Photo credit: Owen Ela

Artist Kim Gordon has released “BYE BYE 25!” a new version of the single from her 2024 album The Collective.  The track was released alongside a video and with it, Gordon taking a stance against moves by the Trump Administration to censor certain words. The video can be found on Gordon’s YouTube channel.

Beginning with protest footage, the black and white video then cuts to Gordon marching towards the camera as aggressive muffled drums kick in. Gordon then stands holding various signs, with the words she lists off for the lyrics. Her delivery almost has a mocking tone, with the harsh instrumentals contrasting words that, while sometimes at the crux of controversies, are often quite mundane on their own. The instrumentals work to emphasize this effect, especially when they all cut away at the delivery of the term “care.”

Elaborating on the meaning of the new lyrics, Gordon stated, “(Producer and collaborator) Justin Raisen had this idea to redo ‘Bye Bye’ starting at the end of the song. When I was thinking of lyric ideas, it occurred to me to use words taken from a site that had all the words that Trump has essentially banned, meaning any grant or piece of a project or proposal for research that includes any of those words would be immediately disregarded or ‘cancelled.'”

Gordon’s stance against the administration is far from uncommon in the music scene, especially after the president and his administration clashed with popular artists like Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young earlier this year. Gordon’s focus on the banning of certain words from government organizations, however, is a unique perspective in the heated back-and-forths between musician and politician.  Ending her statement, Gordon called out hypocrisy of the administration’s actions by saying, “I guess Trump does believe in cancel culture, because he is literally trying to cancel culture.”

The video also features a fundraiser for reproductive rights group NOISE FOR NOW.