Trump Dress Spikes Album Sales

Inspiration+behind+the+dress

Inspiration behind the dress

Haley Gilmer, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Singer Joy Villa wore a visibly pro-Trump dress to the Grammys which prompted an immediate spike in album sales and social media followers — as well as some backlash.

The star made her reveal on the red carpet before the show. Villa arrived to the Grammys in what looked like a white Pope’s gown, and when she removed it, it revealed her main outfit: a dress made to look like Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign sticker. The name “Trump” lined the bottom of the gown in sparkling, silver letters.  

Immediately, Villa began to see an increase of social media followers. She gained 11,000 Twitter followers in one hour and over 500,000 total. She posted a photo on Instagram of her dress with the caption, “Sometimes you just gotta be free to express yourself. Thank you to all of my supporters and fellow believers. Life is about living free and loving it. Be your beautiful selves tonight!”

Before the Grammys, the name Joy Villa was foreign to most people which prompts the question, could this be the reason she decided to make such a bold statement. Her current EP album jumped to the top of Amazon’s best-selling album charts, and it reached number 16 on Itunes. Before the Grammys, her album sat at 543,202.

The singer goes by the name “Princess Joy Villa” on stage, but behind the scenes, the 25-year-old is also an author, model, Scientologist and vegan health coach.

While not being nominated for a Grammy of her own, this isn’t the first time she has worn such a bold outfit to the award show. In 2015, she wore a dress made completely of orange construction fencing.

This year, when she made her first debut with the Trump dress, Villa said, “You either stand up for what you believe in or fall for what you don’t.”

Some people are beginning to question her motives for wearing the dress. Tweets have surfaced where Villa calls Trump supporters “stupid” and that Bernie Sanders was the strongest candidate to beat Trump. However, she claims to have voted for Trump herself.

“I am 100 percent a Trump supporter. I believe in his message, I believe he will run this country like he runs his life, successfully. I stand as a proud American and I stand for a unified America that is tolerant of each other no matter who we voted for. I stand behind our President because that’s the American thing to do. I believe in love, above all,” she told Fox News

Of course, making a bold statement always comes with backlash. People accused her of looking for attention. She received tweets claiming she was ending her career before people even know who she is, and that she should “wait and see what happens when you support the Devil.”

However, Villa seemed to have made the right choice when it comes to self promotion. Her music continues to get attention, and she has gained many supporters since the Grammys.