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Female pop stars dominated 2024 politics. Time for a new tactic?

​Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift
Neil Mockford, Jordan Vonderhaar, Andre Dias Nobre/Getty Images (all)

Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift

Some of the year’s most prominent Grammy nominees (and gay icons) were also major political voices in 2024. But can their voices create unwanted feedback?

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Call them the Brat PAC. The biggest women players in politics are no longer just politicians — they’re pop stars.

Cardi B. Billie Eilish. Katy Perry. A pop star’s role has evolved well past singing the National Anthem at inauguration celebrations. Many of our favorite gay icons were directly involved with the Kamala Harris campaign this year. In this new era, it’s almost become expected for these famous women to use their platforms to advocate for some of their more vulnerable fans’ causes. And the LGBTQ+ community, with the barrage of anti-LGBTQ+ bills throughout the nation, could use all the help we can get.

But did the presence of pop stars in the 2024 election help or hinder our cause?

Seemingly moments after Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, Charli XCX declared “Kamala is brat” on social media, which sparked weeks of political discourse. Both sides of the political aisle co-opted XCX’s admittedly throwaway remark. While Fox News pundits fought over whether her “brat” brand of partying was a moral signifier about the Democratic Party, Democrats clung to the music phenomenon’s buzzword in hopes of appealing to her younger fan base — coming off sometimes like out-of-touch elders trying out TikTok slang.

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Rising lesbian superstar Chappell Roan’s political beliefs were also hotly debated after she shared her fair concerns over Democratic policy positions. “I’m pretty, ‘Fuck the government, and fuck everything that’s going on right now,’” she told Rolling Stone. “I don’t have a side because I hate both sides, and I’m so embarrassed about everything going on right now.”

Though she was simply expressing her beliefs, perhaps she underestimated the sway her meteoric pop fame affords her. Many Democrats lashed out at Roan for potentially pushing liberals to abstain from voting and effectively handing Donald Trump the win. Roan felt the need to respond in a candid TikTok video that only added more fuel to the fire.

“There’s no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views [regarding the Palestinian people],” she said, adding, “Fuck Trump, for fucking real, but fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic Party that has failed people like me and you.”

Many progressives who don’t feel represented by the Democratic establishment and want to push the party further left, especially when it comes to standing up for transgender rights, echoed Roan’s concerns. Harris downplayed some of her past progressive policies to appeal to centrists and undecided voters, most notably through a campaign tour with Liz Cheney. But she lost many voters concerned about the future of the Israel-Palestine conflict, climate change, and transgender protections.

The country’s biggest pop stars, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, knew the importance of their endorsements and showed up to the fight. In the days leading up to the election, Beyoncé made a surprise appearance at Harris’s Houston rally. “I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” she told a packed crowd in her hometown. “A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided.” Her moving message was quickly undercut by the rumor that she was paid $10 million to speak, moving her mother, Tina Knowles, to rebut “the lies and rumors” spread by Trumpers. “Beyoncé did not receive a penny,” she wrote on Instagram.

And who isn’t a Swiftie these days? The impact of pop icon Taylor Swift is undeniable but difficult to measure in terms of politics. On the night of the Harris-Trump debate, Swift endorsed Harris, referring to herself as a “childless cat lady” while reminding people to register to vote. It was a clapback to a sexist remark from Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance, who is known for denigrating women without children.

“I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift wrote on Instagram. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades,” she added.

Did these mega music influencers sway the turnout? Hard to say, but the voter registration website Swift shared received more than 400,000 visitors in under 24 hours.

Still, Harris lost. Trump is now assigning his wealthy and controversial conservative buddies government jobs daily. And LGBTQ+ rights, especially for our transgender community, feel more at risk than ever before. So how powerful is the celebrity endorsement?

The gays have chosen our queens wisely. It’s empowering to know that the pop stars we’re lifting up also have our backs politically. Unfortunately, this time it wasn’t enough. It may also have contributed to the perception that liberals bow to the needs of the rich and famous. What is clear is that these women, often underestimated, are driving some of the most important political conversations of the moment. We’re listening! But is the Democratic Party?

While the LGBTQ+ community gears up for the consequences of another four years of Trump, Democrats must get in touch with the needs of all Americans, not the establishment, or they will age into irrelevancy like a diva’s swan song.

This article is part of the Out January/February issue, which hits newsstands February 4. Support queer media and subscribe— or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting January 23.

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