On Friday night, some viewers may have been surprised to hear Rachel Platten’s hit tune “Fight Song” at Donald Trump’s inaugural ball celebrating his victory.
That’s because Hillary Clinton campaign used the song at rallies and it also appeared in a celebrity-stacked ad supporting Clinton. While Platten was O.K. with having her song co-opted for Clinton’s purpose, she was ultimately not in favor of the unauthorized cover performed by the Piano Guys at Friday night’s event.
On Saturday, she tweeted her displeasure:
The Piano Guys responded to Platten’s messages, countering that their performance “had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton or politics.”
Platten’s song—about finding the courage to make it in the music industry—was already triple-platinum by the time the Clinton campaign picked it up. As she explained to the L.A. Times, “I was a little scared at first just because I knew the song meant a lot to a lot of people—and politics, no matter how important, divide us. I was a little frightened about that. But I’m proud of how it’s been used. I don’t have any regrets about it.”
For their cover, the Piano Guys played an instrumental mashup of “Fight Song” and “Amazing Grace.”
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