Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board. 

Alas, gone are the sizzling hot days of neon lime green eccentricity.

Yes, it’s true, Brat Summer is officially over. On Sept. 2, Charli XCX, the woman who started it all, put an end to Brat Summer on X, formally known as Twitter, saying, “Goodbye forever Brat Summer.” If you have been living under a rock and don’t know what Brat Summer is, let’s do a quick recap.

Brat Summer started in June 2024 when Charli XCX released her sixth studio album, “Brat.” Charli was able to grab the attention of many by pushing the Brat aesthetic before the album was even released. Through the use of merchandise, music videos and billboards, Charli XCX created a vibrant, neon-green brand that demanded, “Notice me,” and you had no choice but to look.

What followed suit was a full three months of people feeling audacious enough to grab the attention of anyone nearby and demanding they don’t be ignored. Brat Summer was a phenomenon that inspired everyone. It allowed people to embrace their imperfect selves while still being able to act like they ran the world.

People were suddenly able to become best friends with their enemies just by working it out on the remix. Brat even became political when people started labeling Vice President Kamala Harris as brat as she continued to strut through her campaign running to be the next president of the United States. Because of this, a new generation of voters has been inspired to become more involved in politics and possibly evoke change.

Though Charli XCX herself is a millennial, she was able to reach the likes of Generation Z, which is part of what made this album such a big hit. By taking the millennial front of caring too much and reversing it to not caring at all, Charli XCX inspired articles such as one by Lena Dunham, the ultimate millennial, providing a guide to brat summer. Brat went from being an album to a lifestyle.

While soaking up the sun in the brat summer pool was fun while it lasted, it was time to take off our neon green-colored glasses and come back down to reality. Now that brat summer is over, it is time to face the facts that some people have gotten a little too far ahead of themselves, claiming the brat in brat summer as their own. In simple terms, people have turned into complete, abhorrent terrors. It seems, for some, that the lines between confidence and entitlement have blurred.

Being a brat has always been something that is looked down on. Charli XCX redefined what it meant to be a brat, turning the word into a movement. While this movement could definitely be seen as empowering for many, it’s important people don’t let it get to their heads and continue to harbor some of the respect we were all taught to treat others with growing up. Charli XCX did not create Brat to form an empire of entitled snobs. She created Brat as someone in their 30s who is still figuring out life and is willing to embrace her mistakes. That is what a brat is in true Brat Summer form.

So now that Brat Summer has been put to an end, my question to everyone is: What’s your excuse now? What are you going to deflect on when your entitled behavior becomes a problem? I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t indulge in Brat Summer. It was something I was instantly fascinated by, so I blindly accepted the philosophies. But I think Charli XCX putting an end to Brat Summer is a sign that it is time to pull ourselves back together and move on. I know it may feel hard to do so, but I know we can all do it.

I think the struggle with moving on is that people are left without a guide. It seems that society can’t live life now without a certain aesthetic leading the way. If you go online, you will find a multitude of different groups of people. You have y2k, coquette, coastal and more; the list goes on and on. People can’t be who they are without being categorized. So when brat summer came along, it was another aesthetic to play into. But this one was fresh and new and exciting.

Independence seems to be lost as people continue to crave connections to others. They don’t feel they can have these connections without being able to categorize people and themselves so they can get a read on who a person is. People need to be able to be themselves without the influence of other people. Some have started tagging fall as “demure fall.” While I think the demure trend is fading away fast, it might be what some people need to move on from Brat Summer and go back to being respectful human beings.

Reach Ava Naiditch at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.