If you happened to be waiting for former President Barack Obama’s summer playlist, today is your lucky day, because it’s finally here.
Usually when you think of a summer playlist, it’s a collection of songs that you prepare to listen do during the time of the year when you are out and about doing fun, outdoor activities. Barack mixes it up, and literally puts out a list of songs that he has been listening to in the summer months.
It’s a pretty cool idea to be honest. Instead of dictating the summer playlist, he allows the summer to form the playlist, collecting songs as he goes and then ultimately throwing them together to release them out to all of his social media followers.
So this summer, Obama was turning the speakers up on songs like “Snooze” by SZA, “Princess Diana” by Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj, and “Fast Car” by Luke Combs. To be frank, who wasn’t driving with their windows down and cranking up Combs’ version of Tracy Chapman’s acoustic ballad from 1988?
One other country song snuck into the 41-song playlist (40 would have been a nice round number), which was “The Devil I Know” by Ashley McBryde.
And though the two country songs were recently released, the playlist didn’t require the songs to be “modern” to make it in.
Barack threw in classics like “Soul Survivor” by The Rolling Stones, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding, and “Cry Me A River” by Ella Fitzgerald.
Obama posted the playlist to 132 million social media followers on Twitter with the caption:
“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.”
Thanks to Luke Comb’s rendition of the all-time classic, Tracy Chapman is now the first ever black woman to reach the number one spot on the country charts as a sole writer of a song. And to be even more specific, it is only the second time since 1990 that a black songwriter topped the list as the only credited writer on the track.
But just because he was the 44th President doesn’t mean that social media didn’t do its thing and tell Barack how they really felt about his playlist:
There’s not a single Taylor swift song. Swifties, do your thing
— Buzz Lightyear (@BigKidDinner) July 20, 2023
You missed the Tracy Chapman/Luke Combs “Fast Car” debate apparently. pic.twitter.com/7q44x6UXXr
— Meghan Maureen (@Keggs719) July 20, 2023
Oh man Mr. President! Your song choice’s definitely age you! 🤣
— RICKY (@ricky1ricky2) July 20, 2023
Otis Redding 💕 “Fast Car” written by Tracy Chapman is a beautiful piece of music. If anyone reading this has never heard the original, give it a listen.
— KC (@kanthom2000) July 20, 2023
Try That In A Small Town
— garnie (@garnie) July 20, 2023
Yeah, I’m sure Barack is probably going to stay out of the Jason Aldean debate…
In the meantime, check out the new “Fast Car” official live video:
