Viral sensation Oliver Anthony said he does not believe the United States will last more than another generation if the country continues along its current trajectory.
On Saturday, Anthony performed in front of thousands of fans in Moyock, North Carolina, as part of a free concert.
Following the show, the “Rich Men North of Virginia” singer-songwriter said that while he feels appreciation from people with whom the song resonated, he would rather people appreciate each other and their individual struggles. He said that, hopefully, people can find the energy he put into the song and manifest it in their personal lives.
“You know, talking to their neighbors again and their coworkers and just trying to find similarities with each other instead of division—that’s really all I want,” Anthony told Fox News.He added that the massive positive reception to the song is not necessarily about him or his message, insisting he is not “special.”
“Really, what I believe is God put this message out for people just to give them some hope,” he said.
Anthony then spoke about the current state of American society and predicted a gloomy outlook for the country if the current cultural and political direction does not change course.”If we continue on the path we’re going down now, culturally, we won’t have a country very long. Five years? Fifty years I don’t know,” Anthony said. “I mean, I don’t see our country lasting more than another generation the way we’re headed. We gotta go back to the roots of what made this country great in the first place, which was our sense of community.”
Two weeks ago, Anthony posted a video to YouTube revealing he began writing his music in 2021, which he said was a difficult time for him and those he held close.
Anthony recounted that he received messages from strangers that some of his other songs, like “Ain’t Gotta Dollar,” had connected with them in a powerful way, and he’d been inspired to pursue music full-time even before blowing up in recent weeks. He also called himself “pretty dead center” politically and said he wanted to be a voice for disaffected citizens.”There’s a lot of beautiful people in this world,” he said. “I met a lot of good people [working different jobs], and I meet people from all across the country, and the universal thing I see is that it’s like no matter how hard they push and how much effort they put in to whatever it is they’re doing, they just can’t quite get ahead… People are just sick and tired of being sick and tired, so I want to be a voice for those people.”
Since then, the music video for “Rich Men” has amassed 29 million views on YouTube and sits at number one on the iTunes music charts. The song unseated “Small Town” by Jason Aldean, another country anthem that spoke to the cultural turmoil in America.
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