisements in the same style to play off of its popularity and seem “in,” the internet is obsessed with having a “brat” summer, and the “Apple” dance is unavoidable.
The “trend” of being demure, mindful, and cutesy came from creator @joolieannie, or Jools, on TikTok. The initial viral video has now accumulated over 42 million views and consists of Jools describing how she does her makeup for work: “very demure, very mindful.” The audio from that original video has been used in over 90k new videos, and Jools and other creators have made a plethora of additional videos showing how they approach different aspects of their lives in demure ways.
Unlike “brat,” which was praised by internet users and utilized immensely by the Harris campaign and corporate entities, many on the internet are begging those same entities not to take over demure in the same way or reacting negatively to its use.
Demure and brat are both adjectives that have been used to describe an aesthetic. Why can one be embraced and celebrated while the other is cringey?
The biggest difference is the origins of the trends. The reality is, “brat” was a commercial brand created by a marketing team to publicize Charli XCX’s latest album. brat comes with an album cover, color, font, and pre-defined vibe. This makes it significantly easier to reference without being overt, such as the Harris campaign using the lime green color and distinct font on their Kamala HQ page without actually directly referencing it. Though it has since become an internet phenomenon as well, “brat” is a commercial enterprise that began outside the internet. It exists beyond the social media world.
Compare this to the “demure” trend, which was popularized by Jools, a TikTok creator and real person, not a brand. Demure began as a TikTok trend and rapidly skyrocketed in popularity. It’s generally understood that the faster a trend rises to popularity, the faster it crashes, and demure became popular almost overnight.
I should note that although it does not have commercial origins, Jools has remained the face and voice of the trend and has been able to commercialize “demure” to profit from it personally. Other brands that have tried to hop on the trend have been labeled as “cringe” or accused of ruining the trend for the TikTok users who had been enjoying it.
The difference between demure and brat is that demure does not exist outside of TikTok, and there is no real way to commercialize this trend beyond the TikTok space (and even more so, it would be cringey to do so). This is what I have labeled as “format”; though both brat and demure are embraceable aesthetics, brat is an entire brand, whereas demure is just a trend.
The last key difference between the two is how quickly they have permeated society and in how strong of a saturation. The hallmark of a social media trend growing so fast that it becomes tiresome is certainly the case for demure.
Demure has so far failed to become a true aesthetic and is still only a trend. It has not become the next “clean girl” aesthetic or “minimalism”—trends which blew up in the past year on TikTok. “Demure” will likely come and go as quickly as trending audios of summers past (looking at you, “my money don’t jiggle” and “it’s corn”) because it references an aesthetic, yet is not an aesthetic itself.
So, has demure completely eclipsed brat summer? I don’t think so. While at first glance, they seem like two sides of the same trendy coin of the summer, I think that they are different enough to coexist. brat exists outside of the social media context; demure doesn’t (yet). And I don’t think it will.
Sophia Rascoff ’27 (srascoff@college.harvard.edu) spends too much time on the internet.