As “Brat Summer” has come to a close, there are several takeaways we have gained from this historical album release.Â
The iconic Brat green album cover has become a part of a presidential campaign, the “Apple” dance done by nearly everyone on social media and most importantly the rise in popularity of The Dare. Â
The Dare, the producer behind Brat’s “Guess” as well as multiple other songs on the Brat deluxe edition, found sudden popularity in this era, often appearing with Charli XCX at her boiler room sets as well as on social media promoting his own music. Â
His rise in popularity sparked a lot of TikTok content from fans and listeners and led to many people trying to replicate his unique persona. His appearance emulates vibes like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and has started to steal girls’ hearts. Of course, this led the way to many fans eager to recreate his look.Â
One TikTok that has since been deleted read “Thinking about how so many indie boys are going to dress as The Dare for Halloween but you know what I’m not mad about it if anything quite excited.”Â
This sparked me to realize that despite my fascination with him, he still remained a mystery to me. Â
I really began to wonder who is The Dare?Â
Born Harrison Smith, The Dare grew up in the Seattle suburbs before venturing his way into the music industry through the indie sleaze and electro-pop genre. With his British-esque look, The Dare is truly able to curate an “indie-sleaze look,” sporting a bowl cut and frequently a full tuxedo at his sets. Â
Although his music career started during the COVID-19 pandemic, he officially released his first single “Girls” in August 2022, although it became popular to many on social media during the summer of 2023
“Girls” is a mildly vulgar, indie mix that describes all the different girls The Dare likes with very little discrimination. This includes but is not limited to: “Girls that have, degrees or girls on killing sprees, tall girls, small girls, and even girls with cigarettes in the back of the club.”Â
In September of this year, The Dare released his first album titled “What’s Wrong With New York.” This album includes 10 tracks including his original song “Girls.”
Despite being in the indie genre, The Dare’s music has a more upbeat vibe to which people can sing and dance alone to. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear his songs playing at parties, bars and clubs as his popularity grows.
Although Brat Summer has ended, the hype around The Dare is only likely to grow. Local “indie” boys everywhere put together their The Dare costumes for Halloween, bringing the artist more and more attention.
The Dare is currently on tour and will be finishing his American tour date this month before going over to Europe.
Hopefully, The Dare can continue his success and work with CharliXCX once again to bring us another revolutionary album!