Since 2016 a series of unexpected developments such as Brexit and the shock election of Donald Trump have drawn attention to the rise of populism as one of the most significant phenomena in today’s political world. This populist ‘explosion’ is widely regarded as a significant threat to democracy and human rights, particularly the rights of minorities. So how should the human rights movement best respond? Speaking to the special issue theme on the meaning of and challenges to human rights, this article advances an argument for human rights claims-makers to learn the ‘lessons from populism’ in terms of its emotional appeal. Part 1 reviews the scholarly literature on human rights and the phenomenon of radical right populism to date, including the co-option of rights language by the far right. Part 2 builds on this literature to identify weaknesses in the legalistic way that (political) rights claims are advanced and argues that constructivist perspectives on rights may help ‘speak rights to’ populism. The final part argues that further research into emotions as the ‘language of values’ may help put empirical and conceptual flesh on the bones of a more ‘constructivist’ view of human rights.