Ariana Grande has once again criticized the Trump administration for using her music in a social media post. This time, the Team Trump account featured her song “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” in a TikTok video that tagged the Grammy-winning artist. The video showed President Trump approaching a podium to speak, with text from Grande’s 2024 hit song overlaid, stating controversial opinions on gender and sports. Grande responded in the comments, demanding that her music not be used and calling the administration’s beliefs false.
Grande’s reaction follows a similar incident in mid-June when she objected to her song “Bye” being used in a TikTok video about immigration policy. This backlash adds Grande to a long list of artists, including Taylor Swift and ABBA, who have criticized the Trump team for using their music without permission.
Various artists, such as Neil Young, John Fogerty, Queen, the Rolling Stones, ABBA, Beyoncé, and estates like Leonard Cohen and Prince, have all voiced objections to Trump’s use of their music. Some artists have taken legal action or issued cease and desist orders to prevent their music from being associated with the administration.
While political campaigns can legally license music for use in their content, individual artists have the right to opt out or object to their music being used for specific reasons. This ongoing issue highlights the tension between artists’ rights and political campaigns’ use of popular music without consent.