One little funny/bizarre/horrifying thing about the internet is the way it offers up everything and, in doing so, makes it possible to strip anything of its history. But to paraphrase Kamala Harris, you didn’t just fall out of the coconut tree. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you” — wise words worth heeding, especially for all the Trump voters and conservatives making TikToks with the Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice.”
Over the past month or so, “Not Ready to Make Nice” has become an unexpected MAGA anthem of sorts, meant to express a certain rage at liberals supposedly telling conservatives what to do all the time (the past few Supreme Court terms notwithstanding, apparently). Young women especially have taken the song as a way to push back against the possibility of Harris becoming the first female president.
“Using this song because this is exactly how the liberal party is treating conservatives,” one poster wrote. Another caption read, “Female rage is seeing women say they’re voting for Kamala because ‘she’s a woman and for my daughter’s future.’ But what about the women who’s [sic] lives and future were taken by illegal immigrants because of Kamala’s failure to be the Border Czar?” (This is a frequent talking point in many of the “Not Ready to Make Nice” TikToks.)
It is true that “Not Ready to Make Nice” is one of popular music’s great distillations of female rage. Though, as many, many, many have pointed out, the Chicks famously wrote “Not Ready to Make Nice” after speaking out against George W. Bush and the Iraq War. It was a valiant gesture for which they were systematically blackballed (dare we say canceled) by the country music world while receiving an onslaught of vitriol from the far-right.
The Chicks —who just performed at the Democratic National Convention this week — may have responded to the trend, sharing a clip of the “Not Ready to Make Nice” video on TikTok with the not-so-subtle caption, “Bless her heart.” A rep for the band did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Now, the thing about art is that no matter an artist’s intentions, once their work is out in the world, it’s no longer fully theirs. People can do what they want with it. One MAGA-loving country artist on TikTok, Austin Forman, has spent the past couple of days doing just that, slurping liberal tears as he explains why, actually, it’s totally fine for conservatives to relate to the song’s lyrics despite the reason they were written. (He even did his own acoustic cover of the tune, ostensibly as an effort to offer conservative posters a version they can use without putting money in the Chicks’ pocket, though that’s not exactly how publishing royalties work.)
And, you know what? Sure. Conservatives can use the song however they want — but that doesn’t stop it from being funny as hell. The dissonance is as glaringly goofy as Paul Ryan loving Rage Against the Machine, Ronald Reagan trying to co-opt “Born in the U.S.A,” or even the decisively non-political trend of TikTokers using a freaking Charlie Manson demo to capture a cozy autumn vibe. If the righteous words and voice of Natalie Maines speak to conservatives, it’s a testament to her artistry — and maybe cause for them to consider why their own grievances haven’t produced much art anywhere near as good.
