By Karan Singh
During a time when her influence has a broader reach than ever before, the British singer has chosen to look the other way as templates of her creativity helped absolve the Democratic Party of its ongoing war crimes.
“I just put out my playlist and ‘365’ is on it,” Barack Obama said during a recent interview on the I’ve Had It podcast. “People question sometimes whether I’m actually listening to all this music. As I’ve testified before, I am […] Charli XCX — she knows what she’s doing.”
Whether the 63-year-old politician truly has an affinity with the lyrics “Should we do a little key? Should we have a little line?” remains a predictable mystery, unlike the mileage that comes with attaching his name to it.
Just like the entirety of his mainstream career, the former president’s slick proclivity for being “cool” continues to obscure his proven track record as a prolific war criminal who set a new standard for human rights violations in predominantly Arab and Muslim countries.
It comes as no surprise, then, that he is finessing his PR-friendly charm even in retirement by getting behind the hottest trend in popular culture while simultaneously vouching for the status quo.
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Whereas Taylor Swift will most likely secure the top commercial accolades of 2024, Charli XCX’s sixth full-length offering brat is arguably the default pick for Album of the Summer; anyone who has spent enough time out in the world of late can attest to its colossal popularity.
Though the 18-cut LP blew up immediately upon release, its adjoining leverage was handed over to the Democratic Party just a little over a month after it went live.
Flimsy Politics
Given the English popstar’s advantageously flimsy politics — sharing a link for donations to Gaza amid the escalating bloodshed in the Strip but also writing a song about her friend and Red Scare podcast host Dasha Nekrasova, who posted photographs of herself shooting at a dummy wearing a keffiyeh earlier this year — it came as no surprise that she tweeted “kamala IS brat” in late July.
So, what does it mean to be “brat”?
“You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” Charli said about the term. “Who like feels herself but then also like maybe has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it, is very honest, very blunt, a little bit volatile […] does dumb things, but like it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
Does that sound anything like Kamala Harris?
kamala IS brat
— Charli (@charli_xcx) July 22, 2024
While adjectives like “messy,” “volatile” and “dumb” do accurately illustrate her direct role in enabling Israel’s indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians since 2021, “honest” and “blunt” contradict how she has gone about explaining her cohort’s record-breaking recklessness since October 2023.
Yet, her joyful demeanor and over-the-top laughter quite conveniently complement phrases such as “likes to party” and “maybe has a breakdown,” making it easy for the Blue Party to cleanse their image and disguise their ineptitude as silly and incidental rather than intentional, focused and relentless.
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Sure enough, the vice president color-coded her Twitter profile the same shade as the artwork for brat and even used its aesthetic in an Instagram post soon after the unsolicited shoutout from Charli (who is also half Indian, with her maternal lineage tracing back to a Muslim family in the country’s northern state of Gujarat). With that, the album’s distinct allure transferred over to the Harris campaign as well as the party backing it.
‘DemoBrat’
In August, New Jersey senator and vocal Harris supporter Cory Booker referred to himself as a “DemoBrat” on TikTok while showing off a pin that read, “nj is brat.”
Last month, he shared a video of himself making recruitment calls on behalf of his contingent while wearing a brat-stylized sticker that read: “i’m so kamala.” Even today, the public servant’s display picture on said platform reads his name formatted per the record’s cover art.
@corybooker POV…you answer one of those “political calls” and it’s a FaceTime with Cory Booker 👀 @Kamala HQ ♬ original sound – Cory
In the same spirit, actress and comedian Mindy Kaling introduced Nancy Pelosi at the 2024 Democratic National Convention by saying, “This woman was doing brat before brat was brat.”
What exactly that meant is still unclear, and it’ll probably remain such because a closer look will only bring out the inconsistencies between the former House Speaker and what she was so brazenly credited with.
Even as the death toll in Gaza moves further and further north of 40,000, Harris, Booker, Pelosi and their party members have managed to comfortably reaffirm their undying allegiance to the state of Israel while placating the American public with criticisms of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fantasies of a two-state solution and the ostensible pursuit of a ceasefire. Perfectly in tune with the same talking points Obama employed before them, their actions have yet to match their words.
Funds that could remedy the homeless, opioid, healthcare and countless other crises in the United States are instead being used to export violence against civilians on the other side of the world.
Political Gain
As the turmoil in Palestine and now Lebanon worsen, a large number of people who were condemning the current administration’s failures in the region not long ago have started rallying behind Harris as she touts the rights of (only American) women and children in her “at least we’re not them” stance against the Republicans.
While Taylor Swift’s advocacy of Kamala Harris and Chappell Roan’s conscientious refusal to do the same is perfectly on-brand, Charli has unfortunately diluted her product to the point of tastelessness after years of grunt work that involved elevating the voiceless.
During a time when her influence has a broader reach than ever before, the British singer has chosen to look the other way as templates of her creativity helped absolve the Democratic Party of its ongoing war crimes. As a result, they have once again hijacked progressivism just in time for the presidential elections.
“To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women’s rights, is hugely important to me,” Charli told Vulture following the DNC, still seemingly oblivious to how Team Blue weaponized her trademark lime green. “I’m happy to help prevent democracy from failing forever. I obviously knew what I was doing.”
Furthermore, the luminary also made it clear that “[her] music is not political,” which makes it all the more disappointing that she has allowed it to be used for political gain by the same organization that sanctioned the killings she was raising funds to combat just a few months ago.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Karan Singh is an Indian American journalist based in Los Angeles. He contributed this article to the Palestine Chronicle.
The new Zionism is “Brat” or the new “Brat” is Zionism or it doesn’t matter; as long as the Uni Party keeps one eye open and one eye closed and vote! Vote for genocide! Vote for rape (as long as Palestinians are the victims)! Vote for Israel (US isn’t really important)! That’s so “Brat”.