Kamala Harris is a pop icon, here’s proof: Brat summer to coconut memes

Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is still quite some ways from securing the big seat in the White House, but she has most certainly won over Gen Z social media users with deft social savvy. Here are some of Kamala Harris’ best pop culture moments.

Following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the US presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris has stepped up for the top job. With the bigwigs of the Democratic Party including former US President Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle backing Harris, she has become a star candidate for the party against Donald Trump. Harris also seems to have successfully wooed young voters for her campaign and with the viral trend of “Kamala is brat” taking over the internet, it’s time to look at some of the greatest pop culture moments of Kamala Harris.

In comparison to her fellow presidential candidate, Donald Trump — Kamala Harris portrays an image of a younger, smarter and certainly more inclusive political figure. As the current Vice President of the United States of America, she has already broken barriers by becoming the first female politician to earn the job. Time and again, Harris has shown through her initiatives that she could be a more relevant and relatable personality for young voters who have felt underrepresented by ageing rich men sitting in positions of power.

Kamala Harris’ presidency could become a turning point for American politics and while election day is still months away, here is a look at how Kamala Harris has tied herself to some of the most iconic trends that define popular culture.

Kamala Harris’ best pop culture moments

The beginning of a politically infused Brat Girl Summer

While it was Charli XCX who declared “Brat Girl summer” with her album Brat in June 2024, the Brat Girl summer trend kicked off by the album regained new impetus with Kamala Harris’ campaign. After Charli showed her support for Harris and wrote “Kamala Is Brat” on her social media, Harris found herself entering the zeitgeist of pop music TikTok trends.

Accepting the honour of her incubation into a summer trend, her campaign embraced the neon green colour that signifies the Brat album by using it for their Twitter page background. This initiation of the VP into the Brat trend has gained her positively inclined internet stardom that seldom happens with US politicians.

Coconut tree memes

After Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee, some democrats showed their support for Harris in a surprising manner which included the use of emojis and particularly the coconut tree meme.

Wondering how it became the symbol of the party’s new nominee? Well, it all dates back to Harris’ March 2023 speech where she addressed the importance of communities. At one point, she recalled her mother’s anecdote and said, “My mother … would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?'”

Madam Vice President, we are ready to help. pic.twitter.com/y8baSx44FL

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) July 22, 2024

Since then, the coconut tree meme has now exploded into a full-blown pop culture moment. Recently, Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii famously posted a picture of himself climbing up a coconut tree, adding, “Madam Vice President, we are ready to help” as he backed her candidacy. Also, Colorado Governor Jared Polis tweeted the emojis: a coconut, a palm tree and an American flag in support of Harris.

The Kamala Harris and Beyoncé collab

Kamala Harris is a part of the celebrity BeyHive and it was established way back when she attended Beyoncé’s Rennaissance tour last year. Impressively, the vice president had received an invitation to the concert from the singer herself and Harris even shared a glimpse of her concert date night with her husband Doug Emhoff as they headed for the show.

In another instance, during an interview with People, Harris revealed her favourite track from the Renaissance album Break My Soul and called it a constant on her playlist. However, it is not this track that is going to be the official anthem of her presidential campaign.

In her first 2024 presidential campaign video, the song that she chose to represent her is from Beyoncé’s landmark album Lemonade and the iconic track is Freedom. According to the Associated Press, a campaign manager for Harris confirmed that the singer granted permission for the song to be used for Harris’ official campaign — which in turn suggests that the VP has gained strong support from Queen Bey.

Historically, both Beyoncé and Jay-Z have backed Democratic candidates, and previously also performed at a pre-election concert for Hillary Clinton. Irrespective of what the results of the elections turn out to be, a Beyoncé track being her campaign song will always remain at the top of the best pop culture moments of Kamala Harris’ career.

Barbie movie’s inspiration for Presidential Barbie

Around this time last year I saw the Barbie movie and Black Barbie President made me so happy. And now that might be our future. Who’s excited? Let’s go girls 💖 (Fun fact: the actress channeled @KamalaHarris for this role…) pic.twitter.com/8kYcJKLvxB

— M.J. Pack 💀 (@megslice) July 27, 2024

Almost a year after its release, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is once again becoming the talk of the town because of its connection to the current political climate. While the film famously painted a picture of impactful female-led governance and cast Issa Rae in the role of the female black president; it seems real life is mirroring its reel counterpart as Harris could become the country’s first female president. Furthermore, during her press interactions last year, Rae also confirmed how she had drawn inspiration from political figures like Vice President Kamala Harris to portray her Barbie role.

Eagle-eyed netizens noticed how the date of the announcement of Biden’s exit from the presidential race and Harris’ endorsement coincided with the release date of Barbie last year, boosting the popularity of Harris taking on the role of Presidential Barbie in real life.

Kamala Harris’ hip-hop party at the White House

The hip-hop genre and its African-American roots were celebrated by Kamala Harris in a never-seen-before manner at the White House last year. It’s no surprise that this move earned her massive pop culture cred given that she hosted the first-ever hip-hop house party at the home of the Vice President of the United States. In collaboration with the Recording Academy, Harris pioneered a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop in a party that included performances from famous rappers like Lil Wayne, Common and other luminaries.

In an impassioned speech, she said, “Hip-hop is the ultimate American art form … Hip-hop now shapes nearly every aspect of America’s popular culture” and it wasn’t just the statement but her musical tastes have reflected that. During an interview in 2019, Kamala was asked about her favourite rappers and she was quick to drop names of Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.

Vice President Kamala Harris for the #BETAwards: “The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, they not like us.” pic.twitter.com/wE0hDB3XId

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 1, 2024

More recently, Kamala left the audience in splits with her hip-hop joke at the BET Awards. While chatting with host Taraji P. Henson, Harris spoke about the election fever and quoted Kendrick Lamar’s famous Drake diss track Not Like Us and said, “The majority of us believe in freedom and equality. But these extremists, as they say, they not like us.”

Harris’ Indian food flex

Kamala Harris has showcased on multiple occasions how both her Indian and Jamaican roots have affected her lifestyle choices. Since Harris’ mother was of Indian descent, Kamala has a strong connection to her Indian heritage and in 2019 she displayed her Asian American side by bonding with writer and actress Mindy Kaling over Indian food. The viral video showcased Harris cooking at Kaling’s home in Los Angeles home.

Connecting over their shared Indian roots, they were seen making masala dosa — a thin South Indian pancake made from a fermented batter of soaked rice and black gram which is a staple breakfast food item in India. Their cooking video with over 6 million views went viral after Harris was elected as Vice President and has currently resurfaced online amid her presidential campaign. For her Indian fans, the Dosa cooking video is one of the most memorable pop culture moments of Kamala Harris.

How Veep predicted Kamala Harris’ presidency bid

One of the most popular American comedy sitcoms, Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus is seeing a massive resurgence and soaring viewership amid Kamala Harris’ presidential run. Why? Well, much like The Simpsons, the HBO series seems to have predicted Harris’ candidacy. The obvious parallels between the show and the current situation shocked netizens as the real-life vice president and Louis-Dreyfus’ fictional Selina Meyer both served as senators from a blue state and later became Vice Presidents. An uncanny resemblance further occurs in the season 2 finale when she informs her staff that POTUS won’t be running for re-election and that she is in the running for the top job.

Veep is a reality show .. cuz Selina Meyer IS Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/B6IhPXSI05

— ⚡️ (@ToxicHeavens) July 21, 2024

The Emmy-winning political comedy which ran for seven seasons is currently trending again as Veep memes have been flooding social media, with relevant clips of Louis-Dreyfus’ Meyer at the centre. While Harris hasn’t responded to these memes, Louis-Dreyfus who is known to be close to the Democrat told Entertainment Weekly, “I’m delighted. I’m happy people are getting a kick out of it. And I know that Kamala Harris is — big time.”

(Main and featured images: Kamala Harris/Instagram; BarbieMovie/Instagram)

This story first appeared here.