The time has come again for Barack Obama to share his summer playlist; as usual, it’s a mix of classics and modern hits. Catch the former president with headphones on, and you may hear him listening to modern cool kids like boygenius or Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj, or revered legends like Leonard Cohen. You may also hear him listening to “Walk Like an Egyptian.”
You could clown on Obama for including the latter track, but you can’t say The Bangles don’t deliver some summery fun! Those good vibes continue with cuts like 2Pac’s “California Love” and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” Elsewhere, the 2023 playlist slows down for Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe” and Luke Combs’ take on “Fast Car,” Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song that recently charted even higher than before thanks to the unlikely country cover.
Other tracks that prove Obama is surprisingly on the pulse of contemporary culture include Kelela’s “Contact,” Jorja Smith’s “Try Me,” and Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro’s “Vampiros.” Looking backward, the former president also included cuts by The Pretenders, The Rolling Stones, and Janet Jackson, as well as an ode to the late, great Tina Turner with the inclusion of “River Deep – Mountain High.”
It’s easy to cast doubt on whether or not Obama’s music round ups are curated by an outside team, and many have raised suspicions before. Last year, however, he insisted to Hasan Minaj that he simply is cool enough to know who boygenius is (and Ethel Cain, Wet Leg, and SiR and Scribz Riley before them). “Y’all [young people] think you invented rock ‘n’ roll. You invented hip-hop. And so the fact that my lists are, you know, pretty incredible — people seem to think, well, he must’ve had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out this latest cut,” he said. “No, man! It’s on my iPad right now.”
Listen to Obama’s 2023 Summer Playlist below, then join us in giggling at the image of the former president listening to “Princess Diana.”
Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer — a mix of old and new. Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed. pic.twitter.com/H2Do2iaD1p
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 20, 2023