The news of Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race, and the quick endorsement by him and other democrats of Kamala Harris, has taken the world by storm. While musician’s relationship with politics and political messaging varies from artist to artist, we quickly saw one of this summer’s most dominant artists take to show support for Kamala, Charli XCX.
On July 21, just hours after Biden exited the race, Charli XCX tweeted “Kamala IS brat”. This refers to Charli XCX’s new album brat which has been making waves all summer with massive critical praise, countless viral trends, and constant airplay.
While Charli XCX has spoken up politically before, posting a link on her Instagram story to donate to relief in Gaza, it is notable that the British pop star was among the first to use her platform to promote Harris’ candidacy.
What separates Charli’s relationship with the Kamala campaign from other musicians, such as Beyonce and Ariana Grande, is how the campaign has leaned into Charli’s endorsement. The campaign page @kamalaHQ on X has changed its banner to read “kamala hq” but in the same font as the brat album cover. On TikTok, they posted a video with 3.8 million likes playing and referencing the lyrics of “femininomenon”. That song is by one of this summer’s other pop “it-girls”, Chappell Roan, clearly trying to capture a Gen Z audience who has been driving the success of these pop stars.
This nod to Charli XCX by the Kamala HQ has gained national media coverage, including a hilarious moment where the CNN panel got their first-ever exposure to the brat phenomenon. It seems that pop girls do have political power. Last year, Taylor Swift called for her fans to vote via her Instagram stories, linking vote.org. According to NPR, this led to 35,000 voter registrations. It is worth noting how quickly these pop culture figures have rallied behind Kamala as the election approaches.
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