Adele has now prohibited Donald Trump from using her music during his political campaign, after the presidential hopeful having repeatedly used her hit ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and having reportedly also played ‘Skyfall’, the London-born singer’s James Bond theme, at a recent campaign event in Ohio.
With some fans believing that Trump’s use of Adele’s music meant that the singer supported the GOP candidate, The Independent has now obtained a quote from her management insisting that Adele has not granted the billionaire permission to do so. The statement reads: “Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning.”
Adele is the latest in a long line of artists to criticise Trump for using their music to promote his campaign, with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler having previously hit him with a cease-and-desist letter due to Trump using the track ‘Dream On’ at his rallies. However, Tyler later stated his intention was not to make a political statement, but rather to “make [a statement] about the rights of my fellow music creators”, adding: “We need change. Songwriters, producers and artists can’t survive on what they are being paid.”
But Michael Stipe was far less diplomatic with his response to Trump using REM’s ‘It’s The End of the World As We Know It’, with the frontman releasing a strongly-worded statement, saying: “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you–you sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
Adele’s tracks were likely used for their themes of hopelessness (‘we could have had it all’, ‘let the sky fall’ etc.) with the list of tracks utilised by Trump largely revolving around his rhetoric that America is in a state of nigh-on apocalyptic disrepair, and that the country’s only saviour is therefore a bright orange man with hair like a piss-stained cloud. Now that another musician’s prohibited him from using their songs, maybe he should just go all in at his next rally and come out to ‘O Fortuna’ instead.
