Kamala Harris is Brat: How Charli XCX is helping the Vice President take her campaign to Gen Z

It started with a viral tweet. Or whatever those things are called now that Twitter is no longer Twitter. An X-clamation, perhaps? “Kamala IS brat” British singer Charli XCX posted to her 3.6 million X followers. Just hours earlier, US President Joe Biden finally bowed to mounting pressure and withdrew as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris as his preferred successor. It was a stroke of genius for the pop star (real name Charlotte Aitchison) whose promotion of her sixth album Brat, released in June, has been a faultless masterclass in modern-day marketing. To be fair, Ms Harris’ supporters were already teaming the pair in viral videos and memes mashing Aitchison’s Brat aesthetic and songs with clips of Ms Harris laughing, dancing and uttering some of her more memorable quotes, including “I like Venn diagrams” and “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” But Aitchison seized the chance to not only earn herself some priceless global publicity, but also to throw her support behind Harris. And in so doing, she brought some of her Brat energy and momentum to an election campaign that previously felt as stale and staid as the geriatrics running the show. Ms Harris, or at least a social media-savvy member of her team, could also sense an opportunity to appeal to the chronically online generations — millennials and Gen Z — plus the LGBTQIA+ community, who all felt disenfranchised and disenchanted by the campaign to that point. By harnessing the power of pop, Ms Harris had a rare chance to truly excite younger voters who finally felt like someone was speaking their language. It’s precisely the demographic the Democrats will be relying on to get out and vote en masse, with latest polls suggesting Ms Harris is closing the gap on Republican nominee Donald Trump but still narrowly trailing in what is sure to be a tight race. Ms Harris quickly retweeted Aitchison’s tweet, thereby declaring herself happy to be Brat, and started following the singer on socials. Then Kamala HQ’s website banner was redesigned in Brat’s distinct lime green (officially known as chartreuse) and signature black lower case typeface, which Aitchison made freely available through the “Brat Generator” for the express purpose that people use it to create memes and viral videos with her distinct branding. Within hours there were thousands more videos racking up millions of likes linking the pop star from Essex, whose mother emigrated to the UK from India, and the Presidential hopeful, who is the daughter of an Indian migrant and a father of Afro-Jamaican ancestry. A group of gay men popped up on social media almost immediately sporting Brat-styled “Kamala” crop tops on LGBTQIA+ US holy ground, Fire Island. While Aitchison made no bones of the fact she wanted Brat — with its bold batch of club anthems and electro pop hits, to become a viral sensation — even she couldn’t have predicted just how much the album would capture the cultural zeitgeist of what has been widely rebranded as (the northern hemisphere’s) Brat summer. The album enjoyed Aitchison’s biggest sales to date and highest charting position in the US (No.3 on the Billboard 200) and has been bolstered by packed club nights Aitchison hosted around the globe in London, New York, San Paolo and Ibiza. Brat track Apple became the second-biggest song on TikTok thanks to a viral dance craze that has been replicated by a host of up-and-coming Hollywood stars like Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell and online It Girls including model Gabriette Bechtel and actor Julia Fox, both of whom got name-checked on Brat track 360. Twin Peaks legend Kyle MacLachlan outed himself as a major Brat by posting a video of himself singing along to the remixed version of Girl, So Confusing featuring additional vocals by Kiwi popstar Lorde before turning up in Ibiza and meeting Aitchison in person. And even Stephen Colbert got in on the act, doing the Apple dance on his US talk show to the cheers of his audience of, presumably, mostly Democrats. Not only was Brat a commercial success and cultural phenomenon, it was also a critical smash and is currently Metacritic’s highest-rating album of the year, with an aggregate score of 95 out of 100. This week Brat also earned a coveted Mercury Prize nomination. While Ms Harris knew exactly what she was doing by jumping on the Brat bandwagon, news anchors and political commentators at major US news networks MSNBC, CNN and Fox were left scratching their heads and scrambling to work out what on earth it meant to be Brat. Was it a good thing? they pondered. Why was Ms Harris OK with being called Brat and happy that viral videos showed her laughing like a hyena and talking about coconut trees, all while dripping in a colour that looked like she’d had a run-in with Slimer from Ghostbusters. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Jamie Gangel tried to come to terms with it, with Tapper told he couldn’t just be Brat, he had to aspire to be Brat. On Fox News Greg Gutfeld, Jessica Tarlov and Brian Kilmeade shared an abbreviated exchange which quickly became a four-square meme on the very platforms that helped Brat become a sensation. Gutfeld: “Do you really want Brats to run this country?” Tarlov: “You don’t understand the essence of Brat summer.” Kilmeade: “How does this help her?” Tarlov: “You’re not the target demo.” The confusion rallied the internet even more, with creators quickly making more memes of bewildered Boomers struggling to keep up with the wave of lime-green energy that had suddenly infiltrated the blue and red divide — bringing with it strange new terms but also generating some positivity in election coverage that had hitherto been steeped in doom and negativity. Cultural commentators were quickly secured to appear on television shows explaining that to be Brat was a positive thing. They explained it was a brand of modern feminism, also widely embraced by the queer community, and was all about forging your own path, accepting your mistakes and vulnerabilities, and owning it all. To be Brat is to be complicated and smart and sassy and fearless. Brat rejects the idea of perfection and declares that being comfortable in your own skin is sexy. Or, as Aitchison put it, Brat is “the girl who feels like herself but also has a breakdown. But kind of like parties through it. The girl who is very honest, very blunt, and a little bit volatile”. While Ms Harris may not be about to light up a cigarette and join Charli XCX on a sticky dancefloor any time soon, their mutual desire to spark excitement, capture the moment, and sink their teeth into an opportunity has united them in a brazen, bold and mutually beneficial pop culture collaboration. While globalisation, technology and social media get a bad rap, this intersection of music, pop culture, politics and internet fandoms has enabled people to get involved in something that is happening in the real world, right now. It has given previously disenfranchised voters the chance to be more than just bored spectators and actually engage in meaningful political debate. At the very least it’s enlivened the election coverage, invigorated internet communities, sparked some joy, and made the Brat summer even more memorable. But viral moments come and go, and for Ms Harris the challenge will be to hang on to the energy and enthusiasm, to fuel it with policy and promises and to prove the one-time badass prosecutor has what it takes to bring down the convicted felon and prevent Mr Trump becoming president once more. And if she succeeds, perhaps she can celebrate by illuminating the White House in brilliant Brat green and inviting Charli XCX over to party. Australian political figures and their Brat status Brat Fatima Payman A politician with conviction and the balls to back herself, so Brat. Julia Gillard That misogyny speech gives her GOAT Brat status. Bob Hawke The larrikin PM was Brat through and through. Alannah MacTiernan Admit it, we all admired her zero f**ks given vibes. Very Brat. David Templeman WA’s show pony pollie who Mark McGowan once called the “Alby Mangels” of WA politics. That’s definitely a bit Brat. Jacquie Lambie The renegade Tasmanian Senator knows where it’s Brat. Were Brat but lost it Kevin Rudd and Joe Hockey As Sunrise’s sparring duo they were delightfully Brat. Separately, they lost it. Could be more Brat Libby Mettam Libby’s got nothing to lose and everything to gain by going Brat. Rita Saffioti Has Brat potential but needs to lean into it more. Should be less Brat Barnaby Joyce It’s a fine line when it comes to being Brat. BJ is too out-there. Bob Katter Brat gone wrong. Couldn’t be Brat if they tried Anthony Albanese Brat is never boring and bland. Peter Dutton The antithesis of Brat, let’s call it Drab.