NEW YORK • What United States President Donald Trump says can be music to his supporters, though many of the musicians he cites may beg to differ, off or on the record.
Last week, he told a crowd in Montana: "I have broken more Elton John records. And I, by the way, I don't have a musical instrument.
"Elton has an organ. And lots of other people helping.
"No, we've broken a lot of records. We've broken virtually every record."
It is unclear what that means, if anything. But it is in line with his interest in popular music in general.
Here are some of his more interesting dalliances with pop music.
Elton John: Mr Trump has said he is a fan of the singer. In his 2004 book Think Like A Billionaire, he listed John alongside Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett as his favourites.
"I never get tired of listening to them and probably never will," he wrote. "Any album by any of them is bound to be fantastic."
He famously co-opted the title of John's song about a lonely astronaut into a nickname for Mr Kim Jong Un, repeatedly calling the North Korean leader Rocket Man.
John has remained relatively quiet about Mr Trump. But he did say in 2016 that he wished Mr Trump would not use his music at rallies.
"I don't really want my music to be involved in anything to do with an American election campaign," he told the Guardian. "I'm British. I've met Donald Trump, he was very nice to me, it's nothing personal."
Eminem: Mr Trump stated in Think Like A Billionaire: "I also love Eminem."
But the rapper has no affection to return. Eminem released a four-minute freestyle rap called The Storm, a dismantling of the President, which he debuted at the televised BET awards in October.
In it, he called Mr Trump a "racist grandpa" and rapped: "This is his form of distraction/Plus, he gets an enormous reaction."
Lady Gaga: Mr Trump appears to think that he is somewhat responsible for the singer's success - to her chagrin.
"I own the Miss Universe pageant and have made it very, very successful. One day, my people came to me and told me about a young woman they called Lady Gaga, whom nobody had ever heard of.
"We put her on as the entertainer in the middle of the pageant, which is broadcast internationally. I thought, 'Wow, she is really, really good.' The next day, it was crazy. Everybody was talking about how good Lady Gaga was...
"Well, she became a big star and maybe she became a star because I put her on the Miss Universe pageant. It's very possible," he wrote in 2011's Time To Get Tough.
The pop star has not commented on this claim, but has taken Mr Trump to task again and again. She also staged a protest outside Trump Tower just before the election.
Kanye West: Unlike many of his contemporaries, the rapper surprised everyone by wholeheartedly embracing the President.
West, at his 2016 show in San Jose, California, said: "I told y'all I didn't vote, right? But if I would have voted, I would have voted for Trump."
The crowd booed loudly, but he never backed down. Two years later, he took to Twitter to support Mr Trump.
WASHINGTON POST
