With the American presidential election, fans are pushing artists to get involved

Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande or Doja Cat: one month before the elections in the United States, certain artists find themselves, under pressure from social networks, obliged to reveal their favorite candidate.

Is an artist free to stay away from the presidential election in the United States? The pressure pop star Chappell Roan faced to support Kamala Harris highlights the growing, and sometimes pervasive, influence fans have over their idols.

The 26-year-old American singer found herself under fire on social networks for having balked at calling for a vote for Kamala Harris, a position she justified by criticizing the Biden administration on issues of defense of LGBT+ people and support for the Palestinian people.

Many fans accused her of playing into the hands of Donald Trump, whose return to the White House the left sees as a nightmare for individual rights. Although Chappell Roan explained that her criticism of the leaders in place did not mean that she would vote for the Republican billionaire, that was not enough. She felt compelled to make it clear that she would vote for Kamala Harris.

Visibly tested by the controversy, the interpreter of Pink Pony Club, canceled two concerts last weekend to protect her health, saying she was overwhelmed by the events. The phenomenon is not new. Many artists, such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande or Doja Cat have already evoked, including in their songs, the sensation of seeing their fans wanting to take a form of control over their lives and their choices.

This form of relationship creates a “illusion of privacy“and the feeling that something is owed to them, explains Petra Gronholm, professor specializing in global mental health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “There is an idea of ​​validation. You want artists to publicly stand for what you think they stand for or what you want them to stand for, to somehow see yourself in them“, she explains.

Social media has exacerbated this demand for musicians, especially those who have emerged more recently, to make their positions known. “Fame can seem more fragile” than in the past, explains David Jackson, professor of politics at Bowling Green University.

“There is probably a greater need among celebrities, in a highly publicized environment, to take the pulse of what their fans are thinking“, according to him. And the world of social networks leaves little room for nuance. “Things are more binary there than in real life“, adds David Jackson.

According to experts interviewed by AFP, fans do not necessarily expect their star’s support of a candidate to have a political impact, but rather to be reassured that their musical tastes correspond to their vision of the world. . David Jackson draws a parallel with other consumer choices, such as clothing or food, which can have political significance.

“It’s not totally absurd that fans at least want to know the position of the celebrities they donate money to“, explains the professor. The impact of a call to vote by a celebrity remains difficult to assess in any case. In the case of Kamala Harris, the support seems “aim for mobilization rather than persuasion“, according to David Jackson. When Taylor Swift supported Kamala Harris, she also published a link to a site to register to vote: result, 400,000 clicks in 24 hours. “Like religion and politics, music can generate devotion. And motivate people to act“adds Mark Clague, musicologist at the University of Michigan.