I know that pop singer Ariana Grande doesn’t figure into DKos demographics. Really, the only reason she’s on my radar is because my 20-year-old daughter is a fan. When you have your last baby in your forties it forces you, as you get older, to keep up on things.
But Grande deserves a shout out for her efforts to register fans at her massively successful Sweetener concert tour which just ended in America and is headed worldwide.
According to a report by CNBC, the singer attracted a record-breaking influx of registered voters with HeadCount — becoming the “the most successful single artist” to do so since 2008, when Barack Obama first ran for president.
Grande announced her partnership with HeadCount — a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 2004 that “promotes voter registration and participation in democracy through the power of music” — back in March on her Instagram, starting the “thank u, next gen” movement to encourage her eligible fans to register as voters.
“Use your voice and get your ‘thank u, next gen’ sticker. If you can’t be there to register on-site, text ‘Ariana’ to 40649,” the pop star wrote, “Each and every one of you makes a difference.”
Grande fans have been using the hashtag #thankunextgen — a play off Grande’s popular song “thank u, next” — in social media posts to indicate that they registered to vote at her concert. Fans under 18 can receive texts on their 18th birthday reminding them to register.
In June my daughter’s boyfriend gifted her with tickets to Ariana’s sold out Chicago concert at the United Center. Because he lives in the opposite direction from us, they met there. I dropped her off at the UC, went to a movie and then picked her up.
I saw with my own eyes the sheer numbers of potential Gen Z voters. I’ve been to Bulls and Blackhawks games at the United Center but I have never seen a mob like this. Mostly young girls, but not all of them….younger couples, parents with their kids. And lots and lots kids in their late teens and early 20s, ready to be registered. (My daughter, being my daughter, has been registered since she turned 18).
Grande closes her concert with songs about inclusion and tolerance, waving rainbow flags with her dancers. Her audience adores her, they are lapping up her message.
“There’s a lot of noise when you say anything about anything. But if I’m not going to say it, what’s the f—ing point of being here?” she told Elle last year. “Not everyone is going to agree with you, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to shut up and sing my songs. I’m also going to be a human being who cares about other human beings; to be an ally and use my privilege to help educate people.”
Republicans want performers to shut up and sing, athletes to shut up and play. They can’t stand the fact that they have no popular entertaIners in their pockets. Certainly no one who draws the crowds that Grande does—and who is willing to get those fans ready to vote.