With the 2020 General Election looming just weeks away, you’ve undoubtedly seen many of your favorite celebrities on social media pleading with you to get out there and vote. Even musicians who have kept quiet about politics in the past have changed their tune; a notable example is Taylor Swift. But as deadlines for voter registration approach in many states, pop stars Ariana Grande and Lorde have just one question: if you won’t vote for the sake of democracy, will you do it for some new music?
On Wednesday Ari tweeted a sparkling studio selfie with the caption “turning in these mixes and reminding u again to register to vote if u haven’t already / to vote early” to her 77 million followers. And that’s not all, most of the “Thank U, Next” singer’s tweets from the last month have been about voting, including links to her work with Headcount, an organization who’s bio reads “We use music+culture to engage Americans with democracy. We’ve registered nearly 1M voters at concerts, music festivals & online since 2004.”
Coincidentally, Lorde, who is usually virtually silent online, took to social media that same day for a similar cause. The “Royals” singer posted a series of stories to her Instagram page to ask her fellow New Zealanders to vote in their own upcoming election on October 17. The text from those stories reads, “Hey. Are u from New Zealand? I am. (heart emoji) If you’re 18+, it’s time to VOTE! We know we live in a special place. And adding all of our voices to the conversation, speaking up for communities or organisations that mean something to us – that’s what helps keep it that way. Here are the details: You can vote and enrol from RIGHT NOW up until 7pm on election day – that’s OCTOBER 17. Vote.nz has more intel. There’s also two referendums to vote in this year: the End of Life Choice Bill and the Cannabis Legalisation Control Bill. Go have a read about each of those and vote on the day!”
She ends it by saying, “This was honestly incredibly difficult to format and I hope you can repay me with the humble act of VOTING (tongue out emoji) Do it for our beautiful country and do it for me. And next year I’ll give you something in return.” Fans quickly speculated she must mean new music, which is extra exciting considering her last release was in 2017!
Some people seem to appreciate artists using their platforms to advocate for causes like voting, while others wish they would stick to the music. What side do you fall on?
