Swedish pop star Zara Larsson has fiercely condemned the White House for using her hit song “Midnight Sun” in a social media video promoting immigration enforcement raids, labeling the move as “dehumanising.”
The controversial TikTok reel, posted by the White House, spliced together footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other law enforcement personnel handcuffing individuals and placing them into vehicles. The video was captioned “never ending deportations,” a deliberate and mocking riff on Larsson’s lyrics, “never-ending midnight sun.”
Although the audio track has since been removed from the post, the video remains visible on the administration’s feed, prompting a swift and public rebuke from the artist. In a three-minute reaction video that has already amassed over 4.2 million views, Larsson expressed her profound dismay, holding an ‘L’ shape to her forehead in a gesture of disbelief.
“These people in this video they’re real people,” Larsson told her followers, pushing back against the trivialization of the subjects depicted. “The vast majority of these people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs, and they’re just trying to have a better future.”
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She criticized the administration for “memefying” serious human situations, accusing them of using her music to sow “division” despite the song’s original intent to reflect a harmonious connection between people and nature. This is not the first time Larsson has clashed with the current administration; earlier this year, she similarly condemned a video of President Donald Trump dancing at various events set to her hit track “Lush Life.”
Larsson’s stand is part of a growing, high-profile backlash from the music industry against the political weaponization of their art. The White House has recently been forced to scrub various tracks from its social media accounts following direct interventions from artists. Taylor Swift’s seasonal track “August” was removed from an administration reel, while Olivia Rodrigo condemned the use of her music as “hateful propaganda.” Similarly, pop stars Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande have issued stark warnings to the Trump administration, demanding their music not be featured in official social media content.
As the line between political messaging and entertainment continues to blur, artists are increasingly drawing a hard boundary around their intellectual property. For Larsson and her peers, the message is clear: their art is meant to unite and express, not to serve as a soundtrack for divisive political agendas.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
