Recently, I was scrolling through Instagram and came across Miley Cyrus’ post with the hashtag “hot girl summer”. I was very curious to see what this hashtag was all about and was surprised for the better. As I found out, the phrase was coined by a female rapper, Megan Thee Stallion, in the early months of the season. The meaning behind the phrase is a call to live your best, most confident and unapologetic life, and I am here for that.

Unlike what you may have thought and assumed by the words “hot girl”, the motto is not focused on aspiring to achieve conventional beauty. Instead, it’s a call to embrace confidence at its most important level – loving who you are and doing what you want, without a care about what others might think. In an interview with The Root, the rapper explained the term, saying: “It’s about women and men being unapologetic, just having a good time, hyping up their friends, doing you.” Thee Stallion went on to further explain the definition of the phrase on Twitter, tweeting: “Being a Hot Girl is about being unapologetically YOU, having fun, being confident, living YOUR truth, being the life of the party, etc.”

This is another act in a very important movement towards body positivity, self-love, and acceptance. This catchphrase became a social-media phenomenon with over 201k posts under the hashtag on Instagram and over 2 million on Twitter. Thee Stallion, on her part, shows no signs of slowing down after this amazing achievement. The Houston based rapper announced she is working on an official hot girl summer track, which is already trending on Apple Music, and trademarking the phrase. The latter comes after companies such as Forever 21, Maybelline, and Wendy’s used the line to promote their products.

This news makes me truly happy and encouraged. It helps me believe that we are going in the right direction. This catchphrase is a whole mood.