In 2019 Megan Thee Stallion released the viral song “Hot Girl Summer,” and an annual trend was born. Since then, we’ve had “Brat Summer,” “Guava Girl Summer,” “Barbie Summer” — the spinoff list goes on.
Each trend reflects the cultural vibe and economic reality of the moment. So what’s in store for 2026? Here to offer her own well-informed predictions is The Show’s own resident pop culture expert Amanda Kehrberg, a Ph.D. student at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Full conversation
LAUREN GILGER: Good morning, Amanda.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Good morning, Lauren.
LAUREN GILGER: OK, quite a title. I appreciate that. OK, so let’s start with some of this history, right? This brief history of the kind of quote-unquote “girl summer.” This began, as I said, in 2019 when we had that song from Megan Thee Stallion. Tell us about this.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: So, that was, yeah. “Hot Girl Summer” even before the track dropped had already gone viral as this idea in July 2019. And it came to frame this kind of summer that was about really like self-confidence, going out, and and just sort of being the vacation yourself almost.
Like you could just kind of wear whatever you want. It was these really like neon, often bright colors. But in many ways unbothered, but in a really effortlessly hot way. That’s what’s kind of funny. If you look at all of them, they tend to have like look really cool but look like you’re not trying.
LAUREN GILGER: You’re not trying. The hardest thing to do.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Exactly. But they all have kind of a different aesthetic and cultural take on that. So, if you move on then, we’ve got Charli XCX. Same thing again, like an album drops and that comes to define this summer trend of “Brat Summer.” No one saw that neon green coming at the time.
LAUREN GILGER: It was quite a green.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Yes. Or this this sense of being kind of like messy and chaotic, but in a self-aware way. So we have this kind of like raccoon-eyed like cigarettes and and white tank tops and just like just let it all hang out, stay out too late. Very different vibe to “Hot Girl Summer,” which almost the Barbie versus like Wednesday to a degree. That’s like a leap but yes.
And then we have all of these extremely self-care wellness-focused like clean girl type summers with slightly different focuses. So like, “Tomato Girl Summer.” I still would love to have that one. I want a “Tomato Girl” year, frankly.
That’s that’s like living like you live in the Mediterranean. You’re walking around in these flowy linens, you know, your hair is just effortlessly waving in the in the sunlight. You’re going to the farmers market, you’re eating well, you’re doing all the right things, you’re probably doing your affirmations every day, I know I need to do that. And eating more tomatoes, I assume.
LAUREN GILGER: And eating more tomatoes. Last summer was “Guava Girl Summer”. I kind of missed this one, what’s that?
AMANDA KEHRBERG: OK, so “Guava Girl Summer” did not have as strong of a cultural vibe as much as an aesthetic vibe. So, it was very much like the colors of tropical fruits put into makeup trends. So, it was very like dewy, very again, like I would say wellness, definitely falling under the banner of wellness, self-care, but with this kind of like warm orange coral glow that’s sort of supposed to speak to tropical vacation, but just all the time.
LAUREN GILGER: OK, all the time. So, each of these trends, it does seem, Amanda, kind of hits on the cultural moment in a way, like reflects us back to ourselves in a way that only internet trends can.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Yes, exactly. They all kind of take the temperature of the room. Like, is it hot? Is it tropical? I think what’s really interesting is how they tend to come together in a way that that really speaks to the way digital culture forms, where it’s this kind of push and pull, moments of of resistance, ideas bubbling up organically from communities talking to each other through TikTok, Instagram Reels, whatever. And brands trying desperately to figure out what the trend is and how they can also help establish and push it so that they’re there. So there’s a push and pull between retail and popular culture that ends up kind of situating what exactly is going to be the moment.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, let’s not forget the “What can we sell you?” aspect of this. That’s part of it. All right, so Memorial Day was the kick-off to a summer, unofficial kick-off to summer here. What do you think? What are your predictions for a 2026 Girl Summer? What are we looking at?
AMANDA KEHRBERG: I will say, I really wanted some kind of like herald, and Megan The Stallion did just walk the runway at Miami Swim Week, so I think that’s that’s as good of a symbol of the start of summer as we’re going to get. This summer’s really interesting because I haven’t seen a real coalescence on what exactly the clear trend is for this summer.
Aesthetically, we’re seeing trends like a kind of unbothered party girl makeup, so do the smoky eye and then kind of let it look like you slept on it and just got up the next morning and went to another party.
LAUREN GILGER: And maybe actually do that, yeah.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: No, I ran into people who’d gone to a party at 9:00 a.m. the other day, and then they were having a very late brunch, and they’re like, ”Well, now we get to go to two parties.” So they’re doing it.
LAUREN GILGER: They’re doing that summer. Unbothered party girl, OK, OK. I mean, I’m thinking of like the big media events happening this summer. We’ve got World Cup, there’s lots of kind of big concerts going on, there’s, you know, some big kind of beloved shows coming back this summer.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Yes. Oh my God, no. In terms of media, it’s such a good summer, and I think that really connects to how it’s going to be kind of a homebody summer for a lot of people. You have, you know, get to the theaters for Christopher Nolan’s big movie, “The Odyssey,” which fashion is predicting will will get us into more of a like flowy Greek dress aesthetic. Maybe some cool flip-flops.
World Cup, of course, also fashion predictions will be in jerseys just kind of hanging out with our our party girl makeup. And then we have “Ted Lasso” coming back which is so exciting. “The Vampire Lestat”, a new show from Mindy Kaling called, I think oh, “Not Safe For Work.”
Yeah, so it’s it’s such a really, really, really good summer for television. It’s very exciting. Definitely not what we grew up with where it was like, “And now all TV is gone.”
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, so big media homebody, right, was the word there. And we’re looking at an expensive economy, like that always plays a role here. People maybe not traveling as much.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Exactly, plays such a big role. Right now we’ve got I think the eighth highest gas prices in the nation in Arizona — 45% of people said they’ll be having at some kind of summer travel plans, which is the lowest since 2020.
LAUREN GILGER: OK, so what’s your summer going to be, Amanda?
AMANDA KEHRBERG: My summer is “Hobby Girl Summer.” Oh, I love it. I’ve also seen one one one ad call it “Side Quest Summer,” and I was like, OK, that’s kind of the same sort of thing. We’re not on the main quest line, we’re saving some money, we’re doing some side quests. We’re maybe, you know, I bought a paddleboard, speaking of, at Costco years ago and I just got it out for the first time this past month, like.
LAUREN GILGER: Oh man, paddleboarding, music lessons. “Hobby Girl Summer”
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Yes, yes. Trying some cello. I’m doing doing the hobbies, staying at home, doing those aspirational hobbies, it’s time.
LAUREN GILGER: I’m going to have the tired mom summer.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: I think that’s a good one, too.
LAUREN GILGER: That is Amanda Kehrberg. Amanda, thank you so much for coming in. I appreciate it.
AMANDA KEHRBERG: Thank you.
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