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From catalysing Black British applications to Oxbridge to calling out the Dickensian villains of this nation’s government for their Grenfell victim-blaming, Stormzy has been putting his clout to worthy use of late. Now, it’s been reported that the ‘Stormzy Effect’ has triggered a huge spike in youth voter registrations on the day before the deadline. After the grime superstar took to both Twitter and Instagram yesterday to call out to a combined 3.9 million followers, new voter registrations among under-25s leapt more than 150,000 – the largest increase in single-day sign-ups since May 22nd 2017, the deadline day for the last general election.
“It is very very very important that every single person who reads this goes and registers to vote,” wrote Stormzy on Instagram, going on to endorse Jeremy Corbyn, citing him as “the first man in a position of power who is committed to giving the power back to the people and helping those who need a helping hand from the government the most.”
As you can only expect from someone whose most popular track proudly declares “Fuck Boris”, Stormzy declared the incumbent prime minister as “sinister man with a long record of lying”. Similarly predictable was the Tory government’s implicitly racist response to his call for youth political engagement: “‘I think we again know that Stormzy, when he took to the stage at Glastonbury wearing a stab vest, he made clear what his political views were then,” cabinet minister Michael Gove told Talk Radio, referring to the artist’s watershed Glastonbury performance. He then somehow made things even grosser by tweeting a Stormzy lyric. Some things never change.
But by heeding Stormzy’s advice and registering to vote NOW, you can have a say in ensuring that they do. As he eloquently puts it: “Do not just scroll past, don’t sit there and think ‘my one little vote ain’t gonna do anything’—your vote is CRUCIAL. Your ‘one little vote’ can quite literally tip the scale for what will be the most important election of our generation.”
Credits
Photography Oliver Hadlee Pearch
Styling Max Clark