"Country superstar Zach Bryan criticized by US Homeland Security over Ice lyrics
Government department taunts chart-topping artist who sang of scared children and Ice raids on unreleased new song
Using rhetoric that is characteristic of its public messaging during Donald Trump's second term in office, the department is responding to a snippet of unreleased new song Bryan posted on social media earlier this week, featuring the lyrics:
"I heard the cops came, cocky ------------- ain't they? / And Ice is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house no one builds no more / Well I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone".
Bryan has elaborated on the song, presumably titled The Fading of the Red White and Blue after he used those words as a caption alongside the song snippet.
The song also more generally laments discord in American society, as Bryan sings: "The middle fingers rising and it won't stop showing / Got some bad news / The fading of the red white and blue."
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Bryan, 29, was born to parents in the US Navy, and himself served in the Navy for eight years as a younger man, writing and uploading his earliest songs while enlisted.
"I am so proud to have served in a country where we can all speak freely and converse amongst each other without getting doxed or accosted on the internet or worse; the violence and heartbreak we've faced in the last few months!" he wrote in another message this week.
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Earlier this month he broke the record for the highest attendance at a ticketed concert in US history, with 112,408 concertgoers, beating another country star, George Strait, who who drew 110,905 to a 2024 concert.
Bryan's huge gig also broke the record for merchandise sales, shifting $5m worth of goods."
www.theguardian.com