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Barack Obama has hit back at claims he doesn’t personally select the songs on his annual summer playlist.
The former US president 63, first shared a list of his favourite songs he’d been listening to that summer, as well as the books he’d been reading, back in 2015 while he was still in office, which quickly became a yearly tradition for the politician.
This year, Obama filled his playlist with pop hits ranging from Charli XCX’s turbo-charged “360”, Beyoncé’s country hit “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Billie Eillish’s “CHIHIRO”, which drew speculation online that the mix didn’t include songs the 44th president “actually listens” to.
Speaking on the I’ve Had It podcast, Obama doubled down on his decision to include tracks from Charli XCX’s sixth studio album Brat on his 2024 summer mix, calling it a “great album”.
Addressing the claims he doesn’t curate his own summer playlist, the former US president added:
“People question sometimes whether I’m actually listening to all this music. As I’ve testified before, I am. Charli XCX, she knows what she’s doing.”
Obama himself has described his music taste as “eclectic”, and his 2024 summer playlist choices range from hyperpop to afrobeats and folk music.
They included Charli XCX’s viral turbo-charged song from her Brat album, as well as Tommy Richman’s viral breakout single “Mililon Dollar Baby” and English musician Nick Drake’s “One of These Things First”.
Other tracks include newer hits like Nigerian popstar Tems’ “Love Me Jeje” and LA-based Calimossa’s “What’s in the Tea?”, as well some more iconic tracks like The Rolling Stones’ 1965 song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and Sting’s 1985 hit “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”.
Obama also gave a nod to WILLOW – Will Smith’s 23-year-old daughter – for her song “Symptom of Life”, American rappers GloRilla & Megan Thee Stallion’s joint track “Wanna Be” and British musician Enny’s “Charge It”.
On X/Twitter, Obama told fans: “With summer winding down, I wanted to share some songs that I’ve been listening to lately – and it wouldn’t be my playlist if it didn’t include an eclectic mix. I hope you find something new to listen to!”
It comes shortly after Charli XCX declared the end of Brat summer on social media this week – three weeks before the Autumn Equinox.
Writing on X/Twitter, she said: “goodbye forever brat summer,” which was met with a mixture of devastated and optimistic responses from thousands of fans.
“I refuse,” one person responded, while another fan pointed out: “Summer doesn’t technically end for another 3 weeks, get back here!!!”
From the Southern Hemisphere, a third user added: “Charli it’s going to be summer in Australia soon. I will keep brat summer alive, please don’t do this.”
