Barack Obama releases new memoir playlist with Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin
Barack Obama just released his new memoir 'A Promised Land' and shared the accompanying playlist
This week, former President Barack Obama has been promoting his new memoir, A Promised Land, which hits shelves on Tuesday. Now Obama has treated his supporters with a brand new accompanying playlist that features music from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, and the Beatles.
Monday, Obama took to his social media to announced the playlist which is now available on Spotify.
“Music has always played an important role throughout my life — and that was especially true during my presidency,” noted the 59-year-old. “While reviewing my notes ahead of debates, I’d listen to Jay-Z’s ‘My 1st Song’ or Frank Sinatra’s ‘Luck Be a Lady.’ Throughout our time in the White House, Michelle and I invited artists like Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan to conduct afternoon workshops with young people before performing an evening show in the East Room.”
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“And there were all sorts of performances I’ll always remember,” he continued, recalling, “like Beyoncé performing ‘At Last’ for our first dance at our inauguration or Paul McCarthy serenading Michelle in the East Room with, ‘Michelle.’ So in honor of my book, A Promised Land, coming out tomorrow, I thought I’d put together a playlist with some of those songs. Hope you enjoy it.”
For those curious about his taste in music, we took a peek at the tracklist which includes inspirational and motivational classics, such as Franklin’s cover of “The Weight,” Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” and U2’s “Beautiful Day.”
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There are also Stevie Wonder classics like “Sir Duke” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”, Beyoncé’s “Halo,” John Coltrane’s interpretation of “My Favorite Things” and Sade’s “Cherish the Day.”
Obama is seemingly following in the footsteps of his wife Michelle who in 2018 also tied her favorite music to the release of her uber-successful memoir, Becoming, by enlisting Questlove to curate an extensive three-part playlist. The trilogy, which was called The Michelle Obama Musiaqualogy, later ended up being used as the warm-up music during her sold-out book tour.
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