Since Kamala’s Harris’s first appearance at campaign headquarters a month ago, the rousing strains of Beyoncé’s “Freedom” have been the candidate’s spirited anthem, blaring under the campaign ads and ahead of Harris’s speeches. The song, from the 2016 visual album “Lemonade,” builds momentum with each verse and features a chorus that is a striking call: “I break chains all by myself/Won’t let my freedom rot in hell/Hey! I’ma keep running/’Cause a winner don’t quit on themselves.”
It served as the driving force behind the latest campaign ad that debuted during Night 1 of the Democratic National Convention, which has itself been buoyed by energetic music throughout. It has also provided a sonic shift in messaging, offering Democrats a muscular keyword with widespread appeal to voters across partisan lines.
But the song’s origins and supporting videos, and Beyoncé’s live performances of it, offer a deeper meaning for a candidate hoping to make history as the first Black and South Asian woman president.
At the time of its initial release in spring 2016, “Freedom” appeared on what was, to that point, Beyoncé’s most politically explicit record to date. Its video paid clear tribute to Sybrina Fulton, Gwen Carr, Lezley McSpadden and Wanda Johnson, Black women whose sons — Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Oscar Grant III — had been recently killed in racially charged incidents. In the video, the women sit next to each other as Beyoncé, dressed in a tiered white dress, belts the song in a visual performance that heightened the intensity and cathartic potential of the music. It features a verse from Kendrick Lamar, who raps, “But mama don’t cry for me, ride for me/Try for me, live for me.”
Along with Lamar’s 2015 single, “Alright,” the two artists released arguably the most enduring protest anthems of the Black Lives Matter movement within a span of months.
The song’s success is already resonating with the many and riling up others. Just yesterday, Beyoncé sent a cease-and-desist to Donald Trump’s campaign for its use of the song without permission on a social music video.
Read More: The Meaning Behind Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom,’ the Harris Campaign Anthem
