The best musicians do not want their work associated with Trump in any way. A tome could be written on the number of artists who’ve sued or clapped back to his campaign/administration playing music without permission. As I’ve mentioned before, I think it comes down to artists having great reserves of empathy, which makes all the illegal, immoral acts being done in Trump 2.0 all the more hard to take. Though the year is young, we’ve already seen some tremendous push back from musicians: Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz withdrawing from a Kennedy Center engagement, Neil Young gifting Greenland free access to his music, and Bruce Springsteen penning a protest song in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis standing up to ICE right now. Lady Gaga has long been outspoken against Trump, and at her Thursday Mayhem Ball concert in Tokyo, she paused the show to lend her voice to the chorus of those condemning ICE:

In a lengthy and impassioned statement at the Tokyo Dome, Gaga said, “I want to take a second to talk about something that’s extremely important to me. Something important to people all over the world and especially in America right now. In a couple of days, I’m gonna be heading home, and my heart is aching thinking about the people — the children, the families, all over America — who are being mercilessly targeted by ICE.”

Continued Gaga: “I’m thinking about all of their pain and how their lives are being destroyed right in front of us. I’m also thinking about Minnesota and everyone back at home who is living in so much fear and searching for answers on what we all should do. When entire communities lose their sense of safety and belonging, it breaks something in all of us.”

“I hope that you’ll all stand with us tonight,” she continued. “I know we’re not in America right now, but we are with our community and we love you. I’d like to dedicate this song to everyone who is suffering, to everyone who’s feeling alone and helpless, anyone who’s lost a loved one and is having a difficult time, an impossible time, seeing when the end will be near. We need to get back to a place of safety and peace and accountability. Good people shouldn’t have to fight so hard and risk their lives for well-being and respect. I hope our leaders are listening. I hope you’re listening to us ask you to change your course of action swiftly and have mercy on everyone in our country. At a time where it doesn’t feel like it’s easy to have hope, it is my community and my friends, my family that hold me up. So, I would like to sing a song that does have some hope in it, to try to give us a little bit tonight.”

Gaga then launched into a performance of “Come to Mama” from her album Joanne.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

First, a note on the song: “Come to Mama” makes sense for the moment, sure, but come on — “Angel Down” is right there! “I’m a believer, it’s a trial/ Foolish and weaker, oh, oh, oh/ I’d rather save an angel down/ I’m a believer, it’s chaos/ Where are our leaders? Oh, oh, oh/ I’d rather save an angel down.” Ok, mini rant over. Gaga’s speech was captured on video by concertgoers, and there were things I noticed in watching and listening that you don’t get from reading the transcript. For one thing, you can hear in her voice how emotional she is. She keeps it together, but the tenor of her voice conveys that she could burst into tears any minute. The second thing I was struck by was that these were not off-the-cuff remarks. She’s sitting at a piano, and clearly keeps looking to where sheet music would be and reading from her notes there, while still looking out into the audience to deliver the speech. The words were prepared, and I found that moving.

Also incredibly moving, was a new video that dropped this week of Gaga singing Mister Rogers’ classic “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The video was a teaser/behind-the-scenes clip of her singing some of the song, ahead of the full thing which will be part of a Rocket and Redfin Super Bowl commercial (I know, I know, I wish it were for some PBS fundraiser too). Variety really hits the nail on the head when they ask: “In 2026, does ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ count as a protest song?”

Lady Gaga condemns ICE in heartfelt speech at the MAYHEM Ball in Tokyo tonight:

"I want to take a second to talk about something that’s extremely important to me. Something important to people all over the world and especially in America right now. In a couple of days, I'm gonna… pic.twitter.com/UmfXmZIKPy

— Gaga Daily (@gagadaily) January 29, 2026

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit: Best Image/Backgrid, Getty Images