The White House continues with its strategy of using pop songs for its political videos. Recently, Katy Perry and Kesha have denounced the use of their songs by the Donald Trump administration. Curiously, many of the artists speaking out are women.
The latest one affected is Zara Larsson and her hit “Midnight Sun,” and the Swedish singer has decided to speak up, but not with a short tweet, rather by addressing the camera directly. “I’m sad, really. This makes me very sad,” she begins. Larsson says she would like to talk to the person who made the video to remind him that “you and I aren’t that different,” nor are the people who appear in it. “The only difference is that we’ve been dealt different cards in life.”
@zaralarsson #stitch with @The White House ♬ original sound – Zara Larsson
The singer uses her own life as an example. She is grateful to have been born in Sweden, where she has enjoyed healthcare and education, can travel and do “all these amazing things.” “That’s luck. A lot of this is luck,” she says. And she recalls that there are people who have not had that luck and who simply want a better life for their families.
Larsson does not understand how being an undocumented immigrant could be presented as “the worst thing in the world.” Talking about immigration policy, she says, “that’s fine,” but “this isn’t that.” For her, the problem is that the video comes across as “so dehumanizing.” “They are real people,” she insists, pointing to one of the men wearing construction clothes. “He’s working.” Undocumented people, she notes, are “ordinary people with jobs who are trying to have a better future.”
She also criticizes that everything has been turned into a meme and a joke, especially using a song that goes “about connecting with nature, people and the universe.” “This video creates a huge division among people,” she says. And she ends bluntly: “It’s fucking uncool. You’re a bunch of fucking losers, it’s crazy.”
