THE Collins Dictionary has chosen “brat” as its “Word of the Year” for 2024.

Defined as someone with a “confident, independent and hedonistic attitude”, it has been inspired by Charli XCX.

What started as the name of her number one album has arguably grown into a cultural movement for some, with people adopting the brat way of life.

Even the team for US presidential candidate Kamala Harris decided to give her social media a brat rebrand, to attract younger voters at the start of her campaign this summer.

Charli XCX has created a brat phenomenon with her aesthetic and Collins lexicographers, who put together their dictionaries, look at social media and other sources to determine which words should be added to their annual list of new and notable words.

Brat is the name of Charli’s sixth studio album, which has built momentum since its release in June this year, through not only its original tracks, but remixes too.

The song with most commercial success has been Guess, which went to number one in August after a remix with Billie Eilish was released.

Brat is, in the words of the singer, a girl who “has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it”, who is honest, blunt, “a little bit volatile”.

She told the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast that someone brat might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.

Creating an aesthetic has been something popularised on TikTok, with Charli’s brat girl summer seen as a rejection of other trends such as the “clean girl” who looks feminine and well kept.

Brat is also about being hedonistic and rebellious, something Charli says was inspired by her early days of performing at illegal raves, which is again in stark contrast to other popular aesthetics that focus on staying at home and living a wholesome life.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024