Brat memes and “coconut tree” edits proliferate as Harris steps up
We’re currently experiencing a Brat Summer, as everyone paying attention to pop music right now knows. We’re also in an election year — and if you think those two things have nothing to do with each other, think again. Vice President Kamala Harris‘ declaration that she’s in it to win it on July 21 was met by tons of mostly positive reactions from musicians and celebrities who want to see her beat Donald Trump in November. But none hit with quite the culture-shaking force of three words from Charli XCX: “kamala IS brat.”
Charli’s fans, who have spent the past few weeks proving that they’re the funniest meme machine in pop, rose to the occasion faster than you can say “bumpin’ that.” Less than six hours after President Biden’s Sunday afternoon announcement that he was dropping out of the race, a group of buff dudes in Brat-green cut-off tees with the word “kamala” were spotted on New York’s Fire Island. “BRAT Kamala shirts already on Fire Island,” TV producer Michael del Moro wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The gays move SO FAST.”
Harris’ newly minted campaign HQ account on X savvily changed its header to a similar Brat/Kamala image that same evening. These are the quick campaign instincts we need.
Over on TikTok, fans circulated edits of Charli’s “360” (“I’m so Juliaaaa”) with Harris’ much-memed “coconut tree” speech. Others re-upped a “Von Dutch”/”coconut tree” edit that was actually posted by user @ryanlong03 weeks ago, on July 3. That’s how ahead of the curve Charli fans are right now — they were making free ads for Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign before it even existed.
It may be too soon to know whether any of these coconut-Charli edits will go off in the club, but who are we kidding? You know they will. At this point, we’re just waiting to see whether Vice President Harris can work some Charli lyrics into a debate with her convicted felon opponent, if we get one. Just picture her delivering the opening verse from “Von Dutch” at a podium while Trump seethes with impotent rage: “It’s OK to just admit that you’re jealous of me/Yeah I heard you talk about me, that’s the word on the street!/You’re obsessin’, just confess it, put your hands up!”
Call this cringey lib/club-pop fanfic if you must. The times just might demand it. We exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us, and right now, that’s Brat all day, baby.