Kenz
Member
Moloshok/Reuters
CNN —
Hear that? That’s the sound of a wave of young pop artists powering Vice President Kamala Harris on TikTok.
A video shared this week by the Harris campaign on the platform, set to pop star Chappell Roan’s song “Femininomenon” from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” paints her in stark contrast to former President Donald Trump. It has already garnered more than 35 million views.
“But what we really need is a femininomenon,” the chorus of Roan’s song plays over rotating photos of Harris and Trump. “A what?” her voice screams. “A femininomenon!”
The song “Femininomenon” — a word made up by Roan that combines “feminine” and “phenomenon” — quickly secured the attention of the TikTok generation, many of whom are potential voters.
While Roan has not yet endorsed a candidate in the race for the White House, galvanizing her fans through her music may pay off for the Harris campaign. (Roan’s representative did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment).
The singer told a crowd of thousands last month at New York’s Governors Ball Music festival, where she performed while dressed as the Statue of Liberty, that she’d declined an invitation to perform at the White House’s LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration — but that was President Joe Biden’s White House.
Now, with Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, celebrities who were reluctant to publicly endorse Biden have been coming out in full force to support Harris. And no class of celebrity will be more important to her campaign than the superstars who can rally young Americans to get out and vote.
As the nature of celebrity influence changes in the world of social media, traditional A-listers no longer move the needle with a group of voters who matter great in this election: the first timers. In other words, Charli XCX could be more influential in the 2024 election than George Clooney or Barbra Streisand (both of whom have also endorsed Harris).
“Both campaigns struggled to get to Gen Z because both of the candidates were older than their grandparents,” a Democratic strategist who is working with A-list celebrities this election cycle told CNN of the race that was between Biden and Trump.
“Kamala has a really good chance to break through with Gen Z,” the Hollywood strategist added. “She’s closer to their parents’ age, which is more relatable.”
Harris’ campaign has already gotten early support from young, hugely influential pop stars including Ariana Grande, who is one of the most followed people on the planet with 378 million Instagram followers; Demi Lovato, who has 155 million Instagram followers; Kesha and Charli XCX — who gave Harris more attention than any campaign could ever dream of with her now-infamous “Kamala IS brat” post, which was quickly embraced by the vice president’s team across their social media platforms.
Harris isn’t the only presidential hopeful who is utilizing TikTok as a key campaigning strategy. While Harris’ TikTok 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. (However, with significantly less followers, Harris, who has 15.8 million likes on her HQ’s TikTok page, has higher engagement than Trump, who has 22.2 million likes with his much larger following.)
CNN —
Hear that? That’s the sound of a wave of young pop artists powering Vice President Kamala Harris on TikTok.
A video shared this week by the Harris campaign on the platform, set to pop star Chappell Roan’s song “Femininomenon” from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” paints her in stark contrast to former President Donald Trump. It has already garnered more than 35 million views.
“But what we really need is a femininomenon,” the chorus of Roan’s song plays over rotating photos of Harris and Trump. “A what?” her voice screams. “A femininomenon!”
The song “Femininomenon” — a word made up by Roan that combines “feminine” and “phenomenon” — quickly secured the attention of the TikTok generation, many of whom are potential voters.
While Roan has not yet endorsed a candidate in the race for the White House, galvanizing her fans through her music may pay off for the Harris campaign. (Roan’s representative did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment).
The singer told a crowd of thousands last month at New York’s Governors Ball Music festival, where she performed while dressed as the Statue of Liberty, that she’d declined an invitation to perform at the White House’s LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration — but that was President Joe Biden’s White House.
Now, with Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, celebrities who were reluctant to publicly endorse Biden have been coming out in full force to support Harris. And no class of celebrity will be more important to her campaign than the superstars who can rally young Americans to get out and vote.
As the nature of celebrity influence changes in the world of social media, traditional A-listers no longer move the needle with a group of voters who matter great in this election: the first timers. In other words, Charli XCX could be more influential in the 2024 election than George Clooney or Barbra Streisand (both of whom have also endorsed Harris).
“Both campaigns struggled to get to Gen Z because both of the candidates were older than their grandparents,” a Democratic strategist who is working with A-list celebrities this election cycle told CNN of the race that was between Biden and Trump.
“Kamala has a really good chance to break through with Gen Z,” the Hollywood strategist added. “She’s closer to their parents’ age, which is more relatable.”
Harris’ campaign has already gotten early support from young, hugely influential pop stars including Ariana Grande, who is one of the most followed people on the planet with 378 million Instagram followers; Demi Lovato, who has 155 million Instagram followers; Kesha and Charli XCX — who gave Harris more attention than any campaign could ever dream of with her now-infamous “Kamala IS brat” post, which was quickly embraced by the vice president’s team across their social media platforms.
Harris isn’t the only presidential hopeful who is utilizing TikTok as a key campaigning strategy. While Harris’ TikTok 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. (However, with significantly less followers, Harris, who has 15.8 million likes on her HQ’s TikTok page, has higher engagement than Trump, who has 22.2 million likes with his much larger following.)
