the rise and fall of brat

In their first guest post, the Founder and Creative Director of Dazzle Studio, Zipeng Zhu, explores the “brat summer” phenomenon and what it means for the future of graphic design. 

Okay, writing this essay almost broke me. In fact, I’ve been broken by this essay several times already because the actual deadline for it was maybe a month ago, when it was still the “brat summer.” But now, with the recent SNL sketch, the Apple Music interview, and the upcoming release of the remix album, I feel like I’m finally ready (especially since it took Apple about five months to track down Charli). Now, I not only have an excuse for being late, but also this meant I really was able to take my time with the research.

If you haven’t heard of brat, first of all, congratulations; it looks like you’ve finally woken from a year-long coma. If you weren’t lying in a hospital bed for the past year and you still somehow avoided one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of the summer, I don’t even know how  it’s humanly possible. Either way, summer is officially dead and gone, so while we look up at fall’s beautiful foliage, let’s also look back at the brat that took us by storm.

When I got this assignment from Poster House, I must say that I was delightfully honored. Nothing brings me more joy than judging and criticizing things (I am a viciously opinionated gay man, after all). But when I started to write about this, I was immediately faced with tremendous fear alongside questions like: What if I’m not qualified to write this piece? What if I don’t know enough about brat? Or the worst one of them all: What if I’m not brat?!

brat is everything and nothing at the same time, and I’m not going into the definition of brat because that’s a very not brat thing to do. Instead, I’m going to let the creator of brat, Charli XCX, explain it.

One of my biggest challenges in writing this essay was that I felt there might honestly be nothing more I could say about brat that hasn’t been said already. However, I had a profound realization once I saw the final artwork for the brat remix album, and I now know exactly what I have to say. 

If I know anything about anything, it would be about me being gay and me being a graphic designer. So I’m going to break down brat for you from those two perspectives: that of a flaming homosexual and of a seasoned graphic pro.

gay 

(I use “gay” here because I feel the queer community is slightly more loving and forgiving, whereas “the gays” are more savage. I could be wrong but this is just my personal opinion, don’t come at me.)

I can be your biggest fan or your worst nightmare. This is what I truly believe about every single diva’s gay/queer fandom. We will stand by you until the day we die if we feel that you are powerful yet vulnerable at the same time (for example, Lady Gaga, Amy Adams, or Carly Rae Jepsen, and the list goes on). But that does not mean you can do whatever you want and have our unconditional love because gay stan loyalty can turn savage if we feel even a slight sense that you might be faking it or not being your authentic self (case in point: the recent epic fail of Katy Perry). But there is nothing we love more than a comeback story, and Charli XCX has the ultimate one. I’ve spent more than 30 hours watching countless YouTube videos breaking down the full lore of Charli and brat but I think this might be one of my favorites. 

There is another layer to Charli’s incredible story, which is the battle between artistry and authenticity. We love a bad bitch, but we love a messy queen even more because that’s all of us. No one can be Beyoncé because she’s Beyoncé, but Charli made me feel seen.

As an example, when writing this blog, I was asked for my thoughts as an “industry expert,” but with my anxiety, the task became crippling. The concept of brat is vulnerability on display. I always say, if you haven’t had a public meltdown on the subway in New York City, then you are not a true New Yorker. Same with this album; it sounds like a confident bad-ass club house dance anthem on the surface, but if you listen closely, it’s filled with contradictory feelings, which to me is the honest irony of life. The themes of personal life versus career, a tribute to a loved one who has passed, Charli questioning, “Should I have kids?” and “Are we friends?” are simple but profoundly relatable topics to me (especially between me and my therapists. Yes, I have two).

You really don’t need me to say more on feels and authenticity. The whole “brat summer” is evidence that being real and honest is how you connect with people, and woah did the world respond. But now I think it’s time to dive into the reason you are probably here:

graphic design

The genius of brat is not that  it’s anything original but that it’s learning and taking notes from so many successful campaigns that came before it. Using a typographic cover is not new, neither is creating a cover generator, like the if you are reading this it’s too late generator by @riklomas + @whybray or the life of pablo generator by @thepablolife. Still, Charli and her team were smart to create the brat generator and make it available with the album release.

The actual genius is how easily replicable and adaptable this can be. Anything remotely green can be brat during the summer, or you can simply turn something green and call it brat.

Of course, when it’s done well, it’s absolutely brilliant, and it shows when someone — or some brand — is not only on the pulse of internet culture, but also just gets it (kudos to the Gen Z or, most likely, gay or queer teams at these places):

What’s brilliant and wonderful about what Charli did (similar to what Doja Cat did for Scarlet by turning all of her past album covers red) is that she folded all her previous covers into the brat universe:

In some ways, I think the Harris campaign has taken brat to its highest level (honestly, beyond its most obvious potential), and maybe no other album design with a political association will ever have the same impact and gravitas.

Like almost all good things, it has come to an end. Even though I don’t think Kamala Harris (well, the Harris campaign) killed brat, it has certainly exhausted our last bit of love for brat — not to mention, the ten million memes that are out there. A full typographic breakdown by ABCDinamo here.

But honestly, this is what’s most important to me: the beauty of brat is that it’s the beauty of ugly. Ugly can be so so so beautiful if and only if you understand the context, know the reference(s), and have a great sense of humor about it. The all-lowercase Arial Narrow that’s pixelated and blurry said everything about the love for the internet and a big “fuck you” to the concept of perfection.

As a professional graphic designer for the past ten years, this challenges every single cell in my body to fight, but that’s the brilliance of it. It makes a perfectionist like me let go and embrace it. And if this low-effort creation had the impact it did after more than ten years of manifestation from Charli, then maybe it’s okay to overthink everything and occasionally be late for a deadline. As long as you are able to continue, that’s all that matters because fucking up and moving on might be the most brat thing ever?

XOXO

ZZ