Country music star Zach Bryan’s new song takes a shot at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Grammy winner shared a short clip of the unreleased track on Instagram on Friday.
The teaser includes sharp lyrics criticizing ICE’s tactics during mass immigration raids under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Highlights
- Zach Bryan’s unreleased song ‘Bad News’ sharply criticizes ICE’s immigration raids under Trump’s administration.
- Bryan is a U.S. Navy veteran who served for eight years and was honorably discharged in 2021 to pursue a music career.
- The song sparked backlash from conservative MAGA fans and calls for boycotts.
- Bryan recently drew over 112,000 fans to the largest U.S. concert in history.
In the clip, Bryan sings, “I heard the cops came / Cocky motherf*****s, ain’t they?”
A new ballad by country artist Zach Bryan takes a shot at ICE
Image credits: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
“And ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house no one builds no more / But I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone. The middle finger’s rising, and it won’t stop showing / Got some bad news / The fading of the red, white and blue,” the lyrics read.
He captioned the post, “The fading of the red, white and blue.”
While his lyrics criticize a law enforcement agency, the 29-year-old artist is a U.S. Navy veteran himself. Bryan was born on an American military base in Okinawa, Japan, to a Navy family.
Bryan enlisted at 17 and served for eight years. He was honorably discharged in 2021 to pursue a music career.
“It made a man out of me, truly,” he said in a 2021 Instagram post. “If it was my decision, I would never get out of the worlds [sic] greatest Navy, but here I am and they kindly honorably discharged me to go play some music.
“The best eight years of my life were spent serving the best country in the whole damn world,” he wrote.
Bryan had also praised Trump after an assassination attempt and had posted a picture with him at the 2024 Super Bowl.
Bryan’s criticism of ICE stands out in the country music world, which often leans conservative.
The clip of the new song, reportedly titled ‘Bad News,’ quickly spread on social media.
The comments on his current post were turned off after he was slammed by conservative MAGA fans.
MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson criticized Bryan on X. At the same time, he also acknowledged that the singer had the largest ticketed concert in U.S. history last month.
“He just drew over 112,000 fans to what became the largest concert in U.S. history last week. Now, that will never happen again. When will they learn?” he wrote.
Conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley, known online as DC Draino, accused Bryan of supporting undocumented immigrants and called for a boycott.
“We were just invaded by over 10 million illegal aliens and who does Zach Bryan cheer for? The illegals,” he wrote on X. “I smell a boycott brewing.”
Bryan’s post was heavily criticized by MAGA supporters
Fox News host Tomi Lahren called the song “trash,” while influencer Catturd claimed Bryan’s career was “in the toilet.”
The timing of Bryan’s song comes amid heightened immigration enforcement.
Trump’s administration has increased mass deportations since his return to office in January. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently confirmed that ICE will have a strong presence at the upcoming Super Bowl, where Bad Bunny is scheduled to perform.
Image credits: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Officials said agents would “be all over” the event to enforce immigration laws.
Bryan has said in the past that he doesn’t see himself as a political artist, describing his views as libertarian.
Image credits: Lorne Thomson/Getty Images
Last year, he said in a now-deleted X post: “The more a person includes politics into their life anywhere besides a ballot the more I figure they don't have anything more interesting to do or say.”
Bryan has not announced when ‘Bad News’ will be released in full.