It’s a ‘HOT GIRL SUMMER’ thanks to Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion
Viral meme has captured a love-yourself attitude — and now has an anthem
Don Henley sang about “The Boys of Summer.” Bananarama bemoaned a “Cruel Summer.” Demi Lovato told us it was “Cool for the Summer.” Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta reminisced about “Summer Nights.”
But Houston’s Megan Thee Stallion has captured the zeitgeist, and blessed us with an unstoppable meme, by uttering a simple phrase: “hot girl summer.”
You’ve likely heard it. Or read it. Or tweeted it. Hot girl summer is everywhere. On Instagram alone, the hashtag #hotgirlsummer has been used more than 200,000 times. In fact, you might be having a hot girl summer and not even know it.
So what does it mean, exactly? And where did it come from?
The phrase was coined by Megan
Thee Stallion way back in April 2018, when she tweeted, “This abt to be a REAL HOT GIRL SUMMER.” It didn’t pick up steam until recently, thanks to the release of her “Fever” album. She refers to herself as a “Hot Girl” on the cover.
Suddenly, the phrase was everywhere. It started with women posting selfies, owning their look and attitude. But like every great meme, it morphed. It grew. Companies like Wendy’s, Maybelline and Forever 21 were using it to hawk products.
“Megan’s #hotgirlsummer gave us the permission to be our authentic, fun, worry-free selves,” says Houston pop singer Mireya Lewis. “Girls have always been judged for dancing, twerking, partying, what we wear. But this summer was different. No judgment. I traveled, partied and finally let my thighs out. I definitely had a hot girl summer.”
Celebrities jumped on board, too. Miley Cyrus attached the hashtag to her own twerking video. LL Cool J urged ladies to add his song “Phenomenon” to their #HOTGIRLSUMMER playlist. YouTube beauty guru Patrick Starrr offered a Hot Girl Summer makeup tutorial that clocked almost 200,000 views in two days. The VH1 reality show “Girls Cruise” regularly employs the phrase.
Megan clarified the meaning in July, saying it could apply to women and men.
“Being a Hot Girl is about being unapologetically YOU, having fun, being confident, living YOUR truth, being the life of the party etc,” she tweeted. The mantra has continued to resonate with women in all walks of life.
“I turned 30 in July, and my theme for my birthday trip was ‘Hot Girl Summer,’ basically to reinforce that age is just a number and I’m still hot,” says Whitley Nicole of HelloWhitley, a brand development firm, and the “Excuse My Thickness” podcast. “That phrase just encouraged me to own my age, my accomplishments and where I was in life while being the best version of myself. I’m owning my truth and living it as a hot girl.”
The phrase has become so ubiquitous that Megan is trademarking it for use on merchandise and more. Her “Hot Girl Summer” playlist on Spotify has more than 144,000 followers and includes songs by Lil Kim, Cardi B and UGK.
And it looks like the run is far from over. Megan’s own “Hot Girl Summer” song dropped a few days ago. She’s also teased a Hot Girl Tour across social media.
Hot girl summer? More like hot girl year.