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Commentary
Gen Z voters need Kamala Harris to be more than ‘brat’
In one week’s time, “brat summer” reached an all-time peak — and a subsequently swift end —in our cultural zeitgeist. When Vice President Kamala Harris declared her candidacy for president of the United States, singer Charli XCX tweeted a now-viral post that “Kamala is brat.” Her words elicited a social media frenzy: the "Brat" album cover’s chartreuse green overlaid on videos of Harris’s now-famous coconut tree speech, her dancing and laughing synchronized with Charli XCX’s songs; CNN announcers breaking down the meaning of “brat;” comedians like Stephen Colbert doing the viral TikTok dance to the song “Apple.” Even Harris’s official X campaign account changed their background to “kamala hq” in the style of the album cover.
Then, on Thursday, July 25th, Charli XCX posted on Instagram: “brat summer and it’s the same but it’s dead so it’s not”; “brat and it’s the same but people are ruining it so it’s not”; and finally, “brat summer is over.” In other words, once your parents and grandparents start asking you to explain what they read on NPR, “brat” doesn’t have that same je ne sais quoi anymore.
But what does all of this mean? First, let’s contextualize the concept of “brat.” Since Charli XCX released her album, “Brat,” in June, brat summer saturated social media. Celebrities posted sultry photos at her concerts, quoting, “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia.” Memes like “This Modern American Girl Doll is having a brat summer” popped up, with a doll surrounded by french fries, iced coffee, the pride flag, Plan B and press on nails.
What even is a “brat”? Charli XCX herself defined brat as “a girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes.” She’s confident but vulnerable, and she’s blunt about her feelings. In my opinion, brat-ness has become a rejuvenating lens for younger generations to re-envision what girlhood and womanhood can be. Unlike tired tropes like the "girl next door," where a woman needs to be both sexually desired by men and also a woman’s best friend, a brat doesn’t care to serve you. She can make mistakes. She can be vocal. She can be sexy for her own sheer delight. She can also be emotional. And through it all, she’s reflecting on her experiences as a woman navigating the world.
Is Kamala Harris brat? And does it matter? To be fair, Harris likely becoming the first Black and South Asian American woman to be the Democratic nominee for president is history making, and, in itself, an iconic brat move. Her coconut tree speech is even being compared to Charli XCX’s song, “Apple.” Harris shares her mother’s outlook on “exist[ing] in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” Similarly, Charli XCX sings about her complicated relationship with her family, opening with the lyrics, “I guess the apple don’t fall far from the tree/ ‘Cause I’ve been looking at you so long/ Now I only see me.”
An American politician being portrayed as more relatable to younger voters is helpful for her campaign, sure. However, instead of Harris’s campaign spending its energy trying to connect with young people via social media trends, I believe young voters would prefer to witness a presidential candidate fighting for the issues we are most passionate about at this moment.
Many young voters are looking to Harris to be more vocal about what the U.N. has recognized as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, including calling for her to mobilize an immediate and permanent ceasefire. This isn’t recent news. Young people have been advocating for a free Palestine for the past nine months (and long before October 2023) through boycotts, protests, petitions, encampments on college campuses and GoFundMe pages. To be clear, it’s not just young people who are advocating for Biden and Harris to take action. However, statistically, a much smaller percentage of adults under 30 favor the U.S. providing military aid to Israel compared to adults aged 65 and older.
If Harris’s campaign wants to relate to Gen Z and Millennial voters, it will take more than connecting to our taste in music and pop culture trends.
It also isn’t lost on me that in the same month a Black and South Asian American woman became the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Sonya Massey, a Black woman, was killed in her own home at the hands of police when calling for help. While Harris has been advocating for pressing issues such as reproductive rights and gun reform, she has not spoken as much about racial justice and law reform on police violence, issues that young people are especially passionate about. In the past week, Harris released a statement on Sonya Massey, advocating for passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. It’s upsetting that only in the wake of another very public and traumatizing murder, there is a re-surfacing of mainstream public discourse around racial justice and police violence.
In the media, young voters are often infantilized in a way that divides us all. If Harris’ campaign wants to relate to Gen Z and Millennial voters, it will take more than connecting to our taste in music and pop culture trends. She will need to listen to us seriously as ambassadors for her campaign. Young voters want to feel valued and hopeful about our futures, as well as the futures of our families, our country and our planet.
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It will take all of us, not just Gen Z, to fight for the future of our American democracy. That’s not a new or groundbreaking revelation. On the first evening of Harris’s campaign, 44,000 Black women gathered with the organization, Win with Black Women, and raised over $1.5 million in three hours. This incredible initiative showed how much more powerful we are as a collective, and how enthusiasm must be translated into action.
When Charli XCX sings, “I think about it all the time/ That I might run out of time,” she’s referring to the concept of motherhood and the impact it would have on her career. However, I take it as a larger sentiment of how fleeting our lives are.
If embracing the brat aesthetic, even for a week, has any impact on Harris’ support and nomination win, that’s great. But what I’ll be looking for in the days leading up to the election are the policies and promises of a leader, someone who will make this country a better place for future generations who haven’t been born yet. Both Kamala Harris and Charli XCX deftly identify that we all exist within a larger context, and power rests with us as individuals. If that’s not brat behavior, I don’t know what is.
