Former U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled his annual summer playlist, which includes 44 tracks spanning various genres. This year, Nigerian artists Tems and Rema are the only representatives from Nigeria on the list.
Obama announced the playlist on X.com on Monday, stating, “As summer comes to a close, I wanted to share some of the songs I’ve been enjoying recently. I’ve included a diverse selection, and I hope you discover something new!”
The inclusion of Tems and Rema continues a trend of recognizing Nigerian artists, following previous mentions of Wizkid and Tems in 2020, Burna Boy in 2022, and Ayra Starr in 2023. Notably, no Nigerian artists were featured in Obama’s 2021 playlist.
Other notable songs on the list include Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, Charli XCX’s “365”, Billie Eilish’s “Chihiro”, Bob Marley’s “Them Belly Full”, Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em”, The Miracles’ “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”, Samara Joy’s
“Someone to Watch Over Me” featuring Pasquale Grasso, and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Wanna Be” featuring GloRilla.
This year’s summer playlist comes after the former President confirmed last year that his famous playlists are actually curated by him, refuting claims that the compilations are pieced together by someone else.
Speaking to comedian Hasan Minhaj, Obama said when asked if he listens and chooses himself: “I do! Listen. I am so glad that I have this opportunity. People believe the books and the movies, but the playlists, they somehow think — and this is mostly coming from young people like you — somehow, y’all think you invented rock ‘n’ roll. You invented hip-hop.
“And so the fact that my lists are, you know, pretty incredible — people seem to think, well, he must’ve had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out this latest cut. No, man! It’s on my iPad right now.”
