Joseph Guzman
Equinox Staff
At each of her shows, pop culture titan Ariana Grande has been trying to encourage voter registration.
Grande wanted to make an impact by providing voter registration booths at her show with the help of Headcount Organization.
Keene State College first-year Dan Brierley mentioned the organization HeadCount, saying, “Unfortunately I wasn’t contacted by anyone at the concert about voting. I think I saw the table that was set up for it, but there was so many people that I wasn’t able to get close to it. However, I did see the video they played before the concert in hopes of getting people involved with voting.” Brierley added, “I think it’s really awesome that artists are taking steps to try to get young people involved in voting. I went to a Lorde and a Florence and the Machine concert and both artists had programs like this one to get [the] youth registered. There’s so much political apathy among young people, so I hope programs like this at concerts educate them to get involved and realize their voices do matter.”
Another step Grande did to help the audience know that HeadCount has her backing support was after opener Normani’s set, she played a small video before her own using the backing track to her song “Imagine.” Imagine was not performed live many speculated because the song was about her late rapper/ex boyfriend Mac Miller. The video was in advocacy of getting more of the younger and able audience members involved and registered to vote for this upcoming election.
KSC first-year Emma Hamilton and sophomore Henry Hobson both thought this was a good move this on Grande’s part. Hamilton said, “Because she’s been involved in political movements before (referencing her bombing at her concert in Manchester, England) and I think her fans appreciate seeing her care about issues that are important.” Hobson said, “I do think it is a good move, but I just hope she doesn’t overdo it, because not everyone wants political issues crammed down their throat when they just wanna listen to music.”
Something all three agreed on is how this is an effective way to push and engage more youth at concerts to start caring about politics. Hamilton started by stating, “It’s less important for [the artists] to talk about politics, but instead them caring about these teenagers forming their own opinions and forming [the opinions] for themselves.”
Brierley added on by saying, “When someone like Taylor Swift or Beyonce, that are mega stars, speaks out on big issues, people listen. People want to get involved. I think it’s amazing Ariana is using her voice for a positive change. I think her fans are definitely going to follow her lead.” HeadCount is an organization dedicated to registering voters specifically at concert venues. According to their bio on Twitter, “We use music to engage Americans with democracy. We’ve registered over 500K voters at concerts, music festivals & online since 2004.”
On March 18, Grande had begun her “Sweetener World Tour,” highlighting over 42 different dates spanning over the United States and Canada. Artists Social house and Normani opened for her. Grande’s set itself was split into five different acts and highlighted 27 different songs mainly over her two newest releases, “Sweetener” and “Thank you, Next” which were released within six months of each other.
Joseph Guzman can be contacted at
jguzman@kscequinox.com
