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In between a myriad of court appearances, US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has been holding political rallies and campaign events, sound-tracked by popular songs.
One of those songs is Sinéad O'Connor's trademark hit Nothing Compares 2 U, and the late musician's estate is not happy about it.
In a joint statement, O'Connor's estate and her record label, Chrysalis, demanded the Republican "desist from using her music immediately".
It said the Irish singer, who died last year aged 56, "lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness and decency towards her fellow human beings".
"It was with outrage therefore that we learned that Donald Trump has been using her iconic performance of Nothing Compares 2 U at his political rallies," the statement said.
"It is no exaggeration to say that Sinéad would have been disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a 'biblical devil'.
"As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately."
This is far from the first time an artist has demanded distance from Trump. Musicians from Rihanna to Linkin Park have objected to him using their music for campaign purposes.
Some, like O'Connor, have had a lot to say about it.
Donald Trump is the 'Fortunate Son'
John Fogerty called Trump's decision to play the Creedence Clearwater Revival track Fortunate Son at his 2020 rallies "confounding".
And it's hard not to agree.
Fogerty wrote Fortunate Son in 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, after he was drafted and served in the US military during the conflict.
"Something I was upset about was that the fact that people with privilege — in other words, rich people, or those with influence — could use that to avoid the draft and not be taken into the military," Fogerty said.
"I found that very upsetting, that such a thing could occur, and that's why I wrote Fortunate Son. That was the intent of the song, the inspiration."
Fogerty could have been alluding to the fact that Trump avoided the Vietnam draft five times, four times because he was in college, and once because he was diagnosed with bone spurs that he later told the New York Times were "temporary".
In October 2020, Fogerty announced he had served Trump with a "cease and desist" order, releasing a statement on social media platform X.
He reiterated his "disgust" at people using their political and financial privilege to avoid military service, and then added that he also wrote about wealthy people "not paying their fair share of taxes".
"Mr Trump is a prime example of both of these issues," he said.
"The fact that Mr Trump also fans the flames of hatred, racism and fear while rewriting recent history, is even more reason to be troubled by his use of my song."
Estates clap back
Like with O'Connor, Trump has been known to use the music of deceased artists, leaving it to their estates to shoo the former US president away.
And sometimes those estates can't resist getting in a jab or two.
Like in 2016, when Trump used George Harrison's Beatles hit Here Comes The Sun to welcome Ivanka Trump on stage at the Republican National Convention (RNC).
Harrison's estate shut it down quickly, calling the use "offensive and against the wishes of the George Harrison estate".
The estate followed up by saying that had Trump requested Beware of Darkness — a Harrison song that explicitly warns listeners of "greedy leaders" — it may have approved its use.
Likewise, in 2020 the Leonard Cohen estate refused the use of Hallelujah at the RNC. Of course, Trump still used the song, albeit a cover, resulting in a scathing statement from the Cohen estate.
It too suggested that perhaps You Want It Darker, Cohan's late career muse on religion and morality, would have been more appropriate.
Repeat offences
Neil Young has been trying since 2015 to stop Trump from using his song Rockin' In The Free World — itself a criticism of former Republican president George H.W Bush (the older one) — with little success.
It all culminated in 2020, with Young releasing a scathing open letter to Trump, who is historically a big Young fan.
"You are a disgrace to my country … your mindless destruction of our shared natural resources, our environment, and our relationships with friends around the world is unforgivable," Young wrote on his website.
"Every time 'Rockin' In the Free World' or one of my songs is played at your rallies I hope you hear my voice. Remember it is the voice of a tax-paying US citizen who does not support you. Me."
Young tried to sue Trump over the usage but voluntarily dismissed the case in December 2020.
R.E.M has also been battling Trump's use of its music for years — first in 2015, when vocalist Michael Stipe went after Trump for using It's the End Of the World as We Know It during rallies.
"Go f*** yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign," Stipe said at the time.
Then, in 2019, bassist Mike Mills succeeded in getting a video in which Trump had used Everybody Hurts taken down from Twitter via a copyright infringement notice.
In 2020 Mills threatened Trump with legal action after he used various R.E.M songs during his campaign rallies.
Australian pollies not immune to musicians' fury
Trump isn't the only politician to have raised the ire of musicians for using their songs.
Remember when Scott Morrison sang a tone-deaf rendition of April Sun in Cuba by Dragon before the 2022 federal election?
Yeah, Dragon wasn't too happy about Morrison using its tune to garner votes (they did not mention the quality of the singing).
"It is a cynical move for a politician to co-opt music in an attempt to humanise themselves come election time," the band's statement said.
"Maybe if his trip to Hawaii had not been cut short, he could have learnt the lyrics to the rest of the chorus."
The band followed it up by sharing this video of Morrison's performance on Instagram.
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ABC/AP