| ||
---|---|---|
Personal
Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois 44th President of the United States
Tenure
| ||
Barack Obama's summer playlist is an annual playlist curated by former President of the United States Barack Obama. The president has shared a playlist, curated by himself, every summer since 2015, except for 2017 and 2018. The lists consist of a mix of classic and contemporary songs spanning a variety of genres. The response to the playlists has been mostly positive, though with some noted detractors.
Barack Obama shared his first summer playlists in August 2015, while he and his family were on vacation in Martha's Vineyard. [1] The selection came in two lists, "Volume 1: Summer Day" and "Volume 2: Summer Night". [1] The playlists were the first posted to the White House's official Spotify account. [1]
Other playlists Obama has shared include a Christmas music playlist released on Christmas Eve 2015 [2] and a workout playlist commissioned by Wired in October 2016. [3] [4] In 2018, the president's wife Michelle Obama released a Valentine's Day playlist called "Forever Mine". [5]
In 2017, Obama jokingly said he wanted a job at Spotify after his presidency. [6] In response, Spotify posted a job listing for a "President of Playlists", with listed requirements including "at least eight years' experience running a highly-regarded nation ... a friendly and warm attitude, and a Nobel Peace Prize". [6] Spotify CEO Daniel Ek tweeted a link to the listing to Obama, saying "I heard you were interested in a role at Spotify. Have you seen this one?" [6] The following year, Barack and Michelle signed a multi-year podcast production partnership agreement with Spotify through their production company, Higher Ground Productions. [7]
Obama curates the playlists himself, which he says people have expressed doubt about. [8] In an interview with Hasan Minhaj, he said "People believe the books and the movies, but the playlists, they somehow think... and this is somehow coming from young people like you. Somehow y'all think you invented rock and roll. You invented hip hop. And so the fact that my lists are, you know, pretty incredible, people seem to think, 'Well he must have had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out this latest cut.' No man, it's on my iPad right now." [8] He admitted to taking suggestions, saying "it's not like I got time to be listening to music all the time. So typically at the end of the year what happens is folks will be like, 'Man, you need to listen to this. This is good.' But unless I'm actually listening to it, watching it, reading it, I won't put it on there." [8]
Okkervil River's Will Sheff responded positively to being included in 2015. [1] Low Cut Connie also responded positively initially, [1] though two years later, the band's frontman Alex Weiner reported having seen no change in their career success after the inclusion. [9] The Verge 's Kaitlyn Tiffany called the list "carefully and painstakingly crafted to cover every major genre of American music", but was disappointed by the exclusion of the One Direction song "Drag Me Down", noting that One Direction member Niall Horan "could be recognized as the biggest Barack Obama fan in the world." [10]
In a 2016 piece for The Guardian , Rebecca Carroll wrote about how that year's playlist was symbolic of Obama's reaffirmation of his Blackness. [11] She said there was "no black cultural marker more abiding than our music". [11] She highlighted his inclusion of the Aloe Blacc song "The Man" which she called "a bonafide black man's anthem"; [11] and the song "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" by Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige, where she compared Obama's relationship with his wife Michelle to the one depicted in the song's music video, "the blackest, most glorious, magnificent display of camaraderie, love and loyalty." [11]
Multiple Twitter users responded negatively to the inclusion of Wale's song "LoveHate Thing" on the 2016 list. [12] Wale responded to one user in particular with a long rant, calling them a "culture vulture" and threatening to physically attack them. [12] In December, J. Cole released the song "False Prophets", the second verse of which fans speculated could be about Wale as it describes a rapper who struggles with the opinions of critics and fans. [13] [14] Wale responded with a freestyle, "Groundhog Day", in which he confessed to struggling with mental illness and discussed Cole's place in his career history. [13] At the end of the song, he says the line "See you at the game"; later that night, Cole and Wale were photographed together at a North Carolina State basketball game. [13]
Following the inclusion of the Boygenius song "Not Strong Enough" on the 2023 list, band member Lucy Dacus responded in a tweet with the words "war criminal :(". [15]
Multiple publications and numerous social media users singled out the 2024 list for not including pop singer Chappell Roan, [16] [17] [18] [19] who had significant success in 2024, [20] including her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess reaching the top three of the Billboard 200 albums chart [21] and the single "Good Luck, Babe!" reaching the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. [22] The social media response led to the words "No Chappell Roan" trending in Twitter's politics category. [16]
The 2015 playlists, released on August 15, included: [1]
The 2016 playlists, released on August 11, included: [23] [24]
The 2019 playlist, released on August 24, included: [25]
The 2020 playlist, released on August 17, included: [26]
The 2021 playlist, released on July 11, included: [27]
The 2022 playlist, released on July 26, included: [28]
The 2023 playlist, released on July 20, included: [29]
The 2024 playlist, released on August 12, included: [30]
The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by Billboard magazine. Although it originally started tracking song sales the week of October 30, 2004, it officially debuted in the issue dated January 22, 2005, and merged all versions of a song sold from digital music distributors. Its data was incorporated in the Hot 100 three weeks later. Since October 2004, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboard's music singles charts. The decision was based on the dramatic increase of the digital market while commercial single sales in a physical format were becoming negligible.
Julien Christian Lutz, known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian music video director. Having trained under Hype Williams, Lutz has been credited for directing over a hundred music videos spanning various genres since 1998, including Jay-Z, Drake, Future, John Mayer, Kanye West, DJ Khaled, Usher, Ice Cube, Fabolous, Mystikal and Akon. In film, he directed the crime thriller Superfly in 2018, which saw mixed reception. In television, he created the short-lived action drama Robyn Hood in 2023.
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks the top R&B and hip hop songs in the United States, based on audience impressions from a panel of radio stations monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. It was also used in sister publication R&R, which listed the chart as Urban National Airplay. The chart is not the R&B/hip-hop subset of the Hot 100 Airplay chart, but rather uses a separate panel of R&B stations in urban and urban adult contemporary markets. It was the primary airplay component chart of the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart until the issue dated October 20, 2012, when Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs was revamped to include digital sales, streaming, and airplay from all radio formats. The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart encompasses two separate airplay charts, both of which are based on radio spins rather than audience impressions: Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop and Adult R&B Airplay, which measure airplay on urban contemporary and urban adult contemporary stations respectively.
The Rhythmic chart is an airplay chart published weekly by Billboard magazine.
Throughout the history of the Grammy Awards, many significant records have been set. This page only includes the competitive awards which have been won by various artists. This does not include the various special awards that are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences such as Lifetime Achievement Awards, Trustees Awards, Technical Awards or Legend Awards. The page however does include other non-performance related Grammys that may have been presented to the artist(s).
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, honoring the best music videos from the previous year between June 2008 to June 2009, were presented on September 13, 2009, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and televised by MTV. The ceremony was hosted by Russell Brand for the 2nd consecutive year.
Carl McCormick, professionally known as Cardiak, is an American record producer. He began producing music in 2008.
"Silvio" is a folk rock song written by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter and released by Dylan as the seventh track of his 1988 album Down in the Groove. Performed alongside the Grateful Dead, the song was released as the album's only single and spent eight weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at #5 on July 1, 1988.
The following is a discography of Canadian record producer Boi-1da.
The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Kevin Hart, took place on Thursday, September 6, 2012, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The awards were broadcast from the Staples Center arena at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles. Nominations were announced on July 31, 2012. Rihanna and Drake were the most nominated artists that year, with five nominations apiece, followed by Katy Perry and Beyoncé, who received four.
Cassidy Durango Milton Willy Podell, known as DJ Cassidy, is an American DJ, record producer and MC.
The 2014 Soul Train Music Awards was held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Centric and BET on November 30, 2014. The ceremony, hosted by media personality Wendy Williams, honored artists in 12 different categories. The nominees were announced October 13, 2014. R&B artist Chris Brown lead with seven nominations, including Best R&B/Soul Male Artist, Song of the Year, and Video of the Year. Beyoncé had six nominations, including Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, and Pharrell Williams has five nominations, including Best R&B/Soul Male Artist of the Year.
Andre Eric Proctor, better known by his stage name Dre Moon, is an American record producer from Brandywine, Maryland. He won Best R&B Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for co-producing and co-writing Beyoncé's 2013 single "Drunk in Love."
"Watch" is a song by American singer Billie Eilish from her debut EP Don't Smile at Me (2017). Written and produced by Eilish's brother Finneas O'Connell, the song was released for digital download and streaming through Darkroom and Interscope Records on June 29, 2017, as the third single from the EP.
"My Boy" is a song by American singer Billie Eilish. It was released by Darkroom and Interscope Records as the sixth single from Eilish's debut extended play (EP), Don't Smile at Me (2017). Eilish and her brother, Finneas O'Connell, co-wrote the song, with the latter solely handling the production. A pop track with jazz-influenced instrumentation, the song was heavily inspired by boys who broke Eilish's heart.
"I Love You" is a song by American singer Billie Eilish from her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). Eilish co-wrote the song with her brother Finneas O'Connell, who also handled production. As the 13th track on the album, "I Love You" is an acoustic guitar-based ballad accompanied by various plane-related noises, where Eilish's lyrics describe the resistance to falling in love with someone.
The Don't Smile at Me Tour was the first headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. It was launched in support of her debut EP Don't Smile at Me (2017), and consisted of 17 concerts, 12 in North America and 5 in Europe. The North America dates were announced in July 2017, with more dates being added later. The set list featured all of the songs from Don't Smile at Me. The tour was positively received by critics.