NEW YORK — The first video of Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign features a familiar rhythm. The clip, which touches on topics like gun violence, health care and abortion, is backed by Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” a cut from her landmark 2016 album “Lemonade.”
“We choose freedom,” Harris says in the clip, as Beyoncé’s powerful chorus begins: “Freedom! Freedom! I can’t move / Freedom, let me go! Yes.”
It has become a campaign song for Harris. She used “Freedom” during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware on Monday, and again on Tuesday at the beginning and end of her rally in Milwaukee.
As a whole, “Lemonade” is being celebrated as an instant classic, a groundbreaking collection of songs and images that function as an examination of personal situation and social injustice, juxtaposing revenge songs about infidelity alongside displays of support for Black Lives Matter.
Omise’eke Tinsley, academic and author of “Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism,” says Beyoncé, in particular, has performed “Freedom” in ways that have made it clear that it is a political song. “She played it at Coachella; it transitioned into ‘Lift Every Voice,’ the Black national anthem,” she says. It was used by activists ahead of the 2016 presidential election, and ‘in 2020 it was again adopted by activists. kill…It’s a song of hope.
Beyoncé gave Harris permission to use the song on Tuesday, a campaign official confirmed to The Associated Press, who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign activities.
The Biden-Harris creative team wrote the script for Harris’ video on Tuesday, based on her speech at campaign headquarters on Monday. Harris recorded the voiceover Wednesday afternoon while on the road in Indianapolis.
Kinitra D. Brooks, an academic and author of “The Lemonade Reader,” says that much of Beyoncé’s album “focuses on the partner’s infidelity, but it’s really about her learning to love herself and comes straight and is then able to deal with himself. with other consequences of coming into her own.”
“’Freedom’ is so important because it shows that freedom is not free. The freedom to be yourself, the political freedom… it’s the idea that you have to fight for freedom, and that it can be won,” she adds, referring to some lyrics in the chorus: “I break chains completely alone / Won’t let my freedom rot in hell / Hey! I keep running / Because a winner doesn’t give up on himself.
In the second half of “Lemonade,” “Freedom” samples two John and Alan Lomax field recordings, which document Jim Crow-era folk spirituals from Southern black churches and the work songs of black prisoners from 1959 and 1948, respectively.
Brooks calls it a kind of “legacy.” “It’s imperative that Beyoncé, you know, uses the cadence and the rhythm and the foundation of spirituals and things like that in a song called ‘Freedom,’” she says, because it is. part of a larger tradition of black Americans creating new ideas and concepts around freedom.
“Freedom” also stars Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar, the LA rapper at the top of his game who recently released the No. 1 hit “Not Like Us” amid his feud with Drake. Brooks says, “Lamar has that momentum, winning momentum.”
“These are winners that Kamala is calling,” Tinsley agrees. “How does Kamala use music and prominent musical voices to inspire people to take a black woman seriously? I think Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar are both voices that make that message clear.”
“Harris is taking their energy and channeling it into her own campaign,” Brooks added. “Think about the population she wants: she wants young people.”
Eric T. Kasper, academic and co-author of “Don’t Stop Thinking About the Music: The Politics of Songs and Musicians in Presidential Campaigns,” says there is a long history of presidential campaign songs with a title or hook about freedom or freedom. freedom: In 1800 John Adams used the song ‘Adams and Liberty’ and Thomas Jefferson used ‘The Son of Liberty’. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln used “Lincoln and Liberty.” As recently as 2012, Mitt Romney used Kid Rock’s “Born Free.”
“Using a song with that kind of title, or a hook with lyrics referencing liberty or freedom, often attempts to portray the candidate as a supporter of voters’ personal autonomy and security against government overreach,” says he.
“Democrats across the board say freedom is at stake,” Tinsley says, “and this literally turns that into a refrain. (She) associates her campaign with a literal cry for freedom and a reminder that that is what is at stake.”
Kasper says there is an advantage to campaign songs where “the musical artist is popular because the candidate can use the song to connect his campaign to a popular celebrity,” and “if the artist endorses the candidate because that can lead to a type of celebrity endorsement.”
Luminate, a data and analytics company, found that on-demand streams of “Freedom” in the US increased 1,300% from Sunday to Tuesday after Harris used the song at her campaign events.
In 2013, Beyoncé sang the national anthem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Three years later, she and her husband Jay-Z performed at a pre-election concert for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland.
“Look how far we’ve come from having no voice to standing on the edge of history – again,” Beyoncé said at the time. “But we have to vote.”
“If we remember, at the end of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, they were still trying to get certain populations out. They brought Beyoncé out at the last minute,” Brooks said. Harris differs because she uses Beyoncé early on, appealing to “the many demographics that are Beyoncé fans, who are people the Harris campaign needs: people of color, queer people, young people, etc.”
Last year, Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour in Maryland after receiving tickets from Queen B herself. “Thanks for a fun date night, @Beyonce,” Harris wrote on Instagram.
Since President Joe Biden on Sunday withdrew from the 2024 race for the White House, quickly backing Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Trump and encouraging his party to unite behind her, the world of pop music has seen the VP similarly embraced.
Support poured in from Janelle Monáe, John Legend, Katy Perry and Charli XCX, whose album “brat” inspired the internet trend of “brat summer” and many Harris memes. (As a result, Harris’ campaign quickly changed the Jepsen and more.
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
