Before President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, users on X and TikTok had already started campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris with a meme-forward strategy.
Among the most popular memes was a “fancam” — a style of video that compiles short clips of a celebrity and usually featuring a trending song — of Harris delivering her now-viral “coconut tree” speech and dancing with Charli xcx’s “Von dutch” playing.
The video, originally posted July 3, has amassed over 3.6 million views on X. One user posted the video with the caption “I’m not kidding, she should run this as an ad if she becomes the nominee.”
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Another viral fancam posted to TikTok on July 5 shows Harris laughing and dancing while “360” by Charli xcx plays. The video shows the words “I’m so Kamala” every time Charli xcx sings “I’m so Julia.” The original caption: “brat presidency.”
The featured songs are the two lead singles from “BRAT,” the latest and hugely popular album by Charli xcx. The singer, like Harris, is of Indian heritage on her mother’s side. Social media users, brands, influencers and even news publications have adopted the album’s signature lime green cover and simple typography into their logos or as filters over their photos.
Until Sunday, there was no indication the vice president had been aware of the meme.
But shortly after Biden announced his endorsement of Harris for president, Charli xcx posted to X: “kamala IS brat.” Then, the official X account for Biden’s campaign was rebranded to campaign for Harris and the profile header changed to a Brat-green image that reads “kamala hq.”
The subtle acknowledgment of the videos that have turned meme-forward millennials and gen-z social media users into Harris supporters sent the internet into a frenzy and further circulated the fancams.
Elections aren’t won on memes, and Trump backers have their own set of internet content creators — but, along with Harris’ initial eye-popping fundraising numbers, the “Brat” meme is a sign of energy that Democrats had been missing, especially in the weeks after Biden’s faltering debate performance.
