In 2024, musician Charli XCX released an album that shaped the summer. Her album, BRAT, sparked a pop culture moment in a way that only a select few can. Her album impacted the world in many ways through color trends, what it means to be authentic, the music world in general, politics, and branding/social media.
“The brat album was really influential towards people through social media, the iconicness really came from the dances and the lyrics that came from the album, overall uplifting the iconicness of “brat summer”, said Braeden Valenzuela (12).
With this, it created a global sensation named, “Brat Summer.” Brat Summer encouraged Gen Z to be themselves. To be confident and unbothered by what others might think about them. Charli XCX made summer 2024 one of the most iconic of recent times, it was Brat Summer.
“I think that it did have an impact in the world just because Charli XCX did a lot of press for the album and the concept of brat summer. I feel like Charli really transferred her emotion through the album and brat summer, giving it that impactful effect to the world” said Braeden Valenzuela (12).
While Brat Summer put having a “themed summer” on the map, it wasn’t the first time something like this happened. The previous year we had “Barbie Summer” with the release of the Barbie Movie and the competition it had with the movie Oppenheimer. While in 2022, Stranger Things season 4 was released, which reintroduced Kate Bush’s iconic song “Running Up That Hill” to a whole new generation. That summer felt like a Stranger Things summer.
With two consecutive “summer themes” in a row many thought that summer 2025 would have the same fate. As that summer was approaching, many were looking toward the music scene for a “song of the summer.” The world seemed heavy at the time and fitting, there was no song of the summer.
As summer 2026 is closely upon us, the search for a new themed summer has once again begun. In anticipation, I think we should look toward new music releases in hopes of what will be this year’s theme.
In early to mid May, Drake dropped not one but three new albums all at once. He teased fans with one of these albums and many suspected it would be a “Drake Summer.” Unfortunately, many fans weren’t impressed with this album’s quantity over quality.
Rumored to release an album later this month is Beyonce. Many speculate it will drop on Friday, May 29th. This would follow her trend of releasing music on the 29th of the month. Although nothing is confirmed, we will just have to wait and see!
In less than a month, Olivia Rodrigo will release her third album “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love.” This album is highly anticipated by fans. Rodrigo also announced an arena tour for this album. Many fans are frustrated she isn’t doing a stadium tour due to her rising popularity.
Later in the summer, some iconic legendary artists will make their return to the music scene with new albums. In early July, Madonna is set to release her follow up album to her groundbreaking 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” with “CONFESSIONS II.” Promo roll out has already begun for this album through Madonna releasing a few tracks early. One of these songs included Sabrina Carpenter, who brought Madonna on stage at Coachella.
“I hope that an artist like Sabrina Carpenter can have a moment like Charli xcx. Even though her music is a lot more “basic”, I think the fact that she is mainstream will allow more people to be exposed to her music, I think that Sabrina is a great example of expressive music that isn’t the same as every other artist on the platform” said Taegan Acevado (12).
Also noteworthy is the The Rolling Stones will be releasing a new album titled, ‘Foreign Tongues” in mid July. This will be their 25th studio album to date. Another classic artist, Paul McCartney, will be releasing an album titled, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane.” These albums may be the summer albums for older generations rather than a more younger audience.
One more place we should to as possible summer themes is the release of the extremely popular movie “Micheal,” a biopic on Micheal Jackson. This movie is already breaking records and showing a whole new generation his music and life, reinvigorating Micheal Mania across the globe. As seen through social media trends, box office and streaming records and more.
The 2026 summer theme, or if it will even have a theme, is still up for debate. There is a lot of competition with so many new albums from new artists and legends. Will any of them be able to match the energy and mood of Brat Summer? We will have to wait and see!
