Taylor Swift’s silence on the Trump administration using her music speaks volumes | Alim Kheraj

<p>Official Trump social media accounts have been using The Life of a Showgirl snippets to promote his agenda. Why has Swift, who once wanted ‘to be on the right side of history’, said nothing?</p><p>In the last two weeks, the Trump administration has used music from Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in three posts on social media. The <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@whitehouse/video/7568317055292738830">first</a>, shared by the official White House account on TikTok, was a patriotic slide show of images set to lead single The Fate of Ophelia. As Swift sings “pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes”, the video cuts to pictures of the US flag, President Trump, the vice-president, JD Vance, and the first and second ladies. The second and third were posted by Team Trump, the official account for the Trump Campaign. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@teamtrump/video/7569701713712631095?lang=en">One</a>, set to Father Figure, riffs on the lyric “this empire belongs to me” with the caption “this empire belongs to @President Donald J Trump”, while the<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@teamtrump/video/7569982996640501023?lang=en"> other</a>, celebrating Melania Trump winning something called the Patriot of the year award, is soundtracked by Opalite.</p><p>The Trump administration has found itself in dicey waters for using popular music in the past. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/sep/09/white-stripes-trump-lawsuit-seven-nation-army">The White Stripes</a> and the estate of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89w28w13zxo">Isaac Hayes</a> have both attempted to sue the administration for using their music without permission, while artists including Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Abba and Foo Fighters have released statements demanding Trump stop using their songs at campaign