Kamala Harris is feeling “free,” thanks to an official nod from Beyoncé. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee entered her campaign headquarters Monday night to the uplifting anthem from Beyoncé’s 2016 album “Lemonade,” and CNN later reported that Harris had received the star’s express permission to use the song on the campaign trail just hours earlier.
CNN reports that a source close to Harris revealed that “just hours before she walked out to the song,” Beyoncé's camp offered Harris' team an agreement to blast “Freedom” not just Monday night but “throughout her presidential campaign.”
Beyoncé has yet to officially endorse the vice president for the highest office in the United States (though her mother, Tina Knowles, has already done so), but her official endorsement of the song would certainly be seen as tacit. It’s not surprising to imagine that an explicit endorsement of Harris’ candidacy from Beyoncé could come soon. The singer endorsed the Joe Biden/Harris ticket in 2000, sang in support of Hillary Clinton four years earlier, and performed at Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.
“Freedom,” which includes a cameo appearance by Kendrick Lamar, was never officially released as a single, and as an album track, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 35 in 2016. However, it remains the most enduring song from the acclaimed “Lemonade” album in some ways, as a socially conscious anthem that was revived with greater resonance in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
“Freedom” may be just one of many songs Harris will use on her campaign trail, though it’s hard to think of many songs that might be equally effective with a younger and middle-aged base.
In 2020, when the Biden/Harris team won the election that year, Harris took to the stage to the tune of Mary J. Blige's 2007 hit “Work That” to deliver her victory speech.
Harris and music were the subject of entwined discussion and memes all Monday. One of the most influential female singers of the moment, Charli XCX, seemed to endorse Harris when she posted the slogan “Kamala is a Brat” (a reference to the title of her current album), and Harris’ campaign embraced the slogan by reposting it, even adopting the green album color and font and continuing to post more Brat-themed memes.
While it wasn't news, music fans began re-circulating a video from 2023, in which Harris was captured leaving a record store and showing off her new purchases of classic vinyl albums by Charles Mingus, Roy Ayers, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
In addition to Charli XCX, other musicians who have posted about Harris or publicly thrown their weight behind her since she received Biden's endorsement for the Democratic nomination on Sunday include Ariana Grande, Barbra Streisand, John Legend, Katy Perry, Janelle Monáe, Carole King, Lizzo, Demi Lovato, Lil Nas X, Cardi B, Moby, Questlove and Kesha.
Democrats have had it easy in recent years to find support from many of the top performers of the day. But Republicans haven’t been entirely without their own artists willing to declare their support for former President Donald Trump. At last week’s Republican National Convention, Trump took the stage while Lee Greenwood sang the venerable “Proud to Be an American,” after sitting next to a shirtless Jason Aldean in the audience. Kid Rock also performed his old hit “American Bad Ass” at the convention, with modified lyrics that included new lines like, “It stinks in here because Trump is Shhhh“.”
Not every political candidate waits for approval to use a song in their campaign—or stops it when artists publicly object or even order it to stop. The long list of artists who have publicly objected to Trump’s use of their songs in the last three presidential campaign cycles includes the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Neil Young, R.E.M., and Adele. A rare example of this happening on the other side of the aisle was when Sam Moore objected to Obama’s use of the Sam and Dave classic “Soul Man” in 2008. As a Republican, Moore probably had no such objection when Trump used “Hold On, I’m Coming” as his song at the Republican convention last week.
