It's A Hot Girl Summer. Here's Why.

Summer 2019 may be in full swing, but it’s never too late to learn about Hot Girl Summer.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase, and seen it while scrolling through your Instagram feed while pretending to pay attention to your friends at a barbecue. Maybe you’ve even wondered why so many brand tweets are including it in their bizarre attempts to connect with buyers (isn’t capitalism just grand?).

So, you’re asking yourself, is it just attractive women celebrating summer? Does she stop being “hot” in the fall? Why are we like this?

Stop your pondering. Let’s break it down.

The phrase belongs to a Houston-based rapper named Megan Thee Stallion and her song, “Cash Shit.” The song’s lyrics reference “real hot girl shit,” lending itself to the nickname Stallion now goes by ― “Thee hot girl.”

While Stallion has called one of her alter egos “Meg the Hot Girl,” her “hot” nickname can be traced back to the late ’90s hit by the Hot Boys, “I Need A Hot Girl,” which notably popularized the talk of hot girls in music.

The cover of Stallion’s album, “Fever,” released in May, even features text exclaiming: “She’s thee hot girl and she’s bringing thee heat.”

As the internet is wont to do, people on social media ran with Stallion’s moniker and sweated on it until it became the lifestyle choice of summer 2019: Hot Girl Summer.

A person embodying the Hot Girl Summer vibe has uncontainable confidence, charisma, and energy. They’re someone who feels hot as hell in every sense of the word and isn’t afraid to live their truth every single moment of every day.

As Stallion herself told The Root: “It’s about women and men being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up their friends, doing you. You definitely have to be a person who can be the life of the party and just a bad bitch.”

Solid examples of women who exude a Hot Girl Summer vibe include Lizzo, Megan Rapinoe, and Cardi B.

Summer is a time to feel yourself and get weird. To be more than a little naked in public. To sweat on the person next to you and not care. To thirst trap on all forms of social media. Summer is the one season of the year where everyone pretends they’re still 16, giggling maniacally while eating a phallic-shaped frozen treat.

So, if you’re feeling the Hot Girl Summer vibes, embrace them while you can. Labor Day will be here before you know it.

This article has been updated to add a reference to the Hot Boys’ song “I Need a Hot Girl.”