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Beyoncé has given Kamala Harris permission to use her hit song Freedom as an official anthem for her 2024 presidential campaign, it has been revealed.
The vice president made quite the entrance on Monday when she walked out to the song during her first visit to her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, since it was rebranded after Joe Biden stepped down from the race.
Harris, 59, was greeted by campaign staff and supporters while the penultimate song from the singer’s 2016 album Lemonade, featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar, played in the background.
Just hours before her appearance, representatives of the 32-time Grammy winner were said to have granted her approval to use Freedom as the anthem for her campaign, a source told CNN.
The song, with lyrics “I’ma keep running, ‘cause a winner don’t quit on themselves,” has clear political overtones, its writer Carla Marie Williams told Fader shortly after the hit song’s release.
“It’s a spiritual song, but it’s a political song, because we’re saying, we’re gonna keep marching,” Williams said.
Beyoncé has yet to officially endorse the vice president in the 2024 race despite a swathe of female stars – including the likes of Charli XCX, Katy Perry, Cardi B and Kesha – publicly sharing their support for Harris.
Harris’s move to seek permission to use the hit song comes after the co-writer of a song used in Donald Trump’s rallies spoke out to reveal his disapproval.
At the Republican National Convention last week – days after surviving an assassination attempt – Trump walked on stage to the song Hold On, I’m Coming.
The co-writer of the Sam & Dave’s 1966 hit David Porter told The Independent that the 78-year-old former president had never asked for permission to use his music in his political campaign.
“I can say [that] I don’t want any of my songs used for political campaigns,” he said. “We create music for uplifting people, not separating them.”
On Sunday, Biden ended his reelection campaign and offered his “full support” for Harris to succeed him on the Democratic party’s ticket .
In the first 24 hours since confirmed she was running, Harris’s campaign raked in a record-breaking $81m – more than Biden raised in the first two months of his own bid.
Now, the vice president has appeared to have secured enough delegates to become the Democratic Party’s nominee to take on Trump in the 2024 presidential election, according to a survey commissioned by the Associated Press.
“Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top,” she said in a statement.
Biden meanwhile will see out the rest of his term, switching his “focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President” until polling day in November, he said in a statement on Sunday.
