Charli XCX has spoken out about her three-word tweet that helped launch Vice President Kamala Harris's highly successful presidential campaign.
On July 21, hours after President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris as the Democratic Party's nominee, the 32-year-old British pop star, whose real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison, shared her approval with a simple tweet: “Kamala IS a brat.”
The Harris campaign was quick to capitalize on the singer's blessing and shared a screenshot of her post on TikTok. They also included a photo of their own version of Charli's lime green brat Album cover.
The viral phenomenon in a new interview with vultureThe “Apple” artist admitted that her message should not necessarily be interpreted as political support. She said she meant “something positive and lighthearted.”
However, she admitted: “Being on the right side of democracy, on the right side of women's rights, is extremely important to me. I am happy to help prevent democracy from failing forever.”
“I obviously knew what I was doing,” she joked. “Did I think that talking about being a dirty bitch and partying and needing a Bic lighter and a pack of Marlboro Lights would end up on CNN? No.”
The “brat” culture popularized by Charli has since made headlines, with several news programs, including CNN, as well as political pundits attempting to decipher the meaning behind Generation Z slang.
The term “brat” is a noun meaning an icon or a statement of authenticity and confidence.
Despite stimulating the 2024 presidential election among young voters, Charli made it clear that she is not a “political artist.”
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“I'm not Bob Dylan and I've never pretended to be one,” she said. “My music is not political. Everything I do in my life flows back into my art. Everything I say, wear, think, enjoy – all of that flows back into my art. Politics does not feed my art.”
Elsewhere in the extensive interview, Charli talked about the inspiration behind her song “Sympathy is a Knife,” which many assume is about Taylor Swift.
“People are going to think what they want to think,” she said. “This song is about me and my feelings and my fear and how my brain creates narratives and stories in my head when I'm feeling insecure and how I don't want to be in those situations physically when I'm having self-doubt.”
The two artists have recently been rivaling each other in the music charts after Swift released new, UK-only editions of her latest album. The Department of Tortured Poetswhereupon she brat at number 1 in the British charts.
Swift praised Charli’s “surreal and imaginative” songwriting and told the vulture Journalist: “Ever since I first heard 'Stay Away' in 2011, I've been blown away by Charli's melodic sense.
“She just takes a song to places you wouldn't expect it to go, and she's done that consistently for over a decade. I love seeing hard work like this pay off.”
