From Party Girl to Healing Girl: Why This Summer Feels Quieter Than The Last

B(ad)rat tattoos on leather tanned skin. Slime green on a plastic sign. Clubs where the floor sticks and the air chokes. Shameless sweat stains. Micro shorts. Strappy white tops. No bras. Bic lighters. Packs of fags. Annoyingly confident and chaotically hedonistic. That’s how we’d describe summer 2024 – whose aesthetic was quite literally dictated by Charli xcx’s album Brat.

Even though summer 2025 isn’t over – we’re only halfway through – it already feels noticeably quieter. Less recession pop, fewer hyper beats. No toxic neon colours, less sweat, less feral energy. Instead: deeper blues, emotionally charged beats, more vulnerability, and more softness.

What we have carried over from last summer is the mess – but this time, through Lorde’s new album Virgin, it’s not about numbing it with alcohol, sleepless club nights, sexual chaos, or a bitchy façade. It’s about looking our issues dead in the eye.

If during Brat summer we shoved our problems behind closed doors and by 4 a.m. prowled the streets with razor-sharp tongues and skinny cigarettes, is this summer more like tiptoeing across broken glass?

Of course, everyone’s living their summer differently – some still riding high, feeling lifted and gifted, while others are sinking into the opposite. But it’d be unfair not to acknowledge how Lorde’s Virgin seeps into it all: she’s unafraid to name her struggles, from the fear of disappointing her parents to the knot of anxiety while waiting for a pregnancy test.

Listening to these songs doesn’t feel like putting on the act – impregnable, hot, bitchy, and bouncing between parties in one night. It feels more like slipping into baggy cargos and a hoodie, throwing on your headphones, and heading out for a mental health walk somewhere quiet – like a park, where everything finally breathes.

The songs on Virgin seem to resonate with so many listeners because the struggles they touch on – negative body image, heartbreak, unconditional love, messy relationships, tension with parents, hormonal imbalance from birth control, and gender dysphoria – are far more common than we tend to admit.

@sullen_boyxy This album is beyond amazing… thank you so much Lorde // #uptowngirls #brittanymurphy #dakotafanning #lorde #virginlorde #david #grwm #shapeshifter #movie #teenage #adulting ♬ son original – sullen_boyxy

It also feels like Lorde, through her music, has united people to reflect on these struggles – giving them time to prepare, face, and maybe even start solving them.

She’s encouraged us to be more compassionate this summer, because often, even the most talkative or party-loving person in the room is quietly battling something tough. But few are willing to acknowledge or show that vulnerability – it’s just easier to run away into oblivion.

So even if this summer feels a bit less outrageous – thanks to the music that’s come out – the Stellar team wants to thank Lorde whose songs have grounded us, made us feel okay with not having all the answers, normalised the low moments, and reminded us that healing – though it takes time – is a way out of the vicious cycle within.

Words by Dana Shmyha