Pop Culture vs Social Media: brat and Demure as a Case Study for Parsing the Difference Between Cultural Movements and TikTok Trends

It’s nothing new that the trend cycle moves fast. Yet the whiplash somehow never fails to surprise me, as it did just last week when I opened TikTok one morning and felt left behind as the internet had moved on from having a brat summer to being demure and mindful. As I kept scrolling, the word demure was everywhere - undeniably the new hottest trend that everyone had to be a part of. Brat was out, demure was in.?

Although on the surface these two trending adjectives seem similar enough, the cultural acceptance of these opposing summer philosophies has been wildly different. Why can one be embraced commercially while the other reads as cringey? In this analysis I aim to break down how and why they are different - in their origins and executions. I argue that brat is a product of popular culture and therefore can be more widely embraced, whereas demure exists solely as a social media trend. Apologies in advance, this piece is incredibly chronically internet of me. See the links at the end for foundational reading and additional context.?

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 f— ups, my ego all rolled into one.” - having a “brat summer” is “accepting your imperfections while embracing the chaos,” according to a today.com article (which would not typically be my source for a pop culture definition however in this case I agree with them).?

The album was quickly deemed the album of the summer by the internet, and the summer was deemed brat summer. The album skyrocketed in popularity and expanded beyond music to become 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 crossed the bridge from pop culture to 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 creating videos about their own brat summers and how they were embracing that mindset.

The impact of brat summer went beyond social media to the political world (and mainstream “real world”) after CharliXCX tweeted “kamala IS Brat”, in an apparent endorsement of Kamala Harris by the British singer. The Harris campaign embraced the branding, and has continuously and intentionally brought youth to the campaign by leaning into memes and internet references.?

Other examples include Kamala’s famed and often remixed coconut line, Walz being deemed a midwest princess by the internet (a reference to popular singer Chappel Roan), and the KamalaHQ page using trending TikTok sounds and being run as a TikTok-first page by Gen Z-ers instead of simply reposting content from other apps, but I digress, that’s a post for another day.?

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 by the internet “the summer of Barbie”). “Barbiecore” dominated fashion, the soundtrack dominated the radio, and Barbie related trends and content dominated social media. The same can be said for Brat this summer, where companies are launching advertisements in the same style to play off of its popularity and seem “in”, the internet is seemingly obsessed with having a “brat” summer, and the apple dance is unavoidable.

So if we were all having brat summers, then why did I wake up last week feeling left behind as the whole internet had moved onto demure? And where did it come from??

The “trend” of embracing being demure, mindful, and cutesy came from creator @joolieannie 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.” This trend has now taken off - the audio from that video has nearly 71k videos made from it, and Jools and other creators have created a plethora of additional videos showing how they approach different aspects of their lives in demure ways. This “trend” has not quite left social media yet and is significantly less mainstream than brat summer was, however as someone who spends time on TikTok, I can attest to the fact that it feels like it’s everywhere, and at least on social media demure has overtaken Brat as the hot word of the week.?

However, as quickly as the internet was applauding Kamala’s campaign for embracing brat and loving seeing the brat aesthetic used elsewhere, I’ve seen multiple videos of TikTokers begging those same entities to not take over demure in the same way.?

Demure and Brat are both adjectives that have been used to describe the aesthetic and vibe one may be aspiring to - why are they different, and why can one be embraced and celebrated beyond social media while the other is cringey??

I believe that the key differences between brat and demure can be boiled down into three points: origins, format, and saturation.?

The biggest difference between brat and demure are the origins of the trends. Although it has since been co opted by social media and made into a summer lifestyle and TikTok trend, the reality is that brat was a commercial brand created by a marketing team in order 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 - for example, the Harris campaign using brat color and font on their KamalaHQ page without actually directly referencing brat. Additionally, though it has since become an internet phenomenon as well, brat is a commercial enterprise which began outside the internet. It exists in the “real world” and has always been more than a social media trend, despite how large it has gotten on social media.?

Compare this to the “demure” trend - a trend which was popularized by Jools, a TikTok creator and real person, not brand. Demure began as a TikTok trend and skyrocketed to popularity so fast that people are already sick of it. It’s generally understood that the faster a trend rises to popularity the faster it crashes, and demure became popular almost overnight. The fall of a trend resembles the inverse of its rise, and demure’s growth was an incredibly steep j curve. I came up with the idea to write this piece about four days ago, and it’s almost midnight but I’m rushing to draft it all now because I’m worried that by the time I finally publish it it’ll be irrelevant - the problem with trying to write about trends, I suppose.?

I should note that although it does not have commercial origins, Jools has been able to commercialize “demure” to profit from it personally, as many believe she should. The only successful commercialization of demure by businesses that I’ve seen has been from brand partnerships where Jools has been directly paid to make a video (for example, Jools made a video with Verizon in the style of her other demure videos). Jools is still the face and voice of the brand and the trend here. Other companies have commercialized demure by using Jools’s audios (or parody audios), however in those cases the only successful examples I have seen are by brands which already have a large digital footprint. Other brands which 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. One hallmark of a social media trend is when it grows so fast that people become sick of it and it leads to its own demise. This is certainly the case for demure already - it was the hottest word for about three days, and every single video had to reference it and every creator had to show how they were or were not being demure. As a TikTok user who is generally pretty indifferent to trends, even I am almost over it.?

Especially because of its sudden rise to popularity, 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 as everyone wanted to showcase their lifestyle. “Demure” grew so fast as a sound and trend which referenced an aesthetic, however not an aesthetic in its own right, and so it 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” - if you know you know).?

Brat summer however exists outside of the context of TikTok (to use another popular phrase of the summer). There was never a three day period where it felt like every single video I saw was about brat summer, instead it felt like a general theme of the summer that people were referencing. The growth and popularity of brat summer much more closely resembles a bell curve than a j. Because it is part of a larger culture, there are ways to reference it without being as on the nose, and therefore it can be embraced without it feeling smothering. Brands were able to jump on the trend in real life in ways that were sometimes cringey, sure, however felt in line with the commercial cultural moment that was happening without killing it.?

The one caveat to this that I have noticed is that it’s generally acceptable for brands and politicians (such as Harris) to embrace the meme in its original format. I have seen pro-Harris videos on TikTok that set her to the audio and call her demure, especially when contrasted with Trump and Vance. I’ve also seen brands describe their products as demure. Although at times this is met with negative response, it is not because it is seen as cringey, it’s just that people are sick of the trend (no matter who is participating in it). Embracing the trending audio in its original format on TikTok demonstrates a knowledge of what’s “trending” and “in”, and in general (when done in a timely manner) brands can find great success by embracing social media trends. A TikTok calling Kamala Harris demure is cool and demonstrates an understanding of what Gen-Z is looking for, but her using the word in a speech would be cringey. The key difference is that brat can be cooly and cleverly embraced beyond social media and off of TikTok, whereas demure cannot.?

So, has demure completely eclipsed Brat summer?

No, I don’t think so. Although at first glance they seem like two sides of the same coin of the trend of the summer, I think that they are different enough to coexist (despite standing for opposing philosophies). Brat exists outside the context of TikTok; Demure doesn’t (yet). And I don’t think it will.?

tldr: 1) origin: pop culture vs social media 2) format: lifestyle vs trend 3) saturation: bell curve vs j curve

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/08/22/all-the-ways-the-dnc-co-opted-memes-from-brat-to-kamala-harris-coconut-tree-quote/

https://www.rangoniatelier.com/en/blog/post/barbiecore-the-newest-trend-of-this-summer-2023.html?srsltid=AfmBOorH66P8CHWT2izigxODLaoygDz-SJ0jQ2qs5yxMSt9s57OjC5Ca

https://www.today.com/popculture/music/what-is-brat-summer-charli-xcx-rcna163061

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/what-is-demure-trend