It was on January 21, 1985, when Ronald Reagan delivered his inauguration speech as re-elected president of the United States from the Capitol rotunda, under the grand dome of the building, shielded from the freezing temperatures outside. In that same year of 1985, with disco music in decline, Village People released their last studio album after dominating the dance floors for years with hits like Macho Man, In the Navy, and, of course, YMCA.
All of that is back. Trump's second term will also begin indoors. His political intentions do not differ much from some of those Reagan expressed in that speech. And today, Village People's rhythm is the anthem of the MAGA movement. Yesterday, at the last rally before the inauguration, the new band members, after a four-minute performance with the president-elect swaying in the background, were bid farewell with a loud ovation from the devoted Trumpism followers gathered at the Capital One Arena in Washington. YMCA, the LGBTQ community anthem for the past decades - although its creator now threatens to sue anyone who claims it - is now the soundtrack of a president who rejects any form of diversity. During his inauguration, he made it clear that there are "only two genders": men and women.
What are the paths that have led us here? The first one is undoubtedly economic. The lyricist of YMCA, Victor Willis, acknowledges this. "The economic benefits have been significant," he stated in a Facebook post in December. Village People's hit has earned "several million dollars" since Trump adopted it as his anthem. "I am glad to have allowed the president-elect to continue using YMCA. And I thank him for choosing to use my song," insisted one of the original group founders.
Those millions of dollars have made Willis forget the repeated complaints he had made about the use of his music by the incoming president of the United States. The last one was in May 2023 when Trump appeared with his own Village People dancing at his Mar-a-Lago residence to Macho Man. The musician sent a letter to his lawyer asking him to stop using his song.
Three years earlier, in 2020, he had threatened to sue him for using his songs. In June of that same year, Trump ordered security forces to disperse with pepper spray and smoke bombs those who were protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. American media reported at that time that it was because Trump wanted to take a photo op in front of St. John's Episcopal Church. "If Trump orders the U.S. military to shoot its own citizens [...] I ask him to no longer use any of my songs. I'm sorry, but I can't look the other way anymore," Willis stated in a Facebook post at that time. Five years and substantial earnings later, it seems he can do so without any problem.
However, not only with that money can the resurgence of YMCA be explained - it returned to the number 1 spot on the U.S. charts four decades later after Trump's victory in the November elections - among the Trumpist ranks. Nostalgia is the second path that has brought it back. The typical Republican leader voter is mostly a white man between 50 and 65 years old. Those who experienced their childhood and, especially, their adolescence when Village People were a sensation. In other words, those who danced to YMCA, Macho Man, and In the Navy in American clubs and discotheques in the late 70s. Those who listened to them at home and in their trucks through the radio. Those who wanted to be that construction worker, that military man, that biker, that police officer, or even that cowboy.
Describing the resurgence of YMCA in very simple terms, Jamie Saris, associate professor at the Department of Anthropology at Maynooth University (Ireland), stated to the BBC, "Now the same people who used to feel uncomfortable with it are saying: 'The 70s were great! My back didn't hurt!'". They were young and could dance. Similarly, music critic for the New York Times Jon Caramanica explains, referring to Trump's last rally. "The soundtrack had a bias from four or five decades ago. It was largely the sound of Studio 54 and its derivatives, squeezed through layers of history, irony, and post-history until nothing was left but the rhythm."
And to that rhythm, Trump and thousands of his supporters dressed in white t-shirts and Levi's jeans, biker clothes, U.S. Navy uniforms, or cowboy attire dance today at his rallies. All of them now on their way to the White House.