How PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson’s “Stateside” Interrogates the American Dream
A possibly too-close reading of one of the most ubiquitous songs of the year
Two days after he won the U.S. presidential election in 2008, Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at the MTV Europe Music Awards. At the end of Estelle and Kanye West’s performance of “American Boy,” their flirty ode to transatlantic romance, the duo turned toward the massive screen behind them to reveal a picture of the newly minted president-elect’s smiling face. Confetti rained down from the rafters. The crowd at Liverpool, England’s Echo Arena let out a Beatlemanical scream. Estelle and Kanye hugged and beamed, reveling in the moment.
Back then, “American Boy” provided an upbeat soundtrack to all the promises of an idealized Obama administration. Estelle played the classy Brit curious about those brash boys from Brooklyn, Miami, and Chicago; Kanye was the flashy suitor goofily cramming words like “bloke” and “rubbish” into his overconfident bars. This was when the rapper was still a nerdy pop-culture superhero balancing exceptionalism with self-consciousness, just like Obama.
Beyond the music world, this song about friendly international relations came along at the exact right point in history: Following years of a strained partnership with the George W. Bush administration, Europe was looking forward to a fresh start. This perspective was summed up at the time by UK parliament member Denis MacShane, who told NPR, “We can tackle Iran, we can find a solution in the Middle East, we can stop Russia from being a Soviet-style bully, but we’ve got to speak as one and show that this new America sees Europe as a partner, rather than just as a poodle to be called on from now and then and dismissed if it’s not going to walk in the same direction as the White House wants to walk in.” Though the Obama years did make some of those dreams temporarily come true, in 2026, deep into the anarchic Trump era, the quote’s wishful thinking practically reads as parody.
And yet. As experts claim the alliance between the U.S. and Europe is at its lowest since the creation of NATO in 1949—thanks in part to Trump’s tariffs, his war of choice in Iran, and his affection for authoritarians like Vladimir Putin—we’ve got a new smash about longing for American dudes scaling pop charts around the world. It made me wonder: What does the success of UK star PinkPantheress and Swedish singer Zara Larsson’s “Stateside,” which even references “American Boy” in its chirpy chorus, mean beyond the nifty hooks and TikTok dances? And why is it resonating when America, as an unavoidable sociopolitical phenomenon, is finding new ways to lean into its greedy boorishness with every passing day? If so many people hate the U.S. right now, why do so many of those same people love this song?
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