I Give You Power

Arcade Fire recorded the track with Mavis Staples during the sessions leading into their 2017 return, after debuting an early version outside the Louvre in May 2016. The single was produced by Arcade Fire and Steve Mackey, engineered by Mark Lawson and Korey Richey, and mixed by Arcade Fire with Craig Silvey. Released on 19 January 2017, the song arrived on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration and directed its proceeds to the American Civil Liberties Union. Its stark, mantra-like arrangement and Staples’ presence framed it as an immediate protest single rather than a conventional album campaign track. The track remains one of Arcade Fire’s clearest political singles and a notable late-career collaboration for Mavis Staples. It is remembered as part of the wave of inauguration-week protest releases that linked independent and alternative acts to benefit-driven activism.