Joe Biden’s Campaign Strikes with a Unique Diss at Donald Trump Using Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Euphoria’ Lyrics
In a bold political move, President Joe Biden’s campaign team incorporated Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “Euphoria” to artistically convey their withering attack on former President Donald Trump. As shown in the video, released on May 6, 2024, Biden’s slide show contrasts photos of himself, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Trump while Lamar’s lyrics provide the background.
Joe Biden’s campaign put together a video today dissing Donald Trump using Kendrick Lamar’s “euphoria” lyrics.
PIC.TWITTER.COM/BH73HPLMVR— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) MAY 9, 2024
The lyrics of Euphoria was strategically used throughout the video to serve as a critique to Trump’s policies and behavior. This was achieved by the subtext done by the Biden team where they changed the lyrics to fit their views on issues such women rights, immigrants, and the Trump affiliations Truth Social. The subtitles in the images included, “It’s always been about love and hate, now let me say I’m the biggest hater. I hate the way that you walk over women’s rights, the way that you talk about immigrants. I hate the way that you dress, I hate the way that you sneak diss on Truth Social.”
When the dust had settled and Euphoria” – the track that stemmed from the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake – premiered, it became one of the most popular songs of the year. Released and created exactly as explained by the author, “Euphoria” debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100: why did it follow this path and become what it became? This creative use of music and lyrics outline how the interplay among music, celebrity, and politics has evolved throughout the digital age.
Furthermore, this incident was part of a broader trend in which musicians compiled politically charged albums — a few days before the Biden campaign released the video, rapper Macklemore reprimanded Biden in the track “Hind’s Hall,” questioning his commitment to Israel. Hence, artists make increasing use of the possibility to include extramusical content in music.
However, the particular strategic use of music as a statement of politics and opinion causes doubt regarding the ability to reach and then mobilize the appropriate audiences. Based on the attraction to the concepts of popular culture and the authority of musicians such as Lamar, Biden’s campaign tries to establish a connection with voters through music, at a deeper level than mere entertainment or information.
More broadly, the action is a pointer of political public accountability’s changing face. Music has transformed into a potent tool through which politicians can reach out to an even wider hearing and communicate across otherwise impenetrable social and cultural divisions. As the lines between music, politics and social observations continue to erode, occurrences like this will grow in importance in their capacity to impact the present state of political conversations in society.
