Simply when it seemed like Kamala Harris’ first in-person assembly and presidential debate with Donald Trump couldn’t have gone higher, later that night she nailed a marketing campaign endorsement from Taylor Swift.
Positive, the backing of former Republican vp “dead-eye” Dick Cheney or Trump’s former White Home communications director (for all of 10 days) Anthony Scaramucci, would possibly carry just a few undecided voters in battleground states into the Harris camp, however it should pale compared to the groundswell of help that could possibly be mobilised by a military of Swifties.
Childless cat woman Taylor Swift, probably the most in style singer-songwriters on the earth, has polling numbers that may make any modern politician envious: greater than half of all Individuals – 53 per cent – establish as Taylor followers, with at the least 16 per cent of those figuring out as “avid” followers.
Swift is the most recent in a protracted line of American tradition makers who’re throwing their weight behind Harris. Whereas it’s simple for Trump to dismiss these of us as “cultural elites”, it’s not simply their mixed affect he has to concern: it’s the soundtrack they supply to Harris’ imaginative and prescient of America that’s so starkly counterposed to Trump’s.
Whereas Beyoncé has not (but) endorsed Harris, she authorised her music Freedom to be used because the walk-on music at Harris’ rallies, together with because the needle drop when Harris accepted her nomination. In so doing, Harris stepped into the rarefied area on the nationwide stage that Beyoncé and different black and brown feminine artists have carved out that’s directly proud, highly effective, unapologetic and broadly compelling.
Freedom is a complete banger; you may jive with it even in case you don’t clue into its subtext. The music is basically a gospel name for preventing racism and oppression by means of exhausting work, collective effort and perseverance. It fantastically ties Harriet Tubman’s plucky heroism to the American beliefs of stick-to-itiveness, ingenuity and self-sufficiency.
When Beyoncé carried out Freedom at [California’s major music festival] Coachella as the primary black feminine artist to headline that occasion in 2018, she transitioned it into Elevate Each Voice And Sing, the African-American anthem made in style throughout the civil rights motion, of which Harris’ dad and mom have been energetic individuals.
Beyoncé has all the time been a definer of the cultural zeitgeist doing what savvy artists do finest: reflecting who we’re, expressing our deepest needs and anxieties, and exhibiting us who we wish to be. And he or she does all of it in glamorous outfits with unforgettable earworms that make everybody wish to groove.