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Beyoncé was not at the DNC 2024, but her song “Freedom” was

Even though Beyoncé did not appear at the Democratic Party Convention despite numerous speculations on social media, the global star's presence was still felt on Thursday evening.

In fact, Beyoncé has played a key role in virtually every Harris campaign event over the past month, with her song “Freedom” becoming synonymous with the campaign.

The 2016 song, which features rapper Kendrick Lamar, is part of Beyoncé's sixth studio album, Lemonade. Although “Freedom” is now in the national spotlight, the song already had a rich political history before it was adopted by the Harris campaign.

Here you can learn more about the meaning of “freedom” and how it became a symbol of the Harris-Walz campaign.

What does Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” mean?

Upon its release, Lemonade was considered Beyoncé’s most explicitly political album to date, and Freedom is no exception.

The lyrics allude to personal, spiritual and political liberation and are full of references to the racial justice movement. Here are some notable lyrics from the song:

  • “I am a wall, come and march regularly / Paint white flags blue”: In some of the opening lines of the song, Beyoncé refers to regularly “marching” and defying “white flags,” which usually signify surrender. It has been speculated that “painting white flags blue” is a reference to the singer's eldest daughter, Blue Ivy.
  • “Freedom / Where are you? / 'Cause I need freedom too / I break chains all alone / I won't let my freedom rot in hell”: These lyrics are prominently featured in Harris' campaign ads. The imagery of breaking chains seems to evoke opposition to slavery and a refusal to let “liberty rot in hell.”
  • “I wade, I wave through the water / Tell the tide: ‘Don’t move’”: This line is a reference to “Wade in the Water,” one of the famous spirituals sung by enslaved blacks.
  • “Six headlights waving in my direction / Five-0 asks me what I own”: This lyric is from Lamar's verse in the song. He uses the term “FO,” a nickname for the American police, to describe the experience of being stopped and questioned by the police as a black man.
  • “I've had my ups and downs / But I always find the inner strength to pull myself up / I was served lemons but I made lemonade.”: Neither Beyoncé nor Lamar speak these final lines of the song. The song ends with a clip of Hattie White, the grandmother of Beyoncé's husband Jay-Z, speaking on her 90th birthday. White inspired the title of the album.

Importance of the song “Freedom” in protests for racial justice

Beyoncé has adopted “Freedom” as an anthem of social and racial justice. In 2016, she sang an a cappella version of the song in Scotland after observing a moment of silence for black Americans killed by police, The Cut reported.

That same year, she and Lamar sang the song at an awards ceremony preceded by a voiceover of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech, Time reported.

Activists adopted the song as a rallying cry during nationwide protests for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. At a protest against police brutality outside the home of then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, actress Amber Riley sang a cover of the song, according to Billboard.

How did “Freedom” become part of Kamala Harris’ campaign?

Beyoncé and her team gave Harris' campaign permission to use the song shortly after announcing her presidential bid last month. The song then appeared in Harris' first campaign ad, in which the candidate herself addressed the message of freedom.

The ad features Beyoncé's song as Harris explains: “In this election, each of us faces a question: What kind of country do we want to live in? Some people say we should be a country of chaos and fear and hate. But we choose something different. We choose freedom.”

Harris has since made the anthem her go-to song at campaign rallies and events, including this week at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. Signs and banners reading “Freedom” have also become a staple of Harris and Walz's campaign.

Former President Donald Trump's campaign also tried to use the song, but Beyonce's team quickly thwarted that effort. After the Harris campaign had already begun using the song, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung posted a video to X in which “Freedom” plays over a video of Trump getting off a plane, according to Billboard.

The singer's record label and music publisher then sent the campaign a cease and desist letter for using the song and Cheung deleted the X-post.

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