By: Lily Han
Only hours after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris fans online started supporting Kamala Harris by remixing pop songs using her laugh and speeches and posting them across multiple social media platforms. The most commonly used fragment is from a speech on the White House initiative for advancing educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunities for Hispanic people in May, 2023. During the speech, Ms. Harris recalled a line her mother once told her, “She would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” After laughing, the vice president continued: “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” As a result of this quip, the coconut and palm tree emojis and the laughter after the coconut tree comments have become a symbol of Harris’s campaign.
In her first campaign ad, Kamala Harris uses Beyoncé’s “Freedom”, from her 2016 album, “Lemonade”. According to CNN, Beyoncé quickly gave permission to Harris on Monday for her to use the tune as her walk out song. The superstar’s mother, Tina Knowles, posted a photo with Harris on Instagram with captions remarking, “New, Youthful, Sharp , , energy !!!! …” Although Beyoncé has not endorsed Kamala Harris yet, it is highly expected because she encouraged her fans to go out and vote for Biden and Harris in the 2020 election.
On Sunday, July 21st, in reference to her new chart topping album, Charli XCX declared “Kamala IS brat” on X. In order to be a “brat”, someone must fully “embrace your messiness and vulnerability – being your own authentic self.” The tweet immediately went viral and now memes are flying around the internet describing Kamala as a “brat”. It was so popular that Harris’s official account background was briefly changed to green as a response to the pop stars post..
Other musicians have also shown support for Kamala Harris. Singer Kesha remixed two clips using her song “Blow” on tiktok, starting with Kamala’s “coconut tree” quotation and then waiting a beat to dance after the laugh. On her Instagram story, Katy Perry posted a sequence of videos of the “coconut” quotation and bits of Harris’s laughter while Perry’s new single “Women’s World” plays in the background. It goes, “It’s a woman’s world, and you’re lucky to be living in it”. Both Jannelle Monáe and John Legend have also sent their support to Kamala Harris through Instagram.
In this digital world, social media has become a powerful tool to reach voters, especially those of the younger generation, in more efficient ways. Kamala Harris, a woman of age 59 with a large, diverse family, has been able to engage with the younger generation of fans online, something Biden or Trump has not yet achieved. The Washington post conjectured one reason could be Country music is popular among Republicans, while pop is of higher approval within Democratic circles. Donald Trump might dance to YMCA at his rallies, but Kamala Harris has been able to gather more young supporter with her appeal to pop music.