The musician vote

 

In this day and age, when artists and comedians end up leveraging their platforms in a way that is arguably as socially impactful as that of politicians and intellectuals, it is not exactly surprising that many of the world’s (and specifically the US’s) most prominent artists had something to say following the November 3rd presidential election. Or, rather, election day, since we still do not know for sure who the next president of these United States will actually be…

In a year that was eminently political, following a presidential term that truly pushed various groups towards more vocal opinions (and often opposing ones), after a historically brutal political campaign — and in the midst of a global pandemic, it is no wonder that musicians were uncharacteristically involved in the 2020 election. While a few artists ended up rooting for the incumbent president, directly or indirectly (see: Killer Mike, 50 Cent, Ice Cube…), the overwhelming majority of the musical scene has been quite saddened by the fact that Joe Biden didn’t get a strong lead right out of the gate, and that the Democratic camp is now fighting a phenomenally gruesome battle to have every vote be counted.

For this is the name of the game, at this point: by all (reasonable) accounts, it appears that not only did Joe Biden largely win the popular vote (almost 4 million extra votes and counting), but he is also leading with the electoral college, and the Trump campaign’s attempts at curtailing ballot count and asking for recounts or otherwise contesting results in several states is essentially a ploy to skew overall results. In other words, words that the incumbent likes to use so often, Donald Trump is trying to steal this election. Musicians don’t agree: Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, John Legend, to name but a few A-listers, immediately reacted on social media, condemning in no uncertain terms the manipulations at play. Let us hope a) every vote does get counted, b) these musicians are right, c) Lady Gaga gets elected president in 2024: she would make for phenomenal political rallies…