Bryan Adams Releases 'Lake Ontario' Song Criticizing Trump's Lake America Order

Canadian rock musician Bryan Adams, 66, released a new song called "Lake Ontario" on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, criticizing President Donald Trump's August executive order directing US agencies to rename the lake "Lake America." A music video with lyrics accompanied the release, which shows Adams near the lake's waters. The song comes from his forthcoming album, "How's It Goin'," due out next month. Its lyrics accuse a figure described as "one dude" of breaking the peace of people living on the lake's shores, and link the renaming to the war in Iran and to scrutiny of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which the song calls a distraction. It also notes that the Iroquois called the lake the "lake of shining waters." In a statement, Adams said empires, regimes, dictators and kings come and go, but Lake Ontario is forever. It follows "51st State," an earlier track he released on Canada Day. Trump has also renamed the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America."

The Guardian US, on the left, frames the song as a "love letter" to Canada, noting that the renaming was largely met with derision there, that the province is named after the lake, and that the order deepened a feud straining the alliance. Raw Story leads with the "brutal" mockery and the "baby tossing the toys" line, citing the Guardian and the timing before the midterms. The Daily Mail, on the right, calls the song "woke," says Adams was "slated," and stresses that social media users attacked him for getting political. It also notes that the lyrics never name Trump. Both sides quote the Epstein and Iran lines and the August order. They differ on emphasis: the left offers cultural and historical context, while the right foregrounds backlash. Stereogum's alternative coverage mostly echoes the left, calling it his second Trump diss track and mentioning Trump's floated ocean renamings.