2023-08-23 12:57:00
Oliver Anthony was completely unknown until recently. Now he has made it to the top of the charts with a song about the hardships of Americans. Conservatives celebrate “Rich men north of Richmond” as a message to the capital.
Oliver Anthony sings about “Rich Men North of Richmond”, the rich men north of the city of Richmond, Virginia. He probably means the politicians in the capital Washington DC. They forget the ordinary people of the country too often, he says.
Here’s a line of the song:
They want to know what you’re thinking, what you’re doing and think you don’t realize it. But I know you do. Our money doesn’t count for them and it’s taxed ad nauseum.
His song is suddenly being played and sung across the country: Oliver Anthony
The fear of falling
Little is known about Anthony. The man with a full red beard is between his late 20s and early 30s and is originally from Virginia.
He reveals on social networks that he dropped out of school and worked in a factory for a while. He had struggled with mental health problems and alcohol.
He described what drives him in his music to Fox News as follows:
If we carry on as we have done recently, we will soon be without a country, maybe in five or 50 years. The way things are going, I don’t see our country surviving another generation.
What does he have in mind instead? “We need to get back to the roots of what once made this country great, our sense of community.”
“It channels the frustration of many”
According to the US charts, his song has been streamed 17.5 million times in less than a week. Marcus Collins, a professor of music marketing at Fox News, says it’s particularly popular with conservative workers in the United States.
The song alludes to the “economic despair” of many in the country:
It channels the pain and frustration of many. When people hear this music they feel seen and understood, and then they not only listen but share the song with like-minded people.
From protest to patriotism
The song seems to be an outlet that many have been waiting for. Over the weekend, Anthony gave an open-air concert in the state of North Carolina, and thousands of fans turned out and cheered him on. Again and again there were patriotic chants.
One fan told a Fox News reporter the singer reached out to him through his music. It’s time for those up there to listen to them here.
The extreme right cheers
Conservative politicians try to use the hype for themselves. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks Anthony’s song is what Washington DC needs to hear. Conservative media such as Fox News are also pushing the song.
Observers see a new trend in this: the political right in the USA is increasingly trying to promote music and films with conservative content in a targeted manner.
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