Charlie XCX and the wave of musicians supporting Kamala Harris

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????? ?? Pop stars for Kamala Harris?! Previously, Charlie XCX exclaimed “Kamala is Brat” and unknowingly made the phrase a political phenomenon (farewell Brat summer). Since then, the wave of support seems like a ripple effect (no pun). Some of the biggest names in music are rallying behind Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris ahead of the presidential election. The expansive list of musicians include John Legend, Maren Morris, Pink, Quavo, and many others. Moreover, there’s also a growing movement of Taylor Swift fans (Swifties) in support of Harris too.?

“I’m happy to help to prevent democracy from failing forever.” - Charlie XCX, New York Magazine

*Editor’s Note: The Ally The Journalist Newsletter is a nonpartisan publication.

In other news…

??Instagram is adding a “song on profile” feature and it's giving Myspace vibes. The new option will allow users to add a song to the bio section of their profile. However, unlike Myspace, the selected song does not autoplay and it will only appear for a selected amount of seconds.?What's more, Meta may also be collaborating with Spotify for Instagram’s notes.

??? ??The MTV News website is partially back thanks to The Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library. Over 460,000 web pages previously available on MTVNews.com are now accessible via the organization’s Wayback Machine link. Initially MTV’s news operation was shut down in 2023 and its website, two decades worth of articles, was reportedly deleted in June.

?? ?? Have you ever heard of the term “Swiftanomics?” It’s the economic boom caused by “The Taylor Swift Effect.” Reportedly, Swift’s Eras Tour has already grossed more than $1 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold. Not to mention the amount of cash Swifties spent across industries in support of the tour (fashion/merchandise, hospitality, transportation, beauty, etc.) The ongoing concert tour continues domestically until November, and internationally until December.

Extra, extra read all about it!

?? If your musical preference is demure, mindful, and cutesy–your social status just went up! According to Fast Company, music taste is a new kind of social currency, mainly among Gen Z. “There’s this premise around your music speaking to your identity and your worldview,” says Matt Daniels, creator of API analyzer How Bad is Your Spotify?

A few statistics about people sharing their taste in music:?

• Social listening (via the internet) is steadily evolving from a method of consumption to an entirely new market.?
• 45% of 18-24 year olds use social media for music discovery (mostly TikTok).
• Spotify’s features such as collaborative playlists and “Spotify Wrapped” create a social-like experience for its users.
• Apps like Receiptify and Obscurify use data to gather, share, and compare listening statistics.?

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