ADRIAN MA, HOST:
If you have spent even a little bit of time on social media this summer, you have probably seen that meme. You know, the slime green squares and people proudly calling themselves brats?
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Excuse me. What's a brat girl summer?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Oh, my God. I'm a brat girl summer.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: My brat girl summer is wearing wired headphones and listening to Charli XCX.
MA: I would go as far to say that if you have even looked in the direction of a smartphone, you are aware that it is brat summer, this viral trend that took its name from the latest Charli XCX album titled "Brat." But as summer starts to wind down, we're also seeing a new trend start to emerge on social media. Here to tell us about it is USA Today health and wellness reporter Charles Trapani. Charles, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
CHARLES TREPANY: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
MA: Thank you for being here. And first things first, for anyone who missed brat summer, can you just tell us what was this all about?
TERPANY: So having a brat summer basically means embracing chaos, embracing your messy side, embracing your wild side. It's about clubbing, partying. When Charli XCX sort of described what a brat means to her, she said that it can include luxury. It can include trashiness. There's no one right way to be a brat as long as you're sort of living your life and you just don't care what other people think.
MA: OK. So this meme has gotten a lot of mileage this summer. We're even starting to see kind of a new trend challenge brat summer's throne. Can you tell us about what this thing, demure fall is all about?
TERPANY: Yes. So in response to brat, there is a new trend afoot called being demure. People online are declaring it demure fall.
MA: So pretty different vibes.
TERPANY: Yes, completely different vibes. It's - i'd say demure is almost embracing like a quiet confidence. It's going through your life with calmness, with gentility, with consideration. For others, it's not making waves. It's not drawing attention to yourself. And in a way, that not drawing attention to yourself is the power of being demure. A lot of it is sort of the very basics of just living your day-to-day life, but it casts it in a more graceful kind of elegant mindset and attitude, basically.
MA: OK. So these are both kind of delightful in very opposite ways, right? Like, brat is...
TERPANY: Yes.
MA: ...Childish and immature. Demure is poised and grown-up. But both of these memes are sort of taking up space in the online hive mind. What do you make of that?
TERPANY: Even though they're both very opposite, I think they're kind of reacting to the same sort of feeling in the culture that people are experiencing this year. I think people in general are just feeling a lot of chaos. And what's interesting to me about brat and demure is that both of them are sort of different ways of coping or moving through chaos and uncertainty. Brat is embracing it fully, embracing the mess, embracing the wildness. And then demure, in a way, it's like a more calming way of moving through life. It's really sort of, I think, tuning out the big noise and just focusing on the small things.
MA: So this raises an important question. On the spectrum of brat to demure, where are you right now?
TERPANY: Oh, my gosh. I go up and down. I think I'm ready for demure fall, but I think you have to go through a brat era before you can truly appreciate being demure.
MA: Oh, OK. I love it.
TERPANY: Yes. What about you, Adrian?
MA: Oh, man. I mean, it depends on how much sleep I've gotten.
TERPANY: Listen. Eight hours of sleep a night is very demure.
MA: (Laughter) Well, I think we have our answer. I've been speaking with USA Today health and wellness reporter Charles Trepany. Charles, thanks again.
TERPANY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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