“Go’n load us up with tariffs, but we’ll never be the 51st state." That’s the chorus Bryan Adams dropped on Canada Day, and it’s about as subtle as a power chord. He never says ~Trump’s~ name once. He doesn’t need to.
CBC covers the release: a two-minute, sixteen-second rock anthem timed to July 1 (Canda Day), built around the annexation rhetoric Trump has repeated on and off for the better part of two years. Adams frames it as tribute rather than takedown. “There is more that binds us than divides us,” he said. “This is a tribute to the pride and spirit of my fellow Canadians - the rest is just noise.”
What makes it land is the timing, not just the lyric. Ninety percent of Canadians oppose the 51st-state idea according to Angus Reid, and the phrase has become shorthand across the political spectrum, from Doug Ford to Mark Carney. Adams just put a hook on a sentiment that was already everywhere.
It’s a two-minute listen. Worth it. lnk.to/51stState
Yes this Aussie is late to this party but just discovered via Spotify Release Radar - my regular Friday listening habit.
Bryan Adams takes aim at Trump with protest song 51st State — CBC News, July 2026