Is 'Hot Girl Summer' still a thing? Here's where it originated and what it means.
If Michael Jackson was the king of pop, Megan Thee Stallion is certainly the queen of the hot girls.
The 28-year-old rapper from Houston released “Hot Girls” in 2018 and “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019. Her fans are aptly known as “The Hotties” and she’s even trademarked the phrase “Hot Girl Summer.” Dictionary.com added it to its official memes dictionary in 2019.
But what does it mean? Here’s a crash course on how you too can have a certified “Hot Girl Summer.”
What does 'Hot Girl Summer' mean?
“Hot girl summer” comes from Megan Thee Stallion’s song of the same name.
Here’s the definition Meg gave The Root in 2019: “It’s just basically about women – and men – just being unapologetically them ... You definitely have to be a person that can be the life of the party.”
After 2020, USA TODAY interviewed young people scrambling to make up for lost time by partying, socializing and having their “Hot Girl Summers.” For some, this meant saying yes to plans, meeting new people and committing to having the best summer of your life.
Dictonary.com defines it as “feeling confident in who you are and having fun and looking good while doing it. It often involves women posting selfies with summery swag and style using the caption (I heard it’s) hot girl summer.”
“It's a Hot Girl Summer, so you know she got it lit,” Ty Dolla $ign sings in the chorus of the 2019 hit.
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How to have a 'Hot Girl Summer'
Good News – anyone can have a hot girl summer.
In “Hot Girl Summer,” Megan encourages being yourself, living confidently and truthfully and being the life of the party. The phrase exploded online in 2019 – the inaugural Hot Girl Summer – with memes and videos of people prepping for the “Hot Girl Summer” of their dreams. Fans told VICE in 2019 it’s a season for good outfits, for “women to do what they want to do” without worrying about male attention and for an attitude fueled by becoming the best version of yourself.
The most important thing, Megan told singer Kehlani at BeautyCon LA in 2019 is “You just have to be you.”
Here are some other tips Megan shared with Variety in August 2019 for having a “Hot Girl Summer:”
- Be the life of the party
- Be kind
- Be confident
- “You have to like to drive the boat” – a phrase that Megan Thee Stallion and Kodak Black are often credited with creating. It has to do with drinking straight from the bottle, so we’ll leave this one up to you.
“Hot Girl Summer” is sometimes associated with embracing being single and flirty. But even if you’ve got a significant other this hot girl summer, the queen of the Hotties says you can still partake.
Is 'Hot Girl Summer' over?
“Hot Girl Summer” had its moment in 2019, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
#hotgirlsummer has 3.7 billion views on TikTok, with videos from this year teaching users “How To Prep For Hot Girl Summer.” It doesn’t matter how many years past Meg’s hit it is – you can all but guarantee to be inundated with link-in-bio, self-care content in late spring warning you “Hot Girl Summer” is on the horizon.
Even if “Hot Girl Summer” ceases to exist, its spawned several offshoot seasonal trends – “Short King Spring,” “Soft Girl Spring” and even Megan’s own “Hot Nerd Fall.” But maybe this year’s trend is more “Barbiecore Summer?”
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