The song Rich Men North of Richmond, written and sung by an illustrious stranger named Oliver Anthony (pen name of Christopher Lunsford), was not elevated to viral status by cool young people whose taste dictates trends. Anthony, a farmer and singer from Virginia, in the eastern United States, appears in a video posted last week on YouTube on the radiowv account, performing his song on guitar.
As of Thursday night, eight days after it went live, the post had 19 million views. The song, at the beginning of this week, was the most listened to on iTunes in the United States and even in Canada. Oliver Anthony now has nearly 600,000 followers on Instagram and half that number on X (Twitter). Under his publications, there are hundreds to praise the way in which he knew how to give a voice to the people “marginalized” by the richest. One might think of a viral success as popular culture regularly lays, but this time, a rare occurrence, it is the conservative right that has appropriated the piece and made it a phenomenon.
“The first verse and then the first chorus, very strong in writing, are impeccable as a vehicle for the plight of working-class Americans. In a few words, they express a feeling of powerlessness in the face of political elites, the impression of being trapped in unsatisfactory living conditions, and a feeling of alienation from what inhabits their daily life, on which they don’t feel like they’re in control,” said Vanessa Blais-Tremblay, professor of musicology at the University of Quebec in Montreal. It must be said, Oliver Anthony is also a good interpreter, whose “authentic” side has something to please.
Conservative political and public figures have widely touted the song online for the past week: former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh, former Mumford Banjoist
Rich Men North of Richmond has become a right-wing populist anthem in less time than it takes to say. The song, with typical Appalachian country rhythms, was the perfect candidate to finally give American Republicans (and other right-wing entities) a rallying musical object. “The right has a lot more difficulty than the left in creating strong ties with artists who make the big charts in popular music, comments Vanessa Blais-Tremblay. It is very interesting to see how politicians on the left will seek to mobilize the potential of popular music to serve their electoral camp. And on the contrary, we see a refusal on the part of artists to be lumped together with the politicians of the American right. Still, the musicology professor clearly sees a “break” in Rich Men North of Richmond.
“I see a certain loss of contact, where even the right could not easily appropriate it because it is not in the Republican strategies to divide the working classes. »
Several artists have publicly stated that they do not want their music to be used by Donald Trump during his campaigns, including Adele, Guns N’Roses, Elton John or the Rolling Stones. The chorus of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, an anthem of the left, had a completely different flavor in Trump’s hands. The Boss had also announced his support for Hillary Clinton in 2016, in particular in reaction to the use of his song by the one who would ultimately be elected president. In the case at hand, Oliver Anthony released a monologue before his song was released in which he stated he had no political affiliation, as if he already knew his song would become popular and many would wonder who he was lending to. allegiance.
The artist did not comment after his hit on Republicans making his song a political anthem.
“There is an element that reminds me of the beginnings, strangely, of Justin Bieber, in particular the frenzy that took hold of social media, the enthusiasm to share amateur videos of this very talented artist. We like to discover artists before the industry, and we like the narrative [arcs] rags-to-riches, ”says Vanessa Blais-Tremblay to explain the success of the track.
Rich Men North of Richmond could suffer the same fate as a song like Jason Aldean’s Try That in The Small Town, which had briefly topped the charts thanks to Republican admirers before falling just as quickly.
This divisive country track, whose music video seemed to propagate ideas of white nationalism, did not have enough breath and diehard admirers to be more than a flash in the pan. “You don’t find this disdain for the poorer classes in Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams, whose careers were written in time,” said Vanessa Blais-Tremblay about Rich Men North of Richmond. And this is where I wonder if Anthony’s success will last. »
“Music can be found in all major social movements, whether it was for civil rights in the 1960s, during the Great Depression in the 1930s or in suffragist movements. If we dig into any major political movement, we will find people who have composed music […] to express what they and they feel, but also to rally people. One need only think of political rallies to understand the power of a good song to generate a sense of communion. During her campaign, Kamala Harris had a playlist mostly made up of songs by black and Latino artists, according to a 2019 analysis by The New York Times. At her first rally, she was on stage on Work That, by Mary J. Blidge, which evokes female confidence. Clampdown, from The Clash, had been used by Beto O’Rourke during the same presidential race. The 1979 piece is a perfect example of a populist political song detailing the plight of the working class. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, for his part, had rather reclaimed Brooklyn Go Hard, by Jay Z, during his campaign launch rally, a nod to his New York roots, but also a message in itself by the artist’s choice (an African-American rapper). On the contrary, the songs used by Donald Trump in the campaign almost all belonged to white artists, again according to the New York Times. His favorite song when taking the stage during his rallies at the time was God Bless the USA, by Lee Greenwood.
