How Freedom by Beyonc Became a Campaign Anthem Emmett G. Price III discusses the history of political campaign music and what makes Freedom such a versatile and poignant song.
By
Bryan Parys
August 21, 2024
Beyonc performing during a stop on her Renaissance Tour in 2023.
Image by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
Political campaigning is often described as theater, with its use of rousing speeches, dramatic TV ads, and, over the last few election cycles, social media. The addition of music, then, can make it feel like a form of musical theater. And while it's not accurate to say that candidates win or lose based on their choice of musical accompaniment, the right song at the right time can go a long way in generating enthusiasm about a specific campaign.
This has certainly been the case for Kamala Harris, who chose Freedom by Beyonc as her campaign song for the 2024 presidential election, featuring it in her first campaign ad, and most recently in a second ad that debuted at the Democratic National Convention.
Presidential campaign music goes all the way back to the founding of the United States, and many of those early songs were popular melodies set to new lyrics about an aspiring candidate. But songs were also used to criticize rivals. Consider the high drama employed by sixth president John Quincy Adams when he sensed that his reelection tides were turning toward his opponent Andrew Jackson. Enter the song Little Ye Know Who's Coming, which claims that, should Adams lose, Fires a-comin'.
Music can capture people's hearts, minds, and attention better than political speeches or political tracts. Music helps people feel what is intended, sometimes better than politicians can say it.
- Emmett G. Price III, Dean of Africana Studies
Over the years, the trend of penning songs directly about candidates shifted to using popular songs as a way for campaigns to join themselves to a cultural moment. A notable early example was when, in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the 1929 hit Happy Days Are Here Again by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen as his campaign music. Such attempts are not always successful, however, as artists have often objected to the use of their music for political gain. Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Abba, Heart, and many others have had to send cease-and-desist notices to campaigns that try to use music without artist consent.
Emmett G. Price III
For her part, Beyonc was quick to grant permission to the Harris campaign. Emmett G. Price III, dean of Africana Studies, describes the song as a bonafide anthem for an end to discrimination, prejudice, racism, and the various forms of human-on-human oppression and trauma. In the following interview, Price discusses why this choice has been so effective for the Harris campaign so far, and he offers some context for Beyonc s artistic significance in this American moment.
What are your general thoughts on the significance of this song choice at this particular cultural moment?Emmett G. Price III: Campaign songs have been a fixture in the United States political landscape from the very beginning of the democracy. George Washington remixed the British monarchy's God Save the King, with the insertion of God Save Great Washington. John Adam's ran with Adams and Liberty and James Madison leveraged Huzzah for Madison, Huzzah. These selections have both overt and subtle messaging that aim to help spread the agenda, esprit de corps, and energy of the campaign while also building connection, solidarity, and excitement with potential voters.
Vice President Kamala Harris's selection of Beyonc 's 2016 hit, Freedom is no different. Released as the fourth track on Beyonc 's fifth studio album, which was also released as a 65-minute film-Lemonade- Freedom, which features Kendrick Lamar, has captured the hearts and minds of civil rights, human rights, equal rights, and justice advocates since its release. A bonafide anthem for an end to discrimination, prejudice, racism, and the various forms of human-on-human oppression and trauma, Freedom is the perfect selection by Vice President Kamala Harris who stands in solidarity with a number of intersectional liberation movements.
The world first heard Freedom in relation to its narrative of fighting for oneself in the wake of infidelity. In 2020, it became one of the songs that people rallied around during the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. What is it about this song (or its message) that has made it such an adaptable anthem without ever losing its poignancy?Price: Let's state the obvious. This song was presented to the world by one of the twenty-first century's most influential cultural icons and perhaps one of the top-10 greatest performers of all time. When Beyonc offers human beings who are suffering language like I'ma keep running, cause a winner don't quit on themselves, this changes the very nature of personal narrative, personal reality, personal responsibility, and personal integrity. Then you add one of this generation's greatest hip-hop visionaries, Kendrick Lamar, who adds, Open our mind as we cast away oppression, yeah, open the streets, and watch our beliefs. All of this on top of an amazingly produced track that invokes power, mystique, and veneration-powerful!
Black music has always done this across the various subgenres across the diaspora, reminding us that Black people across the diaspora are brilliant, resilient and hopeful. So, it makes sense that this would be our anthem when we put our physical bodies on the line during COVID to stand against the brutality that killed George Floyd. It makes sense that this would be the rallying cry as we stood with our LGTBQ+ siblings in solidarity against homophobia and transphobia. It makes sense that this is the anthem as we stand with our internation
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How Freedom by Beyonc Became a Campaign Anthem Emmett G. Price III discusses the history of political campaign music and what makes Freedom such a versatile and poignant song.
