Brat summer is coming: Charli XCX heading to Australia for festival

British superstar Charli XCX will headline the Laneway Festival in 2025, ensuring Australians will not miss out on the much-hyped “brat summer”.

She will perform all six dates, beginning in Auckland on February 6 before heading to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. In a year when several high-profile festivals have struggled to stay afloat, confirming Charli XCX as a headline act is a major coup for Laneway.

Charli XCX performs at Roskilde Festival in Denmark in July.Credit: Joseph Okpako/WireImage

The festival confirmed the pop star will be performing exclusively as part of Laneway, with no other concerts planned.

In celebration of the pop culture icon’s arrival, a number of national landmarks will turn “brat green” for the next few days.

The colour is a nod to Charli XCX’s album, Brat, which was released in June and quickly snowballed into a cultural moment. The lime green album cover, including its signature Arial font, has been seemingly everywhere, hijacking social media, with brat green plastering every corner of the internet.

Meanwhile, the term “brat” (and to a lesser extent, “brat summer”), became part of the cultural lexicon. In a TikTok video filmed shortly after the album’s release, Charli XCX described the “brat” album ethos.

“You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown,” said Charli.

“But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.” The looseness of brat struck a chord, and before long, everyone and anyone was rushing to describe themselves as brat.

The moment reached a cultural zenith when Charli XCX inserted herself into the upcoming US Presidential election, declaring: “Kamala IS brat.”

The Harris campaign was quick to seize the moment; soon after receiving Charli’s apparent approval, the Vice President’s official Twitter page changed its backdrop to brat green.

The brat hype has helped propel Charli XCX to the top of the pop culture pile.

As part of her own brat summer, the 32-year-old sold out Madison Square Garden in New York, toured alongside Australian pop star Troye Sivan and broke the internet with her “work it out on the remix” collaboration with New Zealand singer Lorde.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and at the start of September, Charli jumped on social media to farewell her own cultural phenomenon, writing: “Goodbye forever brat summer.”

Luckily for those of us in the southern hemisphere, things are just heating up. With the official start of summer still a few months away, our brat era will begin in December and continue right through to the start of 2025.

For more information visit Laneway Festival.

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