Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Kim Gordon Protests Against Trump's Cancel Culture With Reimagined Track ‘BYE BYE 25!'

Sonic Youth alum Kim Gordon has never shied away from using her voice, and her latest offering is no different—in a time when society needs it most.

In the wake of societal upheaval and systematic erasure, Gordon has reworked an acclaimed track from her second solo album, ‘The Collective’, reborn as ‘BYE BYE 25!’, which provides a platform for the aspects of culture banned by Donald Trump.

Nestled in a futuristic, industrial soundscape built with reverberating bass and echoing spoken word vocals are utterances like “advocate”, “climate change”, “Hispanic”, “immigrants”, and “transgender”—all of which are under scrutiny by the US political leader.

Accompanied by a 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'–esque video, co-directed by Gordon and Vice Cooler, Gordon doubles down on her statement, holding placards with the lyrics, which are interspersed with protest footage.

When talking about the new song, Gordon remarked: “When I was thinking of lyric ideas, it occurred to me to use words taken from a site that had all the words that Trump has essentially banned, meaning any grant or piece of a project or proposal for research that includes any of those words would be immediately disregarded or “cancelled.” I guess Trump does believe in cancel culture, because he is literally trying to cancel culture.”

As always, music is an invaluable platform for seeking political justice, and this paired-back offering from Gordon says nothing more than what is needed.

Proceeds from the sale of “BYE BYE 25!”, both song and t-shirt, will be donated to NOISE FOR NOW.


Megan-Louise Burnham

@mgn.lb

Image: Vice Cooler



If you enjoyed reading this article please consider buying us a coffee. The money from this pot goes towards the ever increasing yearly costs of running and hosting the site, and our "Writer Of The Month" cash prize.