As the summer of 2024 comes to a close, one thing we can all look back on is the variety of people and things that went viral and burst into stardom this summertime. From the “brat” phenomenon to the Olympics, it’s hard not to acknowledge all the things that went down this summer.
Just before summer started, in April, Chappell Roan was opening for Olivia Rodrigo on her “GUTS World Tour,” a gig that she got due to her fast-rising popularity after the release of her 2023 debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
To capitalize on the popularity she was gaining, Roan released the song “Good Luck, Babe!”, which was a massive hit, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
Roan’s success was so massive that her performance at the Bonnaroo music festival was moved to a larger stage following her successful performances at the Governor’s Ball and Coachella. Furthermore, Roan’s performance at Lollapalooza drew the biggest daytime set and largest crowds ever at the festival.
The main event this summer was the June release of Charli XCX’s awaited album “BRAT.” Major critics received the album positively, with Metacritic rating it 95/100 and Anthony Fantano, a popular content creator known to be very harsh, giving it a 10/10.
Upon the album’s release, it grew so much in popularity that it became a trend to replace the word “brat” on the cover, which is an extremely recognizable noxious green, with different words; eventually a “brat generator” was released, allowing people to make their own versions of the album cover.
The album’s influence spread throughout everything possible, and cemented its place as one of the biggest trends in pop culture this year.
On July 21, after many calls for him to step down, President Joe Biden announced he would no longer be seeking reelection and dropped out of the 2024 presidential election. In his place, he endorsed his current Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Harris won the nomination after 99% of delegates at the Democratic National Convention voted for her. Harris chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.
Since Biden stepped out of the race, Biden-Harris HQ, the social media account for the Biden-Harris ticket, rebranded to Kamala HQ. With this rebrand, Kamala HQ used the brat green color and put “Kamala hq” over it on their social media accounts. Charli XCX later tweeted “Kamala IS brat,” and during an interview, Charli XCX said that, while the tweet was not a direct endorsement, she was “happy to help prevent democracy from failing forever.”
The variety this summer was incredible, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris definitely showcased that. The USA won 126 medals, including 40 gold medals, while setting 6 world records. One American athlete, Stephen Nederoscik, a gymnast, went viral for his nerdy looks and garnered the nickname “pommel horse boy,” a fitting name for a pommel horse specialist.
Many other athletes went viral, such as Denmark’s Henrik Christiansen, a swimmer whose affection for the Olympic Village’s chocolate muffins was more of a claim to fame than his swimming ability.
Giorgia Villa, an Italian gymnast, went viral for being sponsored by Parmigiano Reggiano, a brand of Parmesan cheese. Villa often posts photos of herself posing next to wheels of cheese from the Italian cheesemakers.
The most viral Olympian was probably Turkish sport shooter Yusuf Dikeç, who went viral for his unorthodox approach of not using any equipment like the other sport shooters. Dikeç eventually took home the silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event with his teammate Şevval İlayda Tarhan.