Olivia Rodrigo is only 22 years old and has a voice that knows how to turn a young woman’s struggles into a generational statement. He sang about heartbreak, anger, and sarcasm, and in the process became one of the most iconic figures in North American pop music. But this time it was not a song, but its forced silence marked the rhythm: its theme All American bitch He appeared, without permission, in an official video from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The video, which is just one minute long, was posted from the Department of Homeland Security accounts and the Casa Blanca website. It has encouraged “self-deportation” of illegal immigrants through government request. Images of agents from the Customs, Immigration and Control Service (ICE, for its acronym in English) accompanied the first lines of the song: “All the time, I’m grateful all the time, I’m sexy and cute, I’m beautiful when I cry.” (All the time, I’m grateful. All the time, I’m sexy and cute. I look pretty when I cry.)
The text accompanying the video is direct and menacing: “Select now and self-report using the CBP Home app. “If you don’t, you will face the consequences.” The irony here is brutal. A song written as a satire of the demands of the American feminine ideal has, in the hands of the government, become the soundtrack to a message calling on immigrants to walk “voluntarily.”
Rodrigo’s reaction was quick. “I cannot go back to using my songs to promote racist, hate-filled propaganda,” he wrote on his Instagram account. The message disappeared shortly after, but it was enough to ignite controversy. Within hours, the song was removed from the video. In its place now appears an uncomfortable silence and the sentence: “This song is currently unavailable.”“. On social media, users celebrated the singer’s reaction.
All American bitchWritten and produced by Rodrigo for his album Courage (2023), an image of the dual morality that enforces success, gender, and nation. Its use, in this context, actually violates copyright, in its sense: the song that mocks the perfection of the American female has ended up in the hands of the apparatus that determines who deserves (or not) to remain in the United States.
Born to a Filipino priest and an American mother, Rodrigo grew up in Los Angeles, a city impossible to imagine without immigrants. She was not the only artist to raise her voice against the US government’s use of her music. In 2019, Rihanna demanded that President Donald Trump stop playing her songs in her songs, after discovering that Don’t stop the music Sonapa is in the business of promoting anti-immigrant policies. Pharrell Williams also sent a cease and desist letter to the agent after the hearing happy In a political act celebrated on the same day as the mass shooting. Adele, Queen, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and Axl Rose have done this themselves at various times, claiming control of the meaning of their songs, not just their economic rights.
About The Author
