The hit song “Not Ready to Make Nice” by The Chicks (formerly known as the Dixie Chicks) has been circulating on TikTok in recent weeks after conservative users posted videos featuring the song to speak out against Vice President Kamala Harris. run for the 2024 presidential election and express support for the Republican Party.
Some TikTokers posted videos of themselves singing lyrics like “And how in the world / could the words I said / drive someone so over the edge / that they would write me a letter / saying I better shut up and sing / or my life will be over?” while music plays in the background. Others have also imposed text on their videos, saying things like “Using this song because that’s exactly how the liberal party is treating us conservatives,” or posted videos with hashtags like “#trump” and “#useyourvoice”.
But as the videos gained traction, liberal TikTokers began responding, chiding people who didn’t understand the political context behind the song, which was released in 2006 as a direct response to the backlash The Chicks received for not supporting the War. of Iraq.
“Media literacy is so [dead] if the individuals in the magazine don’t know the history of this song and The Chicks, why this song is about people like YOU,” one user wrote in a TikTok.
On March 10, 2003 — days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq — The Chicks lead singer and Texas native Natalie Maines he said on stage in London: “We don’t want this war, this violence, and we are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
After media outlets reported Maines’ comments, many of the group’s fans who supported Republican President George W. Bush erupted in outrage. The Chicks were on top of the country music world at the time, says Marissa R. Moss, a music journalist and author of Your Country: How Women in Country Music Became the Success They Never Should Have. But after Maines’ comments, country radio stations stopped playing their songs while thousands of people called to complain about the group. The group also received death threats. Although Maines initially apologized for disrespecting the office of president, she later retracted her apology.
“Not Ready to Make Nice” was written by all three band members – Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire – along with singer-songwriter Dan Wilson. The music includes song lyrics like, “I’m not ready to be kind / I’m not ready to back down / I’m still mad.” Maines previously described the album on which the song appears as “pure therapy” (The Chicks publicity team did not respond to a request for comment).
Moss says she considers Maines’ comments to be “one of the most significant events in the history of country music” and the song to be “one of the most important protest songs of the modern era.”
“Not only were their lives made to be miserable, not only were they financially affected, not only were their creativity tried to be stifled, but their physical safety and the safety of their families were threatened,” says Moss. And yet – “They literally said no, we’re not going to apologize.”
“Not Ready to Make Nice” became a hit, winning three Grammy awards. Moss says the song showed artists they could “talk [their] mind” and receive backlash, but still “come back” and make music and find an audience that appreciates it.
Moss says it’s “ironic” that conservatives on social media are now using the song to express support for the Republican Party. She says there’s a “long tradition” of people assuming that all country musicians or musicians share conservative values — like how many people misinterpreted Martina McBride’s song “Independence Day” is a patriotic anthem when it’s actually a song about domestic violence, Moss says.
“They’re using a song…by women that represents everything they claim to be against,” Moss says of conservative TikTokers using “Not Ready to Make Nice” to speak out against the Democratic Party. “Maybe everyone needs to do a little more research and maybe they’ll gain some empathy from this experience.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
