With Labor Day weekend upon us, it seems brat summer must draw to a close. The Charli XCX seasonal renaissance, which kicked off in early June with the release of the British musician’s sixth album, comes to its natural conclusion as New England leaves the Cape behind for autumnal leaf peeping — unless the people of Boston have anything to say about it.
Across the city, everyone’s been leaning into the cultural moment, for better (such as over at the Summer Shack) or for worse (namely Boston Dynamics), with events, parties, and bright green minimalist posters on almost every streetlamp in Greater Boston. Even in the absence of the city’s student population, folks have spent months coming out in droves to local venues to keep bumpin’ that all through the summer, and it seems to be mutually beneficial.
Ryn Grant, the owner of The Castle Bar and Restaurant, which also moonlights as a local board game hub and event space, transformed the Beverly spot into a nightclub this past Saturday, when they hosted an inaugural Brat Summer Dance Party. Grant tells Vanyaland that the event, billed as a “giant end of summer dance party” was a huge success.
“We’ve done some themed events and some parties, and they’ve always been fun,” he says. “But I would say that this probably got two to three times the turnout that we’re usually seeing.”
The planning that went into the event was meticulous, as many hoping to jump in on “brat summer” have discovered.
“We got a DJ to focus, obviously, on Charli XCX, but also Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and other things that felt like that they were in that same vibe,” Grant says. “And we encouraged people to dress up. There was lots of green […] and then we had themed drinks, and we just had, like, an insane number of people show up.”
And speaking Roan, who is also enjoying a very good summer, Remnant Brewing at Somerville’s Bow Market hosts a second edition of Charli vs. Chappell this Saturday (August 31).
Elsewhere around the Boston area, an event dubbed “Club XCX” slated for tonight (August 29) at La Fabrica in Cambridge hosted by international event organizers What The Dance was such a hit that it’s already sold out. Daniel Barron, creative director at What the Dance, tells Vanyaland that their specific series of Charli XCX-themed events have been an unexpected smash hit, with 80 to 100 events happening around the United States and Canada since June.
“The interaction and engagement with people has just been really chaotic,” he says. “We uploaded our tour poster on our Instagram page and it went crazy. I think we got over 12,00 likes, which is kind of rare because we’re a small company” (as of this writing, it sits at 15.2k likes and nearly 300 comments).
The think pieces have already been written as to what encapsulates a “brat summer” and all of its merits, but for these event organizers, the phenomenon just makes sense.
“I think a lot of people relate to sort of embracing how messy and chaotic and difficult times are now, while still allowing yourself to have fun,” says Grant. “We’ve seen some movements that are very hedonistic and seem to ignore how bad things are out there, and this almost seems to be, like, ‘yeah, things are bad, and I am maybe a bit of a mess right now, but I’m still going to go have a great summer.'”
Barron echoes the sentiment. “We haven’t necessarily had something [recently] like Charli does, like this big party music, music that makes you want to go out and rave, go clubbing,” he adds. “It makes you want to dress up, go out, and get together with your friends for fun.”
For the 365 party girls who want to keep it going into brat autumn, there are still plenty of opportunities. The aforementioned Club XCX will return to La Fabrica on September 5; All 4 U, “Boston’s queer pop party” that’s no stranger to Vanyaland, brings its third iteration of Charli Party to Arts at the Armory in Somerville on September 26; and of course, Ms. XCX herself hits TD Garden on September 28.
But has ‘brat’ as a cultural touchstone jumped the ket-fueled shark? Grant doesn’t think so.
“I think it’s a really positive energy for folks,” she asserts. “I know that when we planned this party [for August 24], I was like, ‘maybe we missed it.’ Many of these trends go so quickly. …Maybe it’ll keep going. I hope this kind of positive, just fun vibe continues as long as possible.”