Legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is making her political voice heard in a new way, and this time, she doesn’t need a microphone. The music icon is turning to her other lifelong passion, painting, to deliver a pointed message about President Donald Trump, American politics and the nonstop news cycle.
Mitchell, 82, has announced “NEWS,” a collection of 23 paintings that she describes as her protest song — not for the ears, but for the eyes. The book, scheduled for release November 4, combines paintings, song lyrics, slogans and striking imagery to express her concerns about the current political climate.
“In the current climate, I felt a need to express my concern. It is an artist’s duty to speak up,” Mitchell explained in a statement about the project.
The Canadian-born artist isn’t holding back when explaining the inspiration behind her work. Drawing comparisons to Pablo Picasso’s antiwar masterpiece Guernica and the political satire of Charlie Chaplin and Mel Brooks, Mitchell makes it clear that art can be a powerful weapon against political figures and the forces shaping society.
“NEWS is my protest song — a song not for the ears but for the eyes,” she said. “I hope that you will not be offended by the truth of it. This is not fake news!”
Although the collection addresses the broader 24-hour news cycle, its timing and Mitchell’s outspoken opposition to Trump give the project an unmistakable political edge. The singer has previously criticized the president publicly, including during a rare 2024 performance at the Hollywood Bowl, when she expressed frustration that she couldn’t vote in the United States because she was still a Canadian citizen.
That has now changed. Mitchell recently became a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen after living in America for more than six decades. She told Rolling Stone that she took the step specifically so she could vote, declaring, “I’m a proud Canerican like Neil Young.”
For Mitchell, whose career has been defined by independence, social commentary and a willingness to challenge convention, the new book represents another chapter in her creative evolution. While generations of fans know her for classics such as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides Now” and “The Circle Game,” painting has long been an essential part of her artistic identity. She has created artwork for many of her own album covers and previously published Morning Glory on the Vine, a collection of her paintings, handwritten lyrics and poems.
The new paintings will be displayed publicly at the L.A. Louver gallery in Venice, California, on October 29 and 30. The book will be available in a standard edition as well as a limited run of 500 individually numbered, signed editions. A separate auction of the first 10 numbered copies is scheduled to benefit the ACLU, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Save the Children and the ASPCA.
At a time when political divisions and arguments over the meaning of truth dominate headlines, Mitchell is choosing to respond in the language she knows best: art.
