The pop world has coalesced rapidly around US Vice President Kamala Harris’ last-minute candidacy, as she gets a boost from an online explosion of videos mixing her speeches with hit songs.
Janelle Monae, John Legend and Charli XCX are among the star musicians who have publicly backed Harris to run for US president, along with myriad Hollywood endorsements including from George Clooney, Viola Davis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Robert de Niro.
Even Beyonce — who is known to strictly guard clearance of her music — has reportedly approved the Harris campaign to use her song Freedom on the trail.
Photo: AFP
The megastar’s mother, Tina Knowles, quickly backed the now-presumptive Democratic nominee after US President Joe Biden’s late-stage election exit.
Fans have been posting remixes of Harris speeches and interviews — her idiosyncratic phrasings frequently become memes — with music by pop artists of the moment, including star of the summer Charli XCX, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.
It helps that Harris is eminently memeable; plenty of videos show her dancing with physical comedy bordering on slapstick.
The Internet used to mash up those kooky moments to mock the 59-year-old vice president — but since Biden’s campaign plummeted following his disastrous debate, the videos appear to be bolstering her presence, notably among chronically online young voters.
Celebrities have also gotten on board, capturing the marketing moment in the inextricably linked worlds of music and social media, while also leaning into Harris’ candidacy.
British artist Charli XCX in particular has seen her smash album brat become core to the early online Harris campaign.
The “brat summer” meme was already alive and well before Harris became associated with it.
The trend emphasizes an aesthetic and lifestyle inspired by Charli’s club album that offers a heavy dose of party-girl energy with undertones of youthful anxiety.
When fans began applying the inescapable lime-green “brat” filter to Kamala Harris images, Charli XCX voiced approval, writing on social media that “kamala IS brat,” — a sign-off the Harris campaign quickly embraced.
In its transition from Biden to Harris, the campaign’s official X account also rebranded as brat-coded, with its cover photo mimicking the album’s neon-green — “Shrek-colored,” as the Internet likes to call it — and lo-resolution JPEG vibe.
Katy Perry, whose anthemic Roar was frequently played on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 campaign, also pushed her latest single Woman’s World while backing Harris.
She posted a montage clip of Harris with a remix of her song and the now famous “coconut tree” quote that has also made the presidential hopeful an Internet star.
“It’s a woman’s world, and you’re lucky to be living in it,” Perry sings.
Cardi B reminded fans she had already said Harris should replace Biden, who she supported in 2020 after initially backing US Senator Bernie Sanders.
Shortly after Biden announced his withdrawal, the Bronx rapper reposted a video she had made prior in which she says Harris should be the Democratic flag-bearer.
“STOP PLAYING WIT ME!!!!” she wrote in her caption accompanying the clip, emphasizing her self-proclaimed prescience.
“Told y’all Kamala should’ve been the 2024 candidate. Y’all be trying to play the Bronx education, baby this what I do!!! Been my passion.. don’t let my accent fool y’all,” she wrote.
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