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Beyoncé's “Freedom” is the soundtrack to the new Kamala Harris commercial at the DNC

The lemonade The song, which has already become the anthem of Harris' campaign, served as the soundtrack for a new commercial that also featured Jeffrey Wright as narrator.

Night one of There were some great musical moments at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, but perhaps the biggest came from an artist who wasn't even there: Beyoncé.

The evening began with a new campaign ad for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, called “Freedom” — and fittingly, it used Beyoncé's song “Freedom” from Lemonade (2016). The song floats over the typical parade of extremely American imagery usually seen in campaign ads, as actor Jeffrey Wright provides the commentary: “What kind of America do we want?” he asks. “One where we're divided, angry, depressed? Come on! We're Americans! Fascism? We conquered it. The moon? We landed on it. The future? We're building it. Freedom? Nobody loves it anymore.”

While the ad that aired last night at the DNC was entirely new, Harris has been using “Freedom” since the start of her presidential campaign earlier this summer (following Joe Biden's decision not to seek re-election). In her first public appearance after securing Biden's endorsement, Harris took the podium while “Freedom” was playing. And not long after, her campaign released an official launch video featuring the song.

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Beyoncé's representatives reportedly gave the vice president permission to use “Freedom” during her campaign just hours before the July launch event. In the aftermath, “Freedom” saw a major spike in streams, increasing 1,300 percent, according to data from Luminate (which tops the Billboard charts).

In addition to the debut of the new “Freedom” commercial, the first night of the DNC featured two musical performances: Mickey Guyton performed her 2021 song “All American” and Jason Isbell performed his 2015 song “Something More Than Free.” James Taylor was also scheduled to close the evening, but his performance was reportedly postponed to make time for Biden's speech after applause caused time constraints throughout the evening.

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