Letting the side down: Barack Obama. Photo / AP
Opinion:
With a new playlist, Barack Obama does some self-inflicted damage on his reputation as the coolest US President. The set of 20 songs released to accompany his new memoir, A Promised Land, is divided between over-familiar do-gooder inspirational pop-rock anthems and turgidly sentimental strum-along ballads.
It has been described by Obama as "memorable songs for my administration" yet somehow makes the historic rule of America's first black president sound about as interesting as a big family wedding disco. Perhaps that is not so far from the truth, albeit scaled up from a marquee in the garden to an entire nation. With Obama at the decks, this is the kind of thing you might expect from a DJ tasked with keeping everyone from hip-hop kids to jazzy grandmas in a mood of agreeable torpor, and avoid fights breaking out on the dancefloor.
It is packed with big names delivering some of their least interesting songs. Beyoncé is featured twice, with by-the-numbers inspirational power ballad Halo and an easy-on-the-soul version of Etta James classic At Last, rather than the fierce political groove of Formation or dancefloor feminism of Run The World (Girls). Bruce Springsteen is heard in post 9-11 gospel healing mode on The Rising, which is, honestly, nobody's favourite Springsteen anthem, with none of the tense patriotism that burns through Born in the USA.
Aretha Franklin opens proceedings with her interpretation of The Band's country soul classic The Weight, rather than the more joyously urgent RESPECT. Stevie Wonder is likewise celebrated with cheerily familiar hits and not the righteous anger of Living in the City or You Haven't Done Nothin'.
This is a spin doctored playlist of nudge politics, filled with vaguely aspirational values and nothing that might be used against its compiler in a debate. Even the implicitly threatening message of Bob Dylan's 1964 polemic The Times They Are A-Changin' has been blurred by the passage of so much time, during which things didn't really change all that much.
Music has always played an important role in my life—and that was especially true during my presidency. In honor of my book hitting shelves tomorrow, I put together this playlist featuring some memorable songs from my administration. Hope you enjoy it. pic.twitter.com/xWiNQiZzN0
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 16, 2020
Nevertheless, Dylan's stark acoustic delivery represents an awkward musical mood shift, as if DJ Obama is clearing the floor for the father of the bride's speech. Unfortunately, what follows is an atrocious misstep that suggests Obama has been paying too much attention to inclusivity focus groups. Nashville duo Brooks & Dunn's Only in America is a corny, country rocking anthem of American exceptionalism, wrapped in banal "red, white and blue" clichés. I honestly can't imagine the Obama household ever sticking this tripe on the stereo. Perhaps his focus group were afraid James Brown's Living in America would scare the neighbours.
Like all political playlists, Obama has thought a bit too much about what songs represent and given us too little of what actually moves him. We know from his regular end-of-year playlists that Obama listens to a lot of current hip-hop, but his two rap choices here, from Eminem and Jay Z, are just the kind of adrenaline-pumping, fists-aloft workouts you regularly hear sound-tracking TV sport highlights.
Divided 50/50 between black and white artists, this playlist is strenuously inclusive. But you have to wonder if Gloria Estafan's dreary ballad Always Tomorrow was really the best Obama could come up with to shore up the Latin demographic. There is not a lot of guitar rock, to be fair, but he rounds things off with the sky-high optimism of U2's Beautiful Day, which should keep Bono happy the next time he pops round to the Obama's for dinner.
Political leaders often struggle to find a meaningful role after their years in high office. With his bland, middle-of-the-road, people-pleasing playlist, at least Obama could probably get himself a gig as a daytime jock. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs, at reasonable rates.