There's a new sound of protest going viral on TikTok. What is being said, and how much impact could it have? We're just two weeks into January, but this year has already been eventful. There's Trump's incursion into Venezuela, and last week’s ICE shooting in Minneapolis, which led to protests all across the country over the weekend. And these protests on the street are connected to some of the music we’re hearing online: artists like Jensen McRae and Jesse Welles are responding to current events with their own musical takes on the news with bitesize songs on TikTok. But why is folk protest music having revival, and who is listening?  Brittany sits down with NPR Music reporter <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/766798576/isabella-gomez-sarmiento"target="_blank" >Isabella Gomez Sarmiento</a> to get into why this folk-y protest music hasn’t been popular in decades – and why it’s going viral now. You can read Isabella's story <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/11/nx-s1-5600024/folk-protest-singers-jesse-welles-mon-rovia"target="_blank" >here</a>. Support Public Media. <a href="https://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >Join NPR Plus.</a> Follow Brittany on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bmluse/?hl=en"target="_blank" >@bmluse</a> For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at <a href="https://www.npr.org/podclub"target="_blank" >npr.org/podclub</a>. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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