Perhaps a few days before the 2024 presidential election isn’t the best time to share a controversial song about politics. And that is why we’re sharing Abbie Barrett’s new tune instead.
The Boston artist recounts the circumstances surrounding the January 6 United States Capitol attack in “Freedumb,” a plain-spoken assessment of the 2021 “hissy fit” that followed the 2020 election. Barrett says she doesn’t consider the tune to be “all that political,” and instead frames her work as a rollicking callout of those who attempted to interfere with the presidential transition process.
“If you support democracy, then you support the election process, which includes the peaceful transfer of power,” Barrett explains. “Calling out the people — including the former president — who stoked the fires that led to such a violent and un-American event shouldn’t be considered controversial.”
“Did you speak and no one cared? / Hurts when freedom tries to play it fair,” she sings on the first verse, later dropping another choice jab in the chorus: “Shoving through the barricades / Let’s pretend we’re renegades!”
Barrett will donate part of the song’s proceeds to the League of Women Voters, a “nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy.”
Tune in below.
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