Beyonce
Barack Obama’s favorite songs for 2023
Barack Obama is celebrated for his modern taste in music.
© imago/ZUMA Wire
Now ex-President Barack Obama has also shared his favorite songs of 2023. Are these as controversial as his top films?
At the end of a year, many people like to look back on the past twelve months. Former US President Barack Obama (62) is no exception: for a while now, he has made it a tradition to share works from the fields of literature, film and music with his over 36 million Instagram followers every year have particularly influenced him. Last Friday (December 30th) he published now a list of his top songs of 2023.
What is striking about the list, which includes 28 songs, is that the ex-president’s taste in music is broad, ranging from country and reggaeton to indie rock and electro. Lenny Kravitz (59) made it into the favorites list with his song “Road to Freedom”, as did Karol G (32) & Shakira (46, “TQG”), Tyla (21, “Water”), Megan Thee Stallion ( 28, “Cobra”) and Beyoncé (42) feat. Kendrick Lamar (36, “America has a Problem”).
Some of the artists listed expressed their joy at this honor from the former President of the USA. Tom Hanks’ (67) wife Rita Wilson (67) wrote: “What a surprise to see my duet ‘Crazy Love’ with Keith Urban here. Thank you very much, President Obama!” Allison Russell (41), who also appears with “The Returner,” thanked Obama for “listening and sharing” and feels “deeply honored.”
Controversy surrounding his film list
About a week ago, Obama had his review lists for 2023 with his favorite books began. Meanwhile, it became controversial his published film selection was included. The reason: Obama produced three of the films listed himself, as he himself noted in his post on December 28th: ”I am biased,” Obama writes in his post on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, “because these films are made by Higher Ground, but they are actually “three of the best films I’ve seen this year.” These are the film biography “Rustin”, the Netflix thriller “Leave The World Behind” and the music documentary “American Symphony”.
The other list includes the historical drama “Oppenheimer” with Cillian Murphy (47) in the leading role, as well as “Anatomy of a Case” with the German actress Sandra Hülser (45) and “Air: The Great Throw” by Ben Affleck (51 ). “The Holdovers”, “BlackBerry”, “American Fiction”, “Innocence”, “Past Lives – In Another Life”, “Polite Society” and “A Thousand And One” complete the list.