“Trump, thanks to this dance”… ‘YMCA’ song surges in popularity in the 1970s
Village People’s ‘YMCA’ rises to #1 on Billboard dance chart
Google Search – Music streaming listening more than tripled
The 1970s hit song ‘YMCA’, which uses US President-elect Donald Trump’s famous dance moves as background music, is gaining popularity again.
According to American media, including NBC, this song, released in 1978 by the group Village People, has achieved notable results on the charts in recent weeks. At the end of last month, it ranked 15th on the Billboard Dance/Electronic chart, and in the third week of this month, it ranked first on that chart for the first time, gaining popularity again.
Interest in this song did not stop at the chart rankings, but the number of searches for ‘YMCA’ also increased significantly on Google search and music streaming sites, and the number of listens to the last.fm song also increased by about three times compared to before.
In particular, it came into the spotlight again when President-elect Trump began dancing to this song during the 2020 election campaign. Trump danced this dance by repeating the simple movement of clenching his hands into fists and crossing his arms in rhythm, and this scene quickly spread online.
Watch: Trump Dances To ‘YMCA’ At His Campaign Rallies | NBC News NOW
As Trump’s dance moves became more popular, the YMCA began to attract attention again from the younger generation. This song was once considered passé music, but it gained new meaning and garnered great attention again with President-elect Trump’s rally. Some players even imitated Trump’s dance during a National Football League (NFL) game. It became more prominent with the rise in President-elect Trump’s approval rating, and served as an opportunity to rediscover old pop songs.
Meanwhile, the original song ‘YMCA’ is included in the Village People’s album ‘Cruisin’, released in 1978, and the lyrics contain information about a community center run by an American non-profit organization called the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). However, controversy arose when Trump began using the song at political events. In February 2020, the Village People gave Trump permission to use the song, but in June, Victor Willis, the group’s lead vocalist and co-songwriter of “YMCA,” asked Trump not to play the song.
However, the Trump campaign continued to use the song on the grounds that it had obtained a license from a political group. Willis said she thought Trump’s use of the song was “annoying” at the time, but admitted that as time went by and he continued to use the song, “some really good things started to happen.” In the end, Willis said he would no longer oppose Trump’s use of his song.
Reporter Taekwon Kim [email protected]
