How 'Freedom' by Beyoncé Became a Campaign Anthem

Political campaigning is often described as theater, with its use of rousing speeches, dramatic TV ads, and, over the last few election cycles, social media. The addition of music, then, can make it feel like a form of musical theater. And while it’s not accurate to say that candidates win or lose based on their choice of musical accompaniment, the right song at the right time can go a long way in generating enthusiasm about a specific campaign.

This has certainly been the case for Kamala Harris, who chose “Freedom” by Beyoncé as her campaign song for the 2024 presidential election, featuring it in her first campaign ad, and most recently in a second ad that debuted at the Democratic National Convention.

Presidential campaign music goes all the way back to the founding of the United States, and many of those early songs were popular melodies set to new lyrics about an aspiring candidate. But songs were also used to criticize rivals. Consider the high drama employed by sixth president John Quincy Adams when he sensed that his reelection tides were turning toward his opponent Andrew Jackson. Enter the song “Little Ye Know Who’s Coming,” which claims that, should Adams lose, "Fire's a-comin’.”

Music can capture people’s hearts, minds, and attention better than political speeches or political tracts. Music helps people feel what is intended, sometimes better than politicians can say it.

— Emmett G. Price III, Dean of Africana Studies

Over the years, the trend of penning songs directly about candidates shifted to using popular songs as a way for campaigns to join themselves to a cultural moment. A notable early example was when, in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the 1929 hit “Happy Days Are Here Again” by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen as his campaign music. Such attempts are not always successful, however, as artists have often objected to the use of their music for political gain. Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Abba, Heart, and many others have had to send cease-and-desist notices to campaigns that try to use music without artist consent.

For her part, Beyoncé was quick to grant permission to the Harris campaign. Emmett G. Price III, dean of Africana Studies, describes the song as “a bonafide anthem for an end to discrimination, prejudice, racism, and the various forms of human-on-human oppression and trauma." In the following interview, Price discusses why this choice has been so effective for the Harris campaign so far, and he offers some context for Beyoncé's artistic significance in this American moment.

What are your general thoughts on the significance of this song choice at this particular cultural moment?

Emmett G. Price III: Campaign songs have been a fixture in the United States political landscape from the very beginning of the democracy. George Washington remixed the British monarchy’s “God Save the King,” with the insertion of “God Save Great Washington.” John Adam’s ran with “Adams and Liberty” and James Madison leveraged “Huzzah for Madison, Huzzah.” These selections have both overt and subtle messaging that aim to help spread the agenda, esprit de corps, and energy of the campaign while also building connection, solidarity, and excitement with potential voters.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Beyoncé’s 2016 hit, “Freedom” is no different. Released as the fourth track on Beyoncé’s fifth studio album, which was also released as a 65-minute film—Lemonade—“Freedom,” which features Kendrick Lamar, has captured the hearts and minds of civil rights, human rights, equal rights, and justice advocates since its release. A bonafide anthem for an end to discrimination, prejudice, racism, and the various forms of human-on-human oppression and trauma, “Freedom” is the perfect selection by Vice President Kamala Harris who stands in solidarity with a number of intersectional liberation movements.

The world first heard “Freedom” in relation to its narrative of fighting for oneself in the wake of infidelity. In 2020, it became one of the songs that people rallied around during the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. What is it about this song (or its message) that has made it such an adaptable anthem without ever losing its poignancy?

Price: Let’s state the obvious. This song was presented to the world by one of the twenty-first century’s most influential cultural icons and perhaps one of the top-10 greatest performers of all time. When Beyoncé offers human beings who are suffering language like “I’ma keep running, ‘cause a winner don’t quit on themselves,” this changes the very nature of personal narrative, personal reality, personal responsibility, and personal integrity. Then you add one of this generation’s greatest hip-hop visionaries, Kendrick Lamar, who adds, “Open our mind as we cast away oppression, yeah, open the streets, and watch our beliefs.” All of this on top of an amazingly produced track that invokes power, mystique, and veneration—powerful!

Black music has always done this across the various subgenres across the diaspora, reminding us that Black people across the diaspora are brilliant, resilient and hopeful. So, it makes sense that this would be our anthem when we put our physical bodies on the line during COVID to stand against the brutality that killed George Floyd. It makes sense that this would be the rallying cry as we stood with our LGTBQ+ siblings in solidarity against homophobia and transphobia. It makes sense that this is the anthem as we stand with our international community during this season of raging and debilitating violence and war. “Freedom, Freedom, where are you? ‘Cause I need freedom, too.” There is no losing any poignancy when we talk about a cry for freedom!

Beyoncé’s most recent album Cowboy Carter is very much in dialogue with American themes and iconography, as the title and album art alone make clear. She’s exploring a lot of “big ideas” surrounding the myth and the reality of American life. What do you think America means to Beyoncé, and what do you think Beyoncé means to America?

Price: This is an interesting question, one that I don’t believe I can answer. I learned long ago in my realized embodied life that I am unable to speak for America. In fact, the longer I live, the more I believe I understand the conundrum of Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too, Sing America,” first published in The Weary Blues (1926). Cowboy Carter, like Hughes’ The Weary Blues (the poem, the collection of poems, and the album) is a statement not a question. Beyoncé is not problematizing so-called “American themes or iconography,” she is saying that in the reality of Black life, we have always been the stewards of the land, raised and tended livestock, cooked on open fires, worn boots, narrated and sung folk songs, and ventured out into the wild, wild west. If there is a question in Cowboy Carter, The Weary Blues, and perhaps “Freedom,” it is, how do we detox ourselves of the white supremacist ideologies and themes that prevent non-whites, especially non-white males from being able to speak for America?

Popular music has been part of presidential campaigns since the country’s founding. Why do you think campaigns turn to music?

Price: As a tool, music has the power to engage and connect as well as to disengage and disconnect. Music is a reflection of one’s intention. Music is a medium through which we (creatives) express thoughts, feelings, and hopes as well as fears, anxieties, and concerns. Through music we often narrate—whether reflectively, in real time, or prophetically—our traumas and our triumphs. Music can capture people’s hearts, minds, and attention better than political speeches or political tracts. Music helps people feel what is intended, sometimes better than politicians can say it.

Beyoncé was quick to grant the Harris campaign her permission for using “Freedom.” But we often hear about artists pursuing legal action against candidates who use their music without permission. There is a copyright concern here, but what happens when an artist is no longer around to grant or deny their permission? Do we as citizens have a role to play in keeping art from being distorted or coopted by those in positions of power?

Price: As artists in the United States, we have the privilege of protective rights and the responsibility to use them. For today’s artists, registered copyrights last the duration of our lifetime plus an additional 70 years. Through proper planning we entrust our works to our estate with instructions for continued protection after our death. No one should ever have the ability to misuse, misconstrue, or leverage our work without permission and not face consequences. This is not the citizens’ responsibility; it is ours. To that end, when a politician leverages a work and attempts to use it in a manner that is contrary to the intended message, action should be taken. In the case of Vice President Harris and Beyoncé, you have two very prominent Black-identifying women who believe they have a vision of healing, hope, and joy. The alignment in message is clear. I am certain we will see the two of them together soon.