CNN
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Hear that? That’s the sound of a wave of younger pop artists powering Vice President Kamala Harris on TikTok.
A video shared this week by the Harris marketing campaign on the platform, set to pop star Chappell Roan’s track “Femininomenon” from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” paints her in stark distinction to former President Donald Trump. It has already garnered greater than 35 million views.
“However what we actually want is a femininomenon,” the refrain of Roan’s track performs over rotating images of Harris and Trump. “A what?” her voice screams. “A femininomenon!”
The track “Femininomenon” — a phrase made up by Roan that mixes “female” and “phenomenon” — rapidly secured the eye of the TikTok era, lots of whom are potential voters.
Whereas Roan has not but endorsed a candidate within the race for the White Home, galvanizing her followers by her music might repay for the Harris marketing campaign. (Roan’s consultant didn’t instantly reply to CNN’s request for remark).
The singer informed a crowd of hundreds final month at New York’s Governors Ball Music competition, the place she carried out whereas dressed because the Statue of Liberty, that she’d declined an invite to carry out on the White Home’s LGBTQ+ Delight Celebration — however that was President Joe Biden’s White Home.
Now, with Harris because the presumptive Democratic nominee, celebrities who had been reluctant to publicly endorse Biden have been popping out in full force to support Harris. And no class of superstar shall be extra necessary to her marketing campaign than the superstars who can rally younger Individuals to get out and vote.
As the character of superstar affect adjustments on the earth of social media, conventional A-listers now not transfer the needle with a bunch of voters who matter nice on this election: the primary timers. In different phrases, Charli XCX might be extra influential within the 2024 election than George Clooney or Barbra Streisand (each of whom have additionally endorsed Harris).
“Each campaigns struggled to get to Gen Z as a result of each of the candidates had been older than their grandparents,” a Democratic strategist who’s working with A-list celebrities this election cycle informed CNN of the race that was between Biden and Trump.
“Kamala has a extremely good likelihood to interrupt by with Gen Z,” the Hollywood strategist added. “She’s nearer to their dad and mom’ age, which is extra relatable.”
Harris’ marketing campaign has already gotten early help from younger, vastly influential pop stars together with Ariana Grande, who is without doubt one of the most adopted individuals on the planet with 378 million Instagram followers; Demi Lovato, who has 155 million Instagram followers; Kesha and Charli XCX — who gave Harris extra consideration than any marketing campaign might ever dream of along with her now-infamous “Kamala IS brat” submit, which was rapidly embraced by the vp’s staff throughout their social media platforms.
Harris isn’t the one presidential hopeful who’s using TikTok as a key campaigning technique. Whereas Harris’ TikTok web page has 1.1 million followers, Trump, who joined TikTok in June, garnered 3 million followers in his first day on the social media platform. He now boasts 9.1 million followers. (Nonetheless, with considerably much less followers, Harris, who has 15.8 million likes on her HQ’s TikTok web page, has increased engagement than Trump, who has 22.2 million likes together with his a lot bigger following.)
Right here’s a take a look at three pop stars who might provoke Gen Z into motion this election:
Charli XCX
Charli XCX was already being talked about because the “it woman” of the summer time, due to her sixth studio album titled “brat,” which impressed a new color name and a fashion trend.
The 31-year-old British singer has defined the aesthetic, partially, as visualizing a “pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white high with no bra.”
“You’re identical to that woman who’s a little bit messy and likes to get together and possibly says some dumb issues generally,” she defined in a video shared on TikTok. “Who seems like herself however possibly additionally has a breakdown. However type of like events by it, may be very sincere, very blunt. A bit bit risky. Like, does dumb issues. However it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
By declaring Harris “brat” she not solely gave the marketing campaign a extremely seen enhance amongst Gen Z, but in addition gave the marketing campaign a possibility to point out they valued the excellence.
These visiting the official Kamala HQ account on X, which hyperlinks to her official website, are met with a background picture within the “brat” inexperienced coloration and the vp’s identify in the identical font as sported on Charli XCX’s album.
And Charli XCX just isn’t the one pop star to get in on the sport.
Olivia Rodrigo
Singer and songwriter Olivia Rodrigo appeared to endorse Harris on social media on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Grammy-winning artist behind hits like “Drivers License” and “Deja Vu,” shared a video on Instagram of Harris giving her first rally speech as a part of her presidential election marketing campaign on Tuesday in West Allis, Wisconsin.
Rodrigo positioned emojis of praising palms on the video of Harris vowing to guard reproductive rights.
“Donald Trump’s excessive abortion bans as a result of we belief girls to make choices about their very own physique and never have their authorities inform them what to do,” Harris says within the video. “And when Congress passes a legislation to revive reproductive freedoms as president of america, I’ll signal it into legislation.”
Rodrigo made free emergency contraception obtainable at a few of her live shows throughout her “Guts” tour as a part of her ongoing Fund 4 Good initiative, which is a “world initiative dedicated to constructing an equitable and simply future for all girls, women and other people in search of reproductive well being freedom,” in line with the inspiration’s website.
This isn’t the primary time Rodrigo has spoken out about causes with poltical leaders. In July 2021, the singer visited the White House throughout the pandemic to fulfill with Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci to encourage younger Individuals to get vaccinated. At that go to, she posted for images with Harris, and acknowledged that she was proud to help the administration’s vaccination initiative through the use of her huge platform to succeed in her younger followers.
Seems, Rodrigo’s affect on younger voters might show to be pivotal as soon as once more.
Chappell Roan
The Harris marketing campaign’s video that includes Roan’s music is likely to be the primary some voters are listening to of the artist however not if they’re Gen Z.
The singer, 26, who signed her first document deal as a teen, has grow to be a phenomenon this summer time.
Roan, whose music has an ‘80s synth-pop sound with clean vocals, had seen her reputation rise so rapidly that festivals have needed to modify for her growing concert crowds.
Her 2023 debut studio album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” which is a nod to her Willard, Missouri roots, at present sits within the No. 5 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She has additionally had three songs on the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart, in line with the music charting website, together with “Crimson Wine Supernova,” “Sizzling To Go!” and her newest single, “Good Luck Babe!”
Roan, who identifies as queer and has stated she attracts inspiration from drag queens, has been in comparison with Madonna, partially, for her sex-positive lyrics.
“My songs are so overtly sexual on objective as a result of it’s an expression of me that I wasn’t capable of specific rising up in a Christian family, in a Christian city that was very conservative,” Roan informed Vulture.”
When she carried out at Governors Ball this previous June and turned down the White Home’s request to carry out for Delight, she defined, “We wish liberty, justice and freedom for all. Once you try this, that’s once I’ll come.”
Time will inform if Roan will come now for Harris.
CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom and DJ Judd contributed to this story.