Joni Mitchell is now a U.S. citizen after posting her naturalization ceremony online, a step that finally lets the longtime Los Angeles resident cast a ballot in American elections.
The 82-year-old Canada-born folk singer shared footage of the ceremony on Instagram on Tuesday, along with a photo of herself beside an American flag. She wore a red beret and sunglasses, with stars and stripes pinned to her cardigan lapel, and smiled for more than one million followers.
Breitbart reported her caption framed the moment as the end of a long road.
"A journey that began 62 years ago."
That path started in Fort Macleod, Alberta, where Mitchell was born in 1943. Her family later settled in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She played early folk-club gigs there, then in Calgary and Toronto, before meeting U.S. folk singer Chuck Mitchell.
They married in 1965 and moved to the United States. The marriage ended two years later. She stayed, made the country her home, and has long lived in Los Angeles.
Until now, she could not vote in U.S. elections. She made no secret of that frustration.
At a 2024 concert, Mitchell tied her status to politics in blunt terms while praising a rap track by YG.
"F*** Donald Trump, I love that song."
She added a direct wish about the ballot box.
"I wish I could vote... I’m a Canadian. I’m one of those lousy immigrants."
Earlier this year she accepted a lifetime achievement honor at the Juno Awards back in Canada and again pointed south. “I’m living in the States and you know what’s happening there,” she said. Of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, she added, “This man is a blessing. You guys are so fortunate.”
When the White House was asked about her remarks, spokesperson Davis Ingle kept the reply short.
"Who the h*** is Joni Mitchell?"
Naturalization ends the complaint she voiced in public. She can now vote in U.S. elections after decades of residence, a broken early marriage that first brought her across the border, and a career built while living as a non-citizen in Los Angeles.
Work on her legacy is already in motion. Director Cameron Crowe began a documentary on her in the early 2020s. Earlier this year, record executive Clive Davis told a party crowd that Meryl Streep would play Mitchell in an as-yet-untitled biopic.
None of that changes the basic civic fact. A famous artist who spent more than half a century in America, blasted a sitting president from the stage, called herself a “lousy” immigrant, and praised a Canadian leader while warning about life “in the States,” has finished the paperwork and joined the electorate.
America still attracts talent. New citizens get the same ballot as everyone else, and the same duty to use it with clear eyes.
