Is there anything politicians won’t lie about?
People take Spotify Wrapped pretty seriously these days. Every year when the streaming platform drops their annual recap, everybody has to rush to post their Spotify Wrapped on social media to show what big fans they are of their favorite artist, or prove their “credentials” as a fan, while everybody else judges them for their music choices. It’s a tough world out there when it comes to music preferences, and Spotify Wrapped has become the perfect way to find out more about somebody based on their listening habits.
But one New Jersey Democrat apparently thought Spotify Wrapped was a good opportunity to try to win over voters in his home state.
Josh Gottheimer has served as US Representative for New Jersey’s 5th Congressional district since 2017, and was recently re-elected to the seat in his home state. But Gottheimer recently announced that he would be running for governor of New Jersey, hoping to succeed outgoing governor Phil Murphy.
So he decided to do a little pandering when it came time to share his Spotify Wrapped.
Of course Bruce Springsteen is one of the most famous natives of the Garden State, so when Gottheim shared the screenshot of his Spotify Wrapped from his gubernatorial campaign account, he bragged that it was “no surprise” that the top 5 songs were all from The Boss.
No surprises here…
Fun fact: My first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss! pic.twitter.com/xuAcNn8si8— Josh Gottheimer (@Josh4Jersey) December 6, 2024
The only problem? It was fake.
People quickly noticed that the font, the numbers, the spacing…it just didn’t look right.
Eventually, Gottheimer had to come clean and admit that, yes, he had faked his Spotify Wrapped – blaming it on his kids sharing his Spotify account and skewing the numbers.
According to the Congressman, the fake wrap up was what his Spotify Wrapped would look like if he didn’t have to share his account with his kids:
“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12 and 15-year-old kids.”
That’s…not how this works.
But Gottheimer defended his Springsteen street cred, pointing to his dog named Rosalita after on of The Boss’s songs.
To paraphrase the Boss: I wasn’t here for business baby, I was only here for fun. So just relax. This was a fun holiday tweet. It’s a joke to question my Springsteen creds, just ask my dog named Rosalita! pic.twitter.com/M8zShqjZ7N
— Josh Gottheimer (@Josh4Jersey) December 11, 2024
And he also shared his REAL Spotify Wrapped (at least he claims this one is real), showing that Springsteen was indeed his top artist – but his top song was “Turn The Lights Back On” by Billy Joel.
Gottheimer’s top artists also included Drake, Taylor Swift and Travis Scott, and the 1998 song “Ghetto Superstar” by Pras featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Mya was on the list of his top songs at #4.
Honestly, I would have respected him more for listening to that song than an all-Springsteen list.
Since everyone is dying to know, I’m actually a real Springsteen fan. The biggest surprise here is I managed to listen to more music than my kids this year. pic.twitter.com/zrxomPFtNy
— Josh Gottheimer (@Josh4Jersey) December 11, 2024
Springsteen himself was also active in the 2024 election, announcing his endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris back in October with a message posted to social media:
“With full knowledge that my opinion’s no more or less important than those of any of my fellow citizens, here’s my answer: I’m supporting Kamala Harris for president and Tim Walz for vice president, and opposing Donald Trump and JD Vance.”
Seems like if Gottheimer really wanted to show off his NJ credentials he would just try to get Springsteen’s endorsement instead of faking a Spotify Wrapped for social media.
Or, I don’t know, just help out the people of your state so they want to vote for you? Then maybe you wouldn’t have to lie about something stupid like Spotify Wrapped to get people to like you.
