While the current huffy head-of-state is constantly sitting on Twitter denying a fair election (or you know, reality), the 44th president of the United States is releasing a whole much-anticipated book! Titled A Promised Land, Barack Obama debuted on Tuesday the first volume of his presidential memoir, chronicling his journey from “a young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world.”
Keeping that same musical energy, Obama also released an accompanying playlist filled with tracks that have been part of the soundtrack of his life.
“Music has always played an important role throughout my life—and that was especially true during my presidency,” Obama said in a statement on Monday via a press release sent to The Root. “While reviewing my notes ahead of debates, I’d listen to Jay-Z’s ‘My 1st Song’ or Frank Sinatra’s ‘Luck Be a Lady.’ Throughout our time in the White House, Michelle and I invited artists like Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan to conduct afternoon workshops with young people before performing an evening show in the East Room. And there were all sorts of performances I’ll always remember—like Beyoncé performing ‘At Last’ for our first dance at our inauguration or Paul McCarthy serenading Michelle in the East Room with, ‘Michelle.’ So in honor of my book, A Promised Land, coming out tomorrow, I thought I’d put together a playlist with some of those songs. Hope you enjoy it.”
OK, that bit about Michelle Obama made me go “awwwww.” Speaking of which, I’m betting the parental Obamas are dancing right now to celebrate the former president’s book release day. Perhaps something like this:
Or this:
You can listen to the “A Promised Land” playlist now on Spotify. You can purchase Obama’s memoir A Promised Land in physical and virtual bookstores everywhere.
In fact, I bet this playlist would make a great soundtrack to a certain one-on-one interview with a pretty well-known guy hosted today at The Root: