For the second time this summer, Ariana Grande has criticized the Trump administration for using her music in a social media post. Team Trump shared a TikTok post featuring Grande’s song “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” and tagged the singer. The post included clips of President Trump speaking at a podium with text partially quoting Grande’s 2024 track. Grande responded in the comments, demanding that her music not be used again and calling out the administration’s message as false.
This incident follows Grande’s previous objection in mid-June when her song “Bye” was used in a TikTok video about immigration policy. Numerous artists, including Neil Young, John Fogerty, Queen, the Rolling Stones, ABBA, Beyoncé, and others, have also voiced objections to Trump using their music in his campaigns. Some artists, like Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, have taken steps to remove their music from Team Trump’s social videos through copyright infringement claims.
While political campaigns can obtain licenses to use music legally, individual artists have the right to opt out for various reasons. Despite licensing agreements, artists can still voice their disapproval of their music being associated with political campaigns.
