We’re in the best of times (brat summer), but we’re also in the worst of times (constantly fielding articles by Some Guy about how brat summer is dead). But how could brat summer be over if I feel it in my heart? If they’re still playing “Guess ft. Billie Eilish” at Tenants of the Trees in LA (where Charli XCX herself had her birthday party for some reason)? And if the impact of brat summer is still causing ripples through the culture it cannot be over.
No, I’m not talking about Kamala’s brat green rebrand. I’m talking about something more substantial — the very same thing that had last summer in the same chokehold: the infectious and irresistible power of girlhood.
Last summer caused a vibe shift. Culture started catering to women. Let’s be real: Women have been the drivers of pop culture for a long time. I, for one, will never forget that artists like The Beatles and Elvis, who are still taken seriously as iconic musical artists today, caused fanatical frenzies, not unlike artists like Justin Bieber and One Direction. Yet, despite our clear good taste, women have historically been written off as fickle while culture catered to men.
Just think of how the 2000s were defined by blockbuster summer movies. Usually, an action movie would dominate, followed by a “chick flick” that was relegated to date nights or the whims of teenage girls. Yet, when
Barbenheimer resurrected this dynamic, one had a clear chokehold on the internet and the world. And since I haven’t seen Oppenheimener-flavored Olipops, no prizes for guessing which one it was.
This summer isn’t defined by movies (Twisters and It Ends With Us aren’t the Barbenheimer redux we wanted) it’s characterized by music. And while the guys gave it the old college try — Kendrick did release the ultimate hater anthem with Not Like Us in the Spring — the girls take it yet again.
And despite seasonal albums from established pop stars like
Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande, queer (or queer-coded) female artists have blown up this summer. All of them have also been grafting behind the scenes for years before finally getting their flowers. But now the world is listening. We’re learning. And we’re obsessed.
Of course, there’s the princess of the summer,
Sabrina Carpenter, who is the latest Disney veteran to make it big. We’ll get to her Disney drama later, but this summer, it’s all about our Short n Sweet queen’s infectious earworms. We called it earlier this year: she is the moment. Her rise to fame has been inevitable.
Then there’s the surprise star of the year,
Chappell Roan. So glad bisexual women decided not to gatekeep this absolute star. The fact that I’ve been listening to Chappell since 2020 and I’m still not tired of “Pink Pony Club” says a lot.
But
Charli XCX’s mainstream moment is arguably the most surprising. Charli is a giant to music lovers and, of course, the queer community. A real dyed-in-the-wool party girl, she grew up in the clubs and doesn’t just talk the talk, she throws the parties. Despite her collaborations with literally everyone, her Grammys, and her hits, Charli XCX is only now becoming a household name. Why? Because we’re finally ready for her.
Girlhood is brat. Brat is girlhood. Girl, it’s so confusing, but it’s about being a girl
Girlhood is the name of the game and Charli writes for the girls and the gays. Her album speaks to the desire to hold on to the feeling of youth juxtaposed with the realities of growing up. Who can’t relate? She talks about themes integral to girlhood: going on vacation and thinking it will change your life, going to a party and thinking it will change your life, and having dinner with a girl and thinking she hates you.
The latter was the impetus for the internet-breaking track “The girl, so confusing version with lorde.” After Charli released the original version of “girl, so confusing,” the internet rightly assumed it was about her years-long pseudo-beef with
Lorde. Lyrics like: “I’m all about throwing parties / You’re all about writing poems,” and “People say we’re alike, they say we’ve got the same hair,” added fuel to the fire of their reported feud. So imagine our surprise when Charli released a version with Lorde herself. Like Miss Ella, honestly, we were speechless.
Lorde knew what she was doing when she said: “When we put this to bed, the internet will go crazy.” Sure enough, the internet erupted. And it did the same once again when footage was released of the two scream-singing their instant classic of a collab at Charli’s birthday party. What a way to put the feud rumors to bed.
Will Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo work it out on the remix?
After Lorde and Charli worked out their decade of competition over a Jack Antonoff beat, the internet speculated: who would be next to quell their beef with the power of song? If it seems like the plot of a Disney movie, get in for the ride — the Disney of it all has just begun.
A few weeks ago, sources reported that former Disney stars turned stadium-selling pop stars Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter might be collaborating on a song. With the upcoming release of Carpenter’s highly anticipated album sneaking up on us, fans speculate that this could be a surprise track waiting on the record.
If you don’t understand how earth-shattering this is, let me take you back to 2021, when
Olivia Rodrigo first took the world by storm with her song “drivers license.” The song, and subsequent album, chronicled her heartbreak about how her costar and ex-boyfriend Joshua Bassett left her for “that blonde girl.” The blonde in question? Sabrina Carpenter.
That’s right. Our very own me espresso was the villain in
the “drivers license” saga. And you mean to tell me the two of them have put their boy drama aside to collaborate? Please, please, please tell me if this is true. If it is, I’ll be sat watching it unfold. As if I needed another reason to eagerly await the release of Short N Sweet.
In the meantime, I’m making a list and checking it twice about all the other celebs I want to see quell their beef. And yes, the list gets more and more unhinged as you go down, tis the summer of collabs. And our favorite artists are proving that magic can be made if they do it together. Billie and Charli did it. Kendrick and the entire rap community did it. Who is next?
People we want to see work it out on the remix:
One Direction
This is my ultimate dream. The
Paris Olympics may have made you fantasize about what life would be like if you hadn’t quit JV basketball, but it made me dream about seeing my beloved One Direction again. After all, I can’t watch an opening ceremony without thinking about their performance at the 2012 London Games. Stranger things have happened than a boyband reuniting. The second they announce a tour, I’m quitting my job and dedicating my life to following them around on tour. Hold me to that.
Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan
The Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo feud is the closest our generation will ever get to experiencing the magnitude of drama caused by Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. As the two defining Disney sensations turned movie stars of their time, Duff and Lohan were pitted against each other by the media. Everybody knew it: the two were rivals in their careers and in their relationships. We’ll never experience that kind of TMZ-stoked animosity again. But we’re older now. Duff and Lohan are both in new phases of their careers. If they worked it, the (millennial side of the) internet really would go crazy.
Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber
These two divas have been competing to be the prince of pop for years. And their silent feud runs deep. In a radio interview at the beginning of Shawn’s career, Justin responded to a question about the other Canadian crooner with the dismissive and deadly, “who’s Shawn Mendes?” Then, after Mendes appeared with Hailey Baldwin at the Met Gala in 2018, Bieber quickly reignited his relationship with our favorite nepo baby and married her. Talk about winning the battle. The two already have a song together, “
Monster,” but no one is buying that they’ve really worked it out. I want to see Shawn at Justin and Hailey’s baby shower or bust.
Justin Bieber and Harry Styles
Speaking of pop feuds, Bieber and Styles have been toeing a tension-laden line since 2012. Rumors swirled that One Direction was supposed to open for Bieber on his
Believe tour but the plans were canceled — and dreams died. Reasons abound as to why but I suppose we’ll never know. As someone who attended that Believe tour, I have been waiting for them to work it out on the remix ever since.
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers
Other feuds from my childhood I want fixed: the Disney Channel stars involved in the seminal sustainability single, “Send It On.” That was our Fleetwood Mac
Rumors. With loyalties crossed, relationships breaking friendships, and a whole lot of teen angst going on, the Disney Channel producers had one song and one song only to change lives. While we were watching “Send It On” play during Disney breaks, we had no clue about the drama simmering beneath the surface. But imagine if they put that to bed? The internet would go crazy.
Joe Jonas and Taylor Swift
Of all of Taylor’s exes, she’s clearly already worked it out with Taylor Lautner — who was backflipping across her Eras tour stages for a brief stint last summer. But the reconciliation I really want is between Taylor and Joe. Sure, she’s written some scathing songs about him. And she told the world on
Ellen that he broke up with her in 17 seconds. And she’s befriended Sophie Turner. But for a brief moment, Taylor made up with Kanye West, so stranger things have happened. Can you imagine a mashup between “SOS” by The Jonas Brothers and “The Story of US” by Taylor Swift? My Spotify Wrapped would become unshareable.
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift
Though allegedly this feud started due to the backup dancers, Perry has become one of
Swift’s famed list of enemies. And as the queen of “Karma,” Swifties know that all of Taylor’s adversaries never fare well — just look at Ye or Scooter Braun. Katy Perry’s comeback might be another one of these casualties. Ouch. If the two managed to reconcile their “Bad Blood,” imagine the album Katy Perry would create.
Nelly Furtado and Fergie
Remember the song “
Give It To Me” by Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake? Thanks to TikTok, the song experienced a recent resurgence. But did you know the entire song is a diss track? Justin Timberlake’s verse is about Prince (more insane than “what tour? The world tour”), Timbaland’s verse is about Scott Storch, and Nelly Furtado’s verse is about Fergie. But what if we stopped pitting two pop icons against each other and instead begged them both to have a comeback … together?
The Don’t Worry Darling Cast
The
Don’t Worry Darling press tour pitted all our favorite stars against each other in the public arena: Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine, and Gemma Chan. And while that trainwreck of a movie doesn’t need a sequel, I would animatedly watch one just to keep keen eyes on the press tour.
The It Ends With Us Cast
If we thought there would never be another press tour as dramatic as
Don’t Worry Darling, Justin Baldoni of the It Ends With Us cast just hired Johnny Depp’s lawyer — so it’s inarguably surpassed its dramatic predecessor. With Blake Lively and Baldoni both waging a press war, some are hoping It Ends With Us will just … end. But I need a little entertainment to tide me over into fall. And if the movie itself won’t provide it, the hope of a last-gasp reconciliation might.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake
I know this will never happen. In fact, if it did, I’d
lose some respect for Kendrick, honestly. But sometimes I like to imagine that all of this was just marketing for a joint album a la “Watch the Throne.”
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