- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Pope kicks off Christmas under shadow of war
- Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold
- Japan's top diplomat in China to address 'challenges'
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
'kamala IS brat': Pop world backs Harris
The pop world has coalesced rapidly around Kamala Harris's last-minute candidacy, as the US vice president gets a boost from an online explosion of videos mixing her speeches with hit songs.
Janelle Monae, John Legend and Charli XCX are among the star musicians who have publicly backed Harris, along with myriad Hollywood endorsements including from George Clooney, Viola Davis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Robert De Niro.
Even Beyonce -- who is known to strictly guard clearance of her music -- reportedly has approved the Harris campaign to use her song "Freedom" on the trail.
The megastar's mother, Tina Knowles, quickly backed the now-presumptive Democratic nominee Harris after President Joe Biden's late-stage election exit.
Fans have been posting remixes of Harris speeches and interviews -- her idiosyncratic phrasings frequently catch meme fire and the past week have been aflame -- with music by pop artists of the moment, including star of the summer Charli XCX, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.
It helps that Harris is eminently memeable; plenty of videos show her dancing with physical comedy bordering on slapstick.
The internet used to mash up those kooky moments to diss the 59-year-old VP -- but since Biden's campaign plummeted following his disastrous debate, the videos appear to be bolstering her presence, notably among chronically online young voters.
Celebrities have also gotten on board, capturing the marketing moment in the inextricably linked worlds of music and social media while also leaning into Harris's candidacy.
- brat-coded -
British artist Charli XCX in particular has seen her smash album "brat" become core to the early online Harris campaign.
The "brat summer" meme was already alive and well before Harris became associated with it.
The trend emphasizes an aesthetic and lifestyle inspired by Charli's club album that offers a heavy dose of party-girl energy with undertones of youthful anxiety.
When fans began applying the inescapable lime-green "brat" filter to Kamala Harris images, Charli XCX voiced approval.
"kamala IS brat," the 31-year-old pop star posted, a sign-off the Harris campaign quickly embraced.
In its transition from Biden to Harris, the campaign's official X account also rebranded as brat-coded, with its cover photo mimicking the album's neon-green -- "Shrek-colored," as the internet likes to call it -- and lo-resolution JPEG vibe.
Katy Perry, whose anthemic "Roar" was frequently played on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, also pushed her latest single "Woman's World" while backing Harris.
She posted a montage clip of Harris with a remix of her song and the now famous "coconut tree" quote that's also made the presidential hopeful an internet star.
"It's a woman's world, and you're lucky to be living in it," sings Perry.
Cardi B reminded fans she had already said Harris should replace Biden, whom she supported in 2020 after initially backing the socialist-leaning Senator Bernie Sanders.
Shortly after Biden announced his withdrawal, the Bronx rapper reposted a video she'd made prior in which she says Harris should be the Democratic flag-bearer.
"STOP PLAYING WIT ME!!!!" she wrote in her caption accompanying the clip, emphasizing her self-proclaimed prescience.
"Told y'all Kamala should've been the 2024 candidate. Y'all be trying to play the Bronx education, baby this what I do!!! Been my passion.. don't let my accent fool y'all."
Cardi B had previously indicated that she wasn't planning to vote when Biden was the nominee -- she did not make clear whether her stance had changed now that Harris was the presumed candidate.
X.Brito--PC