President Biden is so popular, the two most popular songs on iTunes right now were written in his honor. Okay, so “popular” is a relative term, since not only does Biden have a lower approval rating at this point of his presidency than almost every recent occupant of the White House. But the two aforementioned songs, both named after the anti-Biden-themed “Let’s go, Brandon!” meme, have shot up to the #1 and #2 spots on iTunes.
This story gets even wilder. Those songs bumped Adele’s long-awaited new single Easy On Me down to the #3 spot. That’s where it’s currently sandwiched between … yes, yet another “Let’s go, Brandon!”-themed track sitting at #4 on the iTunes top songs chart. To be fair, two of those entries in the four top slots are essentially the same track — the one at #2, by rapper Loza Alexander, is an extended version of the same song at #4. However, a completely different rapper (Bryson Gray) is behind a separate “Let’s go, Brandon!” song that shot all the way to #1.
“Let’s go, Brandon!” song
So why are three of the four top songs on the iTunes chart all about somebody named Brandon?
These songs are built around a meme/catchphrase/whatever you want to call it that emerged earlier this month from critics of President Biden. This whole thing was born at the Talladega Superspeedway, where Brandon Brown had just won a NASCAR race. Sportscaster Kelli Stavast at one point commented during an interview with Brown afterward how the crowd seemed to be chanting in his honor: ‘Let’s go, Brandon!”
However, that’s not actually what the crowd was chanting. Oh, it was a three-word chant all right. But two of those words were Joe Biden. And the third was an f-bomb.
An anti-Biden song by rapper Bryson Gray called ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ topped the U.S. iTunes chart on Monday, surpassing even Adele’s new smash single ‘Easy on Me.’ pic.twitter.com/u4Y99ZuXeT
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) October 26, 2021
The phrase has spread like wildfire across social media, as well as the internet, for two key reasons. One is that, thanks to the episode after the NASCAR race, the phase serves as a kind of euphemistic stand-in for a more vulgar insult to President Biden. Tell a Biden critic “Let’s go, Brandon,” and he or she will know exactly what you mean.
The phase is also a succinct addendum that can accompany any piece of anti-Biden … anything. A speech in Congress. A rant on Twitter. Whatever. Biden critics state their business, and then enthusiastically finish it off with this innocent-sounding phrase.
Joe Biden approval ratings
In a kind of oxymoronic way, the fact that two “Let’s go, Brandon!” songs are topping the charts speaks in part to Biden’s slumping approval ratings.
CNN reports that of the last eight presidents, including Biden, he has a lower approval rating (42%) at this same point of his first year than any of the others did — except for Trump. And Trump was only slightly lower at this same point in his first year (37%).
Moreover, President Biden’s numbers have slid in a big way since just this summer. A majority approved of his performance as president (56%) back in June. But as the summer went on, the rating slid, dipping below 50% in August and continuing to fall.
And thus we have rappers like Gray coming into the picture. His anti-Biden song addresses topics like the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan. The lyrics include lines like: “Let’s go, Brandon and it’s clear that man a wreck / Let’s go, Brandon, now the Taliban a threat.”
And: “FJB is the motto in these streets / Let’s go Brandon, sing it with me.” Other lyrics, however, suggest that the pandemic is not “real,” which is probably what got it banned from YouTube.
