President Obama shares awesome summer playlists for the day and the night

By Parker Hall August 11, 2016

President Barack Obama has once again released a list of his favorite summer hits on Spotify, this time allowing fans of the POTUS to listen to two playlists, one with daytime jams and the other with nighttime jams.

Classics from artists like Prince, Aretha Franklin, and Janet Jackson meet newer singles from Chance The Rapper and D’Angelo on this year’s 39-track group of jams. But there are some notably absent superstars this summer; Songs from Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z, musicians for whom the president has expressed his admiration in the past, do not appear in this year’s lineup.

Once again, Obama demonstrates that he is a man of the times by highlighting hip, new hits from Australian songstress Courtney Barnett and new-classic soul musician Leon Bridge — two artists who entered the spotlight well after his formative, pre-Presidential years.

The Commander In Chief’s team once again chose Spotify to highlight Obama’s seasonal taste in music, likely because the service doesn’t require a subscription for the masses to stream it.

As might be expected from a split list of daytime and nighttime singles, those for work hours are decidedly less contemplative than their after-hours counterparts, providing a sonic glimpse into how the president divides his time mentally while on and off the clock. There’s a yin-yang vibe to these mixes — Wale’s LoveHate Thing roars to kick off the daytime mix, whereas the slow, sultry sounds of Chrisette Michele’s If I Have My Way leads the way into the night.

For a full list of White House-curated playlists, including a classy holiday playlist curated by Vice President Joe Biden for last year’s winter season, we recommend subscribing to its page on Spotify. Subscribers be warned: Regardless of who wins the upcoming election, selections will likely not be as hip come next year.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…

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