Barack Obama Shares Summer 2023 Playlist, Twitter Reacts

Marc Griffin
·2 min read
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Former President Barack Obama shared his summer 2023 playlist featuring fan-favorite artists to mixed reactions.

On Thursday (July 20), Obama hit Twitter with his coveted collection of cuts, sticking to its celebration of both old and new songs. “Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer — a mix of old and new,” the politician typed. “Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed.”

The 42-track assortment features SZA’s “Snooze,” J-Hus and Drake’s “Who Told You,” Stevie Wonder’s “Golden Lady,” Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s “Princess Diana,” John Coltrane’s “Blue Train,” Nas’ “The World is Yours,” and more.

Some musicians included in the celebrated playlist quote tweeted and responded to the honor with gratitude. “My Milit,” J-Hus tweeted with endearment. “Help me get a visa.” Babyface Ray simply called his inclusion “Hard!” in a tweet of excitement.

However, Boygenius’ Lucy Dacus, whose song, “Not Strong Enough” was included in the collection, took a different tone. Dacus called out the former president and labeled him a “war criminal” for approving 563 drone strikes that killed approximately 3,797 people during his presidency, Harvard Politics Journal reported.

Another point of contention from the summer 2023 playlist was the inclusion of Luke Combs’ “Fast Car,” as opposed to Tracy Chapman’s original version. “Brb canceling Obama for going with the absolute abomination that is the Luke Combs cover of ‘Fast Car’ instead of Tracy Chapman’s perfect original,” one user said.

Regardless of public perception regarding his annual playlists, Barack takes pride in constructing them himself. During an interview with Hasan Minhaj in June 2023, the comedian asked whether he was adding and listening to these diverse songs, to which Obama responded emphatically.

“I do,” Obama exclaimed. “Listen. I am so glad that I have this opportunity. People, they believe the books and the movies, but the playlists, they somehow think — and this is mostly coming from young people like you — somehow, y’all 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. No, man! It’s on my iPad right now.”

Check out the playlist below.

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