Ariana Grande has once again criticized the Trump administration for using her music in a social media post. This time, the Team Trump TikTok account featured her song “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” in a video that mentioned the singer. The post included clips of President Trump speaking at a podium with text partially quoting Grande’s 2024 hit. Grande responded in the comments, demanding that her music not be used and calling out the inaccuracies in the post.
This incident follows Grande’s previous objection in mid-June when her song “Bye” was used in a TikTok video about immigration policy. The pop star has joined a long list of artists, including Taylor Swift and ABBA, who have criticized the Trump campaign 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 also objected to Trump’s use of their music.
While political campaigns can obtain licenses to use music, individual artists have the right to opt out or object to their songs being used for specific reasons. Some artists have taken legal action, while others like Swift and Bad Bunny have swiftly had their music removed from Trump’s social media posts through copyright claims.