‘Taylor Swift tells us to take the lead!’ Could highly organised pop fans clinch victory for Brazil’s Lula?

Brazilian fan groups used their trusted online spaces to support Lula’s re-election. They posted open letters, shared campaign messages, and encouraged followers to discuss the election. Their effort mattered because many people follow fan accounts more closely than political accounts.

After Flávio Bolsonaro reached the runoff, Info Billie Brasil offered its X and Instagram pages to Lula’s team. Other fan accounts quickly repeated the message. The initiative became Fandoms Pelo Brasil, a website showing pop fans how to organise for Lula. Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator, also endorsed the movement on Instagram.

The mobilisation joined an existing political campaign, rather than replacing it. Lula’s supporters carried fan symbols at a São Paulo rally, including Beyoncé, BTS and Taylor Swift references. The groups planned to use online communication to reach voters before the 25 October runoff, while other fandoms stayed neutral or supported Bolsonaro.

A fandom is a community of people who share intense interest in an artist, group or cultural world. Members often gather in fan clubs and online accounts. Those spaces create trust, shared language and fast communication. That makes them useful for discussing public issues, not only music.

In Brazil, fan communities coordinated through social media after the first election round. Info Billie Brasil posted an open letter offering its platforms to Lula’s team. Other accounts shared it within hours. The effort then became Fandoms Pelo Brasil, a website that explained how fans could mobilise. Fan identities also appeared at Lula’s rally through Beyoncé, BTS and Taylor Swift symbols.

This example shows how an entertainment network can become an organised political network. It already has followers, administrators and communication habits. The network can spread information quickly and make politics feel connected to everyday interests. However, it does not produce one united position: some fandoms supported Bolsonaro, while others avoided politics.

The mobilisation was large and unusually broad for a political campaign built from pop fandoms. More than 600 Brazilian fanbase groups backed Lula after the first-round result. The groups connected music communities that normally organise around artists, tours and online discussion rather than elections.

Participating communities included fans of Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Katseye, Demi Lovato, Harry Styles, Katy Perry and Selena Gomez. Brazilian stars’ fandoms joined too, including Anitta, Marina Sena and Ludmilla. The article also mentions Beyoncé fans, BTS’s Army fandom, Taylor Swift supporters and a leading Blackpink fan account. Finneas amplified the effort through Instagram.

The scale did not mean every fan supported Lula. NJZ Brasil was openly pro-Bolsonaro, while Shakira Brasil avoided political campaigns. Rightwing voters also appeared in the Blackpink community. Still, the number and variety of participating groups showed that fan networks could connect different audiences and carry political messages across Brazil.

Brazil’s presidential election required a second round because neither candidate secured more than half of the vote in the first round. When no candidate passes that threshold, the leading contenders continue to a runoff. The article gives 25 October as the date for that decisive vote.

The two candidates are Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, usually called Lula, and Flávio Bolsonaro. Lula is the incumbent president seeking a fourth presidential term. Flávio Bolsonaro is described as a right-winger and the son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro. His first-round success triggered the fan-led online response supporting Lula.

The runoff created a focused choice between the two leading candidates. Fan groups responded immediately after the 4 October first-round result. Their campaign aimed to spread information and motivate voters before the final vote. The article does not provide the candidates’ exact vote totals, so it cannot establish how close the first round was.

Fan accounts can influence political attention by reaching people through channels they already use every day. Raissa, a Beyoncé fan, said many people do not follow politics but do follow fan clubs and fan accounts. That gives campaign messages a route into conversations that official political pages may not reach.

The mechanism was visible after the first round. Info Billie Brasil posted an open letter to Lula and offered its X and Instagram pages to his team. Other accounts shared the message within hours. Fandoms Pelo Brasil then explained how pop fans could mobilise. The groups could also connect Lula’s campaign with values associated with artists, such as LGBTQ+ freedom and freedom of speech.

This influence is possible, not guaranteed. Fan communities are not politically uniform, and some accounts supported Bolsonaro or stayed neutral. The campaign’s immediate goal was to address what supporters saw as Lula’s social-media weakness. Before the runoff, coordinated posts could increase visibility, conversation and voter engagement among followers.

Brazilian fandoms were not uniformly supportive of Lula. The article describes a strong pro-Lula mobilisation, but it also records different political choices. Some communities supported Bolsonaro, while others avoided election campaigning altogether.

NJZ Brasil, a fan page for NewJeans, was openly pro-Bolsonaro. A Blackpink fan-account administrator also noticed comments and messages from rightwing voters in that community. Shakira Brasil took a neutral position. It followed an instruction from Shakira’s team restricting the use of the singer’s image in political content online.

These differences show that fandom networks cannot automatically be treated as one political bloc. Shared enthusiasm for music may connect members, but it does not erase disagreements about elections. The pro-Lula campaign was significant because hundreds of groups coordinated, not because every Brazilian fan community joined. The article presents fandom as a contested political space with leftwing, rightwing and neutral participants.

Entertainment communities can become political movements when members share more than a favourite artist. They may share values, symbols and a sense of belonging. Online fan accounts provide regular communication, while administrators can coordinate messages. This combination makes collective action easier to organise.

Brazil’s campaign shows the mechanism clearly. Beyoncé fans connected her public support for LGBTQ+ freedom and freedom of speech with their own concerns. Swifties and BTS fans said young people needed to step up. More than 600 groups then used fan pages to circulate an open letter, encourage discussion and direct people to Fandoms Pelo Brasil.

This does not make every fandom politically unified. Some groups backed Bolsonaro, and Shakira Brasil remained neutral. But the networks can still make politics more visible to people who follow culture more closely than parties. The article suggests this model may matter beyond one election, especially as campaigns seek trusted online communities and younger audiences.