Noah Kahan slams White House over unauthorised song use.
Noah Kahan has become the latest musician to publicly push back against the Trump administration after the White House used his music without permission, joining a growing list of artists who have objected to their songs being used in administration social media content.
The dispute began when the White House posted photographs and video to both Instagram and TikTok showing President Trump touring General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground in Michigan. The posts were set to Kahan’s song American Cars, taken from his chart-topping album The Great Divide. The pairing was clearly intended to evoke a sense of American pride and manufacturing strength, but the artist whose voice and music gave the posts their soundtrack had not been consulted and had not given his approval.
Fans were quick to notice and quickly alerted Kahan by tagging him in the comments. His response was direct and unambiguous. “Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration,” he wrote beneath the post. The comment rapidly accumulated tens of thousands of likes, suggesting the sentiment resonated well beyond Kahan’s own fanbase.
His frequent collaborator and co-writer on the track, guitarist Noah Levine, also left a response of his own beneath the White House post. His comment was reportedly more direct in its language than Kahan’s, though it was subsequently removed. At the time of publication, the song itself remained attached to the White House’s video despite both objections.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on Kahan’s objection.
The incident is part of a pattern that has become increasingly familiar during the Trump administration’s social media operations. Just days before Kahan spoke out, Katy Perry criticised the White House for using her 2010 hit Firework in a TikTok post featuring footage of military strikes. “I’m deeply appalled and angry,” she wrote, adding that she had not approved its use and had not even been asked. Ariana Grande raised similar concerns in June after a version of her song Bye appeared in a White House TikTok post depicting ICE arrests.
The list of artists who have previously objected to the administration’s use of their music is extensive. Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Celine Dion, Neil Young and the Rolling Stones have all at various points voiced comparable complaints, reflecting a consistent tension between an administration that appears to deploy popular music as a tool of political imagery and the musicians whose work is being used without their knowledge or consent.
For Kahan, the issue was clearly not simply procedural but personal. His response made clear that the objection was not only about the absence of permission but about the specific association itself, one he said he would never willingly choose.
