Everywhere you turn, people are talking about Oliver Anthony.
Country music’s newest sensation burst onto the scene last month when Radio WV posted a performance of his original song, “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
The song’s message, which takes aim at politicians in Washington DC who are out of touch with the working class, quickly resonated with listeners, skyrocketing the original video to over 69 million views while the song racked up 65 million streams on Spotify alone so far. It spent two weeks at #1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, the first time an artist has EVER debuted at the top of the chart with their first single.
And “Rich Men North of Richmond” has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, even making its way into the 2024 presidential race when Republican candidates were asked about the song during the first GOP presidential primary debate.
For his part, Anthony doesn’t really seem to be a fan of his song being used for political purposes, saying that he falls “dead center” politically and explaining that “Rich Men North of Richmond” is not a shot at either side in particular, but is really calling out politicians on both sides of the aisle:
“It’s hard to get a message out about your political ideology or your belief about the world in three minutes and some change.
But I do hate to see that song being weaponized. I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own, and I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation. That shit’s gotta stop.”
Well he’s probably not going to be a fan of his song’s latest appearance on the campaign trail either…
During a campaign stop at a golf club in Virginia, former President Donald Trump, who’s currently competing for the GOP nomination to take on President Joe Biden again in 2024, took the opportunity to play Anthony’s song for the crowd.
As Trump queued up “Rich Men North of Richmond,” he danced along as he encouraged the crowd to sing (despite not appearing to know the words himself).
Of course while his supporters loved the impromptu moment, many in the comments pointed out the irony of a billionaire like Trump, who was formerly the most powerful of the “Rich Men North of Richmond,” using the song on the campaign trail:
Anthony has yet to respond to Trump’s apparent endorsement of his song, but he did recently meet with another presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is challenging Biden in the Democrat primary.
