"In October, Oklahoma country music stadium draw Zach Bryan garnered attention at the highest levels of government when he posted a snippet of a track called "Bad News" in which he sings "ICE is gonna come bust down your door." By the end of the week, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rebuked him on conservative personality Benny Johnson's The Benny Show: "I hope he understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country.""
"Bryan, who was a Navy ordnanceman until his songwriting introduced a new career path, hadn't anticipated backlash; fans brimmed with excitement for a full release. As his plaintive half-verse lamenting the "fading of the red, white, and blue" shot up the American-media flagpole, he stressed that he holds no partisan affiliations and writes about feeling trapped in a tug-of-war: "To see how much shit it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared.""
"Bryan's not bullshitting. It's true that "Bad News" and its author are painstakingly, almost characteristically avoidant of even the appearance of taking a political side. Bryan can be terse in his scant interviews and is no stranger to temporarily excusing himself from social media for a too-declarative statement. In 2024, he took a time-out and apologized for announcing during a rager that he prefers Ye to Taylor Swift."
In October, Zach Bryan posted a snippet of a track called 'Bad News' that included the line 'ICE is gonna come bust down your door,' prompting national attention and a rebuke from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Fans anticipated a full release while Bryan, a former Navy ordnanceman turned songwriter, said he had not expected backlash and denied partisan affiliations, calling himself neither left nor right. The snippet's lament about the 'fading of the red, white, and blue' invoked country-music togetherness tropes. Bryan has a history of terse interviews, temporary social-media absences after contentious remarks, and a 2024 apology for preferring Ye to Taylor Swift.
Read at Vulture
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