On Monday, President Biden’s former campaign profile on the social network X became the home of a new neon green banner that read “Kamala HQ.” Not only did it officially launch Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, it also signaled that the campaign has fully embraced her as an icon of Gen Z’s “girly summer.”
The phrase refers to British pop star Charli XCX’s June album, “BRAT,” which evokes a summer of bold fun, partying and the so-called messy parts of being a woman, like complicated female relationships and jealousy. TikTok users first latched onto Harris before her campaign launched by making montages of her dancing and laughing, but those videos exploded when news of the Biden gives up and approving Harris’s spread.
Harris’ campaign chose a neon green banner for her campaign, a nod to the trend, mimicking the album’s cover art. Viral TikTok montages are often neon green, combining a popular song from the album with the wildly popular and widely meme-edited “coconut tree” clip. The quote comes from a speech where she shares what her mother told her:
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” Harris said, quoting his mother. “You exist in the context of everything around you and what came before you.”
By combining two seemingly unrelated topics, the internet has generated some hilarious and goofy videos of Harris. One of the most popular examples has racked up over 2 million views and over 500,000 likes. The hashtag #kamalaharris is also trending on TikTok, with over 101 million views and 9,000 posts in the last 7 days.
Charli XCX has said that being a “kid” means being “just that girl who’s a little messy and likes to party and maybe says stupid things sometimes,” but she herself gave to Harris this title on Sunday, saying: “Kamala IS a kid.”
Similar viral posts have also used songs like pop artist Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon” alongside other Harris quotes, boosting Harris’s profile among Gen Z and active social media users. This phenomenon is a departure from the administration’s low approval ratings and Harris’ failure to secure the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
A social media post from the Gen Z organization Dream for America said: “Gen Z wants a kid president.”
Harris’ embrace of this viral trend extends beyond her campaign to other members of the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association is selling “demo(brat)” merchandise and says, “The 365 party girls will head to the polls in their demo(b)rat t-shirts to elect Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot in November.”
The Harris-centric trend also gives Democrats hope after concerns about President Biden’s age and the Republican Party’s momentum since the Republican National Convention and the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
