- Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is in full swing – and so is ‘brat summer’
- With singer Charli XCX the first to show support for Harris, how did the unlikely duo come to be
- Harris’s team have also featured up and coming singer Chappell Roan
The Democratic party was seemingly in chaos last week, when Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
But a collective sigh of relief was heard when the 81-year-old instead endorsed the current Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, to be the party’s new candidate.
Since then, it’s been all systems go for Harris, who held the first rally of her presidential campaign in Milwaukee on July 23, vowing to take on Donald Trump and win the election this November.
No matter your political leanings, there’s one thing getting commentators across the globe talking: the way in which semi-obscure pop girlies are being used in Harris’s campaign.
That’s right – the team behind ‘Kamala HQ’ have essentially teamed up with the up-and-coming singers behind some of this summer’s biggest tracks in a bid to make their strategy more Gen Z friendly.
Releasing her album Brat on June 7, British pop star Charli XCX (real name Charlotte Emma Aitchison) was the first to show her support for Harris.
“Kamala IS brat,” the singer, 31, wrote on Twitter/X, which prompted the VP to follow her on both that platform and Instagram.
And in a TikTok video posted on July 23, Kamala HQ included a song by American musician, Chappell Roan.
Using her track Femininomenon, the post showed pictures of a disheveled looking Trump wearing a Make America Great Again cap, alongside photos of Harris. The TikTok has already racked up a whopping 6 million likes.
And while it’s certainly not unusual for musicians to be part of a presidential campaign, Harris HQ’s choice to use 2024’s biggest pop girlies is a super smart choice.
But what exactly is ‘brat summer’?
For those who have been living under a rock since early June (or are, perhaps, just over the age of 35), ‘brat summer’ is in full swing.
With its low-res, Arial font, lime green branding, brat summer is all about accepting your imperfections while embracing the chaos.
In an Instagram post just after her album release, Charli explained the record to be about “me, my flaws, my f*** ups, my ego, all rolled into one.”
She later explained the brat summer trend in a TikTok, stating, “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
She later added, “It can go that way, like, quite luxury, but it can also be so, like, trashy. Just, like, a pack of cigs, and, like, a Bic lighter, and, like, a strappy white top. With no bra. That’s, like, kind of all you need.”
Essentially, brat summer is a new take on previous TikTok trends such as ‘feral girl summer’ and ‘rat summer’ – having fun, scurrying about, but this time with an added dose of existential millennial dread… which her fans have found deeply relatable.
The rise of Roan
Like Charli, Roan (real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz) has been in the business for a long time.
Beginning her career in 2015, Roan was signed to Atlantic records after uploading an original song to YouTube the previous year.
However, despite some success, the label dropped her in 2020 as she was ‘not profitable’ enough for them to continue their partnership – and Roan briefly moved back home to Missouri to work on her music independently, while also working in a drive-through.
Despite releasing her debut full-length album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, on September 22 last year, it wasn’t until April that Roan really began reaping the rewards of her talent.
After dropping her song Good Luck, Babe!, Roan’s monthly Spotify listeners increased by 500% – and fans can’t get enough of the star.
Drawing a crowd of more than 40,000 at the Boston Calling Music Festival and one of the biggest crowds at the Governors Ball Music Festival, the Bonnaroo Music Festival announced they were moving Roan’s set from a small tent to a larger stage to cope with the demand.
A mutually beneficial relationship
So… how does Kamala Harris come into all this?
Soon after Biden stepped down, Harris’s team quickly adopted Charli’s brat branding – using the same sickly-green backdrop on their Instagram page to announce her presidential campaign. They also changed the header photo on their Twitter/X page to match.
And despite the none-PG, controversial lyrics to Charli’s songs, Kamala HQ has even used the tracks 360 and 365 Party Girl in social media posts.
All of this has seen Charli’s popularity in the US grow exponentially.
Although she rocketed into the American music scene in 2014 after being featured on Iggy Azalea’s single Fancy, and later that year with her song Boom-Clap, Charli’s more recent tracks hadn’t been making an impact – until Brat.
“Charli XCX hasn’t had a song get higher than #76 on the American charts in ten years, and she’s legitimately having an effect on this election,” wrote one Twitter/X user. “I honestly don’t think Taylor Swift could do the same.”
Another added, “Can’t believe Charli XCX is successfully doing foreign intervention in a US election as an album marketing tactic.”
Billboard reports that thanks in part to the campaign’s co-sign, Brat is up 14% in official on-demand U.S. streams.
Likewise, Roan has seen an even further increase in popularity since Kamala HQ took an interest – seeing a 19% spike in streams of Femininonenon in the week following the team using it in the TikTok video.
But… why Charli XCX and Chappell Roan?
While Harris has also been platforming singers such as Beyonce (and why wouldn’t she!), let’s face it – it’s a little left-field to use tracks by an upcoming artist, and also a British singer in an US election.
But could the reason behind her choices be that Charli and Roan are everything that Trump supporters dislike?
Both are successful, female artists, who write about their experiences of being young women. Although Brat is being hailed by Gen Zers online, the album is actually written by a millennial woman for millennials: Charli is torn between her party girl lifestyle, and whether or not she should become a mother. The worries that all thirty-somethings feel are present within her tracks.
Meanwhile, as Trump and his fellow Republicans continue with their anti-drag campaigns, Roan regularly platforms Drag Queens at her shows, takes inspiration from drag makeup and costumes, and has even described her stage persona as ‘drag’.
Roan also identifies as a lesbian, and writes unashamedly about her same-sex relationships; and while Charli is heterosexual, she has a huge following from the queer community who resonate with her songs.
By including the two artists within her campaign, Kamala HQ is cleverly seeking to gain new voters – be they from underrepresented communities or just younger voters – while alienating Republicans. She is making it clear that her policies do not and will not ever be the same as Trump’s.
