A Campaign-Song Nightmare

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At the Democratic National Convention last month, Hillary Clinton walked offstage to her campaign anthem from 2016, “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. It was meant, of course, as an uplifting moment. But a journalist friend I was watching with who had covered the Clinton campaign froze when he heard it, and said, “I’m triggered,” only half joking. Platten back then was having her first real taste of fame. She had loaned the song to the campaign out of a sisterly feminist feeling. But given the way history unfolded, the decision came to haunt her. “I felt bad for my song. I felt bad for me. I felt bad for all of us,” she says.

Lately many musicians have objected to Donald Trump using their songs at his campaign rallies, sometimes because they disagree with his politics. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, we talk with Platten about what can go wrong even if you are sympathetic to a campaign. After eight years of processing her experience, she is both brutally honest and gracious.

The following is a transcript of the episode:

Hanna Rosin: Just a quick note: This episode contains some cursing that you may not usually hear on this show.

Rosin: Tell me if this analogy is right, because I was thinking the metaphor is like: If you bought a dress that you loved, and then you wore this dress to a party, and then something unexpectedly terrible happened at the party, you weirdly would hate the dress. It’s not the dress’s fault.

Rachel Platten: (Laughs.)

Rosin: But you would be angry at the dress.

Platten: (Laughs.)

Rosin: I was wondering if that’s the reaction people had to the song when Hillary lost?

Platten: I mean, that would be a pretty—

Rosin: Fair or unfair?

Platten: Well, I think it’s a little dumb to be mad at a dress. (Laughs.)

Rosin: (Laughs.) Right.

[“Fight Song,” by Rachel Platten]

Rosin: This is Radio Atlantic. I’m Hanna Rosin.

Every four years, the music world and the political world interact, and weird things happen.

[“Turn Down for What,” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon]

This election year, there’s been the DNC roll call featuring Lil Jon. There was also the rumor the Beyoncé was going to show up to the DNC, which she never did, “Kamala Harris is brat,” “Swifties for Kamala.”

And then on the Republican side, a less-cute kind of relationship with the music world.

Newscaster: A federal judge in Atlanta has ruled today that former President Donald Trump and his campaign needs to stop using the song, “Hold On, I’m Coming.”

Newscaster: Swedish pop group ABBA is the latest musical group to object to the Trump campaign.

Newscaster: Singer Celine Dion is criticizing former President Donald Trump’s campaign for playing her music at political rallies without her permission. Dion says the campaign has played “My Heart Will Go On” at these events since last year.

Rosin: But even when a musician agrees with a politician—like, is wholeheartedly down with the mission of the campaign—there can be dangers. One musician has gone on this journey in the most crushing and public kind of way. Her name is Rachel Platten.

Rosin: When did the term “fight song” occur to you? Do you even remember anymore?

Platten: I do. I do. It was very clear. I was at a college football game. I’m kidding.

Rosin: (Laughs.) Get out of here.

Platten: (Laughs.) I’m fucking with you.

Rosin: I was totally—I was like, This is not going to be this—

Platten: Wouldn’t that be amazing? I was like, I was at Ohio State. It was loud.

Rosin: It’s not going to be this literal.

Rosin: Rachel is the artist behind “Fight Song.”

Platten: It was a little bit more wordy when I wrote it. It was like, This is my fight song, time to take back my life song, time to prove I’m all right. Anyway—

Rosin: “Fight Song” was also the song that—for better or worse—became synonymous with Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Hillary Clinton: Let’s stand up for the future that we want together! Thank you all so much!

[“Fight Song” overlapping with crowd applause]

Rosin: “Fight Song” played and played and played—over and over and over again at 10 million campaign rallies—until my friend and political reporter Olivia Nuzzi tweeted that summer: “I would rather be strapped to a chair and forced to listen to ‘Tiny Dancer’ on a loop for nine hours than hear ‘Fight Song’ one more time.”

But here’s the first heartbreak: Initially, Rachel didn’t even want the Hillary campaign to use the song at all because Rachel was having her first real brush with fame and success after more than a decade of hustling in the music industry, and she didn’t want to risk it.

So when the campaign first called, Rachel was like, No.

Platten: No. No, no, no, no. I was afraid.

Rosin: Ah, even then?

Platten: I did not want that to happen, and I was trying to stall my answer.

Rosin: Interesting.

Platten: And I remember saying a gentle no. I did a respectful no for a couple months.

Rosin: Why?

Platten: Because if you go back to the me that was there and had just had everything come after 13 years and was trying to shift and bend and shape myself into someone that I thought could keep this, I did not want to do anything divisive. And I was scared to be on any side of anything. And the song was resonating deeply with kids in the hospital—

Rosin: Yeah. I read that.

Platten: —and with cancer patients and with sports teams and with people overcoming horrible things. And so to, all of a sudden, be asked to put my song as something that would stand for only one group was the opposite of what I believed. No matter what I personally believed, I didn’t want my music to do that when I saw how healing music could be.

Rosin: Right. Just to enter into any kind of arena of—

Platten: Divisiveness.

Rosin: —one versus another.

Platten: Yeah. That’s not what I stand for, and it’s not what I’m interested in or passionate about. Though I understand how important it is in every other aspect of life, for me, as an artist, it’s not what I’m here to do.

Rosin: Mm-hmm. So how did that shift?

Platten: Well, I think it got kind of hard to say no. I think it just didn’t make that much sense to say no.

Rosin: Because?

Platten: I was on Columbia Records. And I am married to a man that’s very interested in politics. And I have a family that’s very interested in—I had people around me very excited about the possibility and who didn’t understand this somewhat naive but tender artist heart that I had that was scared. Everyone was just like, What are you talking about? Who cares? I don’t care if you’re scared. This matters.

Rosin: Oh.

Platten:This fucking matters. You have to do this.

And I felt that in my soul, too. I felt like, All right. Okay. I’m a girl’s girl. I’m a woman’s woman. I, as a woman, I have to allow this woman, who’s going to possibly be the first official nominee—I have to let her use it. I can’t say no. Who am I to say no?

[“Fight Song”]

Rosin: After the break—why Rachel maybe should’ve said no.

[Break]

Rosin: “Fight Song” was already a hit, but it cemented its status when a version premiered at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. A montage of celebrities sang along in front of bright, colorful backgrounds. The vibes were: We are hopeful. This is good.

Also, we were still really into a capella back then, post-Pitch Perfect and all.

[Rendition of "Fight Song"]

Platten: The first time I heard it used in the context of her campaign was the DNC, and it was on TV.

Elizabeth Banks: It’s night two. Who’s pumped up?

Platten: And caught my husband being like, Dude, turn it on. He was in New York. And I remember, I was in my towel with wet hair, alone in a small, little bungalow in Venice, totally caught by surprise.

[Rendition of "Fight Song"]

Platten: I knew she was going to, but I think it hadn’t been officialized or something. We didn’t know if she’d actually use it for the DNC. For some reason—it might be dumb of me—but I didn’t know that I completely expected it.

Rosin: Mm-hmm.

Platten: And so hearing it was exciting. And it was beautiful. And I had tears in my eyes. And I was proud. And it was amazing. It was amazing.

[Rendition of "Fight Song"]

Rosin: That seems uncomplicated.

Platten: Yeah. It was uncomplicated. Regardless of what I believed, it was a very special thing to hear a song that I wrote for myself. It was uncomplicated, and it made me really proud.

Rosin: And did it remain that way?

Platten: (Laughs.) No.

Rosin: (Laughs.)

Platten: No. You know what happened! I mean, no! It wasn’t just her losing. It was the political pundits—these poor people who had to hear it over and over and over, my God. Anything you hear over and over is so annoying.

Rosin: (Laughs.)

Platten: You hate the song that’s the most-played song. It’s so fucking annoying. And so of course “Fight Song” became annoying. And I felt bad for them. I felt bad for my song. I felt bad for me. I felt bad for all of us. It’s just like, I don’t want you to have to hear my song that much. And you don’t want to hear my song that much.

John Oliver: I did not agree to appear in this. I was just told to wait here with these things on my ears. No one mentioned this is part of a weirdly earnest a capella song for Clinton. Awful! Again, I did not agree to be part of this. This song is going to irritate people.

Platten: And it became complicated and hard because there was a lot of tweets making fun of me and personalizing it. Kevin, my husband, follows all of that, and so he was aware of what was happening and showing me. If it maybe had been up to me, I would have just tuned it out—or tried to—but he is obsessed with Twitter and the news cycle and, like, always updating. And so he was seeing all of it. And these people that he followed and admired and looked up to were making fun of his wife daily, and he was just like, That’s not good.

And it didn’t feel good. It was confusing. And I felt misunderstood. And I was taking it personally when it was not personal at all. It wasn’t personal. There’s a naivety about the song if you don’t know the artist behind it, and there’s a simplicity about the song if you don’t know me and you don’t know my story and you don’t know what happened to me and why I wrote it. And maybe there’s a simplicity regardless.

But to be made fun of was really—it sucked. It sucked.

Rosin: Did it make you feel—I don’t know; I’m guessing here, but—ashamed of the more naive parts of you? Or what was the part—because sometimes you can say, Fuck you, Twitter. And sometimes it hurts, you know? I’ve been there myself.

Platten: No. It did hurt. I could never—until now, until I turned 40, had kids, went through a severe mental-health crisis. Now I don’t give a shit. I understand what matters and who I really am. And I derive my sense of worth from my own heart and from my family and friends. But at the time—newly famous—I did not feel like, Fuck you, Twitter. I felt like, Oh my God. There must be something bad about me or my writing, or it must be dumb.

And then it was conflicting because, at the same time, I was still getting thousands and thousands of messages from people telling me that it was healing them from cancer or their battle cry or the thing that saved their life. So I also felt protective of the people who were being moved by it, and so that was a confusing feeling.

I kind of wanted to be like, I wish that all of you could see the person in the hospital. Or maybe it’s your mom, or your sister, or your brother. I wish you could see what I see and experience how this has healing power, too. And how anything massively popular—there’s going to be people’s positive reactions and negative reactions when it becomes so big. And I think that it was hard to stomach, and it was confusing.

Rosin: Did it make you question any parts of yourself or the way that you were?

Platten: Yeah. I think that my relentless positivity that I was promoting—because I thought that that’s what I was supposed to do, as the singer behind “Fight Song”—it wasn’t necessarily who I am. It was one part of me. Yes, I am a hopeful person to my core. But at the same time, I’m someone who has had trauma and faced pain and felt deep fear. And I didn’t think that that was who I was supposed to be in the public. I didn’t think that was who anyone wanted to see sing “Fight Song.”

Rosin: Of course, we all know what happened next: Hillary lost.

Clinton: Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the outcome we wanted—

Rosin: With Hillary’s loss, “Fight Song” took on a different kind of feeling. The annoyance about the overexposure and its relentless optimism curdled into something meaner. It was no longer the anthem of the first female presidential campaign. It was a reminder of its failure.

In 2020, Matt Miller of Esquire wrote this: “Even four years later, it’s impossible to separate that mindless, cloying chorus with the crumbling of our nation’s pride.”

Rosin: Do you remember when she lost? Were you at a party with your friends, like a lot of people?

Platten: Oh. I was, unfortunately, in a fitting because I had the American Music Awards—I think I had a fitting. It was so stupid. I was in a gown. I was trying on gowns, and I was very frustrated because I remember feeling like, This is so dumb. I’ve made the wrong life choices, that I’m being stuffed into a shiny, sequined thing when this humongous thing is about to happen.

And it was panicky. And we were all, like—someone was hemming the dress, and it was one of those classic movie moments where she pricked me, and I was like, Ah! None of us were feeling great, and all of us were anxious. And, yeah, it felt so stupid and superficial to be doing that. I remember looking around like, What am I doing?

Rosin: And when she lost, then did something change around the song for you or for the song? Then what happened? Because that’s a whole other layer of meaning that you didn’t ask for.

Platten: That’s interesting. It changed for people in the political spectrum—and I’m sure people in the public, if they didn’t know the song in any other context, I’m sure it changed in that way—but not for me, personally. No. I mean, I was still touring to 15,000, 20,000 people at a time who were screaming it back to me with tears in their eyes. And so it wasn’t really changing for me in that way unless I looked on my phone.

And there it was changing. Whatever the news was saying, or whoever was interviewing me, and being told, Oh, your song is actually representing failure now, or being made fun of in a worse way, I was like, Okay, right. I understand that. And yet I’m touring, and this is what’s happening in my actual life. So what am I supposed to pay attention to?

Rosin: So you’re headlining, and the people are responding to the song, and then the narrative somewhere out there is like—

Platten: Somewhere out there are people that hate it and hate me and hate what it means, and—hate’s a strong word. That’s what I felt. That’s a young part of me that felt that way, so that’s probably why I said that. But there’s a whole other group of people that are collectively, maybe, rolling their eyes or frustrated or feeling whatever way they are feeling.

And yet there is a massive amount of people that I’m seeing in front of me that are feeling quite differently, and also, people online that are also still sending me those messages, and the song is still number one. So it’s a little confusing, right?

Rosin: Knowing what you know now, would you still let the Hillary campaign—or any campaign—use your song?

Platten: (Laughs.) Did you see my post on X? I think Matthew Yglesias was like, All right, pop stars. Let’s go! Kamala’s running! Where are you? Taylor? Selena? And I posted a meme of Homer Simpson retreating into the bush.

Rosin: (Laughs.) I was going to say, if another artist came to you and said, Hey! Kamala’s campaign wants to use my song, what would you say?

Platten: I would say, I think I’m good. I think I’m good. I love you. Bless you. I think I’ve done my part in that way, and, I think, a kind hell no. (Laughs.)

Rosin: (Laughs.) Would you advise anyone else to do it?

Platten: I don’t know. I don’t know. On one hand, look—I had to go through all of that to be where I am today.

Rosin: Interesting.

Platten: I don’t regret it. I don’t look back and feel dumb or feel hurt anymore about it. I feel a sense of understanding and kindness towards the Rachel that in that moment made that decision. And I love her, and I wish I could put my arms around her and say, This is gonna suck. But what you’re going to learn from this experience is—whew—it’s so good. And I don’t want to rob you of that experience. So, girl—get your armor on. Get your big girl’s panties on. Let’s go!

[Music]

Rosin: This episode of Radio Atlantic was produced by Jinae West. It was edited by Claudine Ebeid, fact-checked by Stef Hayes, and engineered by Rob Smierciak.

Claudine Ebeid is the executive producer of Atlantic audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor.

By the way, Rachel has a new album out. It’s called, I Am Rachel Platten.

I’m Hanna Rosin. And thank you for listening.