Ariana Grande has once again criticized the Trump administration for using her music on social media. This time, the Team Trump account featured Grande’s song “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” in a TikTok post that tagged the Grammy-winning artist. The post included clips of President Trump approaching a podium with text from Grande’s 2024 track, stating, “Me and my truth we sit in silence… men can’t have babies and should never compete in women’s sports.” Grande responded in the comments, demanding that her music not be used and calling the administration’s “truth” 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 Taylor Swift and ABBA, have also voiced their disapproval of the Trump team using their music. Over the years, an array of performers, such as Neil Young, John Fogerty, Queen, the Rolling Stones, ABBA, Beyoncé, and the estates of Leonard Cohen, Prince, and Tom Petty, have objected to the unauthorized use of their music by Trump’s team.
While campaigns can obtain licensing packages to use music legally, individual artists have the right to opt out or object to their music being used for specific reasons. Some artists, like Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, have taken steps to have their music removed from Team Trump social videos through copyright infringement claims.
