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Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have revamped her presidential campaign by embracing a social media trend popularized by Charli XCX's Brat album.
After Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 Presidential election race on July 21, he nominated Kamala Harris to be the next Democratic candidate. Shortly after, on July 22, the official Biden-Harris campaign account on X changed their display name to "Kamala HQ."
The account also updated their header with a lime-green aesthetic with "kamala hq" written in Arial font, much like Charli's Brat album cover. The original album cover is also a lime green square with the album title written in Arial font.
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Harris's rebranding of her campaign came after Charli XCX supposedly supported her online on Sunday, July 21. Taking to X, the singer wrote:
"kamala IS brat."
Pop culture aficionados have been popularizing Harris's edits with Charli's songs and aesthetics for a while now, and the memes began coming in bigger numbers after the singer endorsed Harris's nomination on social media.
Charli XCX explains the significance of the concept of "Brat"
Charli XCX released her sixth studio album, Brat, on June 7, 2024. As per Metacritic, the album is the highest-rated album of 2024 so far. The album artwork, designed by the NYC-based studio Special Offers, became a sensation online following its release.
Speaking on the Sidetracked podcast on BBC, Charli XCX spoke about the unique lime-green aesthetic of her album and what it represents for the album. The singer mentioned that "Brat" refers to someone with "a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra."
Pop culture aficionados widely believe the artwork was a rejection of the clean-girl aesthetic that supposedly represented a feminine ideal. Instead, the album's name represents more rebellious attitudes and a rejection of the stereotypical clean female prototype. Charli XCX explained the exact stereotype that fits her album's concept and wrote on social media:
"You're just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things some times who feels like 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. That's brat."
Charli's sixth studio album started the #bratsummer trend on social media, while the lime green aesthetic became viral online. People popularizing the Harris memes with Charli's songs supposedly believe that the singer endorsing Kamala Harris and claiming she is "brat" allegedly meant the singer felt the Vice President fits her album's stereotype.
The Democratic VP has been receiving much support online since she revamped her account to fit the aesthetics of Charli's latest album.
One of the most viral videos of the Brat-Harris trend came from online creator Ryan Long, a senior at the University of Delaware. The user shared an edit on X, featuring some clips of Kamala Harris with Charli's song Von Dutch in the backdrop on July 3.
Speaking to NBC News about Kamala Harris's campaign, Ryan Long said:
"People were pessimistic about Joe Biden, but there is so much enthusiasm right now over Kamala. I really hope that she can capitalize off of it and get a landslide win."
The Charli-Harris memes have been raging all over the internet, as the youth seems to have likened Kamala Harris to the stereotype described by Charli. Ryan Long believed Harris was a "walking content farm" and could utilize the hype to win the upcoming Presidential elections. He told NBC:
"It is one of the top albums in the world, and it's been going super big online. Kamala does such a good job at embodying what people call 'Brat summer.' The way she presents herself, she's happy, laughing, she'll dance. She is like a walking content farm."
Multiple popular quotes of the Vice President, including "I love Venn diagrams" or "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?" were edited with Charli's hit tracks from her summer album.
It remains to be seen whether this social media trend impacts the Presidential elections and whether Harris is officially made the next Democratic candidate.
