What exactly is a "hot internet girl"?

The "hot internet girls" in Charli XCX's "360" music video, directed by Aidan Zamiri. (Source: YouTube).

It's been about two weeks since Charli XCX's new album Brat dropped and quite frankly I cannot listen to anything else. No matter what I'm doing or where I'm going, nothing appeals to me more on my Spotify downloads than this monumentally epic album. I can't stop seeing the colour Brat. That fire exit sign is Brat. My new nail polish is Brat. My Grandad's jumper is Brat. Brat brat brat. But before we had Brat, we had the single "360" and its music video, where Charli began edging the "brat girl summer" aesthetic that has recently been unmasked.

(BRAT is Charli XCX's 6th Studio Album, released through Atlantic Records, 7th June 2024. )

"360" is a reaction to the contemporary it girls. The girls in the video are called "hot internet girls", but don't be mistaken with the term "it girl", historically referring to the likes of Sharon Tate, Alicia Silverstone, or Bella Hadid. No, the "hot internet girl" is a new breed, written about in many of Charli's new lyrics; on "360" where she claims "That city sewer slut's the vibe" and on "Mean Girls", where she writes about a brat that is in a "sheer white dress, wearing last night's makeup". The image is unkempt.

None of the "hot internet girls" in "360" are what has come to be considered conventionally attractive by social media influencers and Victoria's Secret models. They all on some level behold this edgy, "coquette-ish" aesthetic. They cite in the video to be a "hot internet girl" you have to have a "je ne sais quoi"; it's about "being really hot in like a scary way". Many of the girls in the video became popular on the internet overnight, notably Julia Fox for her memorable performance as Julia in Uncut Gems for which Charli awarded her with the lyric "I'm so Julia", or Chloe Cherry whose naïve yet iconic performance in Euphoria landed her thousands of followers overnight. Chloë Sevigny perhaps stands out from the group in the music video by being the most legendary, she gained her "hot internet girl" personality in the early 2000s when she starred alongside actor, writer, and director of Brown Bunny Vincent Gallo; also her boyfriend at the time, a film that became notorious due to the explicit (and by no means fake) oral sex scene the pair engaged in. In "360", she appears towards the end of the video, out of a sports car, cigarette in hand, she joins Charli, and tosses the cigarette, starting a fire, zero f***s given.

The “hot internet girl” is more relatable than you might think. “360” takes us on a journey of not caring what others think of you, and looking hot whilst doing it, but Brat itself is highly empathetic. It’s an album that makes you want to dance, but tied in are lyrics that many girls can connect with. “I might say something stupid” is a short, quiet tune about feeling like you want to disappear, “Rewind” is about wishing to go back in time and change your regrets and “I think about it all the time” reflects on the maternal desire to one day have a child and give up being a partygirl, followed by “365”, a track about nothing other than doing cocaine.

The "360" music video has taken a trend and moulded it into the girls' own reality. By showcasing who else is a "hot internet girl", they have taken the power back, utilising the labels to create an idiosyncratic, refreshingly contemporary look, whilst withholding a tone of sardonicism directed at those who might only think of them as "hot internet girls". Ultimately, if you have some ripped-up tights, stale Vogue cigarettes (juuls are also acceptable), or a red wine-stained white tank top lying around, you too can become a new recruit of the “hot internet girl" clan overnight.