Barack Obama names his 25 favourite songs of 2022
Barack Obama is steadily acquiring the reputation of a solid tastemaker, having started an annual tradition of sharing his best discoveries of the year. Millions of his followers across various social media platforms tune in to see President Obama’s selections while also adding their own recommendations to the comment sections.
This year, Obama included some interesting picks in his roundups of the best films and songs released in 2022. When it came to the former, he championed arthouse directors such as Céline Sciamma and Ryusuke Hamaguchi while also highlighting the impact of blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick.
Earlier this year, President Obama had already shared his summer playlist, which consisted of songs by artists like Kendrick Lamar, Burna Boy, Beyoncé and more. It turns out that his favourite artists of the year haven’t really changed, and many of the songs were already mentioned in his previous list.
Tracks such as Beyoncé’s ‘Break My Soul’ and Burna Boy’s ‘Last Last’ were already present on Obama’s summer playlist. While Obama had chosen Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Die Hard’ in his mid-year lineup, he decided to end the year with ‘The Heart Part 5’.
Released as a promotional single for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, ‘The Heart Part 5’ is at the very top of Obama’s selection. When it was first released, the innovative music video generated a lot of discourse on social media because of its commentary on deepfake technology and its impact on contemporary visual arts.
Check out the playlist below.
Barack Obama’s favourite songs of 2022:
- Kendrick Lamar – ‘The Heart Part 5’
- Bad Bunny – ‘Tití Me Preguntó’
- Ari Lennox – ‘POF’
- Zach Bryan – ‘Something in the Orange’
- Burna Boy – ‘Last Last’
- Ethel Cain – ‘American Teenager’
- Tank and the Bangas – ‘Communion in My Cup’ [ft. the Ton3s]
- Koffee – ‘Pull Up’
- Rosalía – ‘Saoko’
- Ayra Starr – ‘Rush’
- Beyoncé – ‘Break My Soul’
- SiR – ‘Life Is Good’ [ft. Scribz Riley]
- Maggie Rogers – ‘That’s Where I Am’
- Leyla McCalla – ‘Dodinin’
- Steve Lacy – ‘Sunshine’ [ft. Fousheé]
- Rema – ‘Calm Down’
- Plains – ‘Problem With It’
- Xavier Omär – ‘Feelings 4 You’
- Danger Mouse and Black Thought – ‘Belize’ [ft. MF DOOM]
- Omar Apollo – ‘Tamagotchi’
- Sudan Archives – ‘Home Maker’
- NxWorries – ‘Where I Go’ [ft. H.E.R.]
- SZA – ‘Shirt’
- Lizzo – ‘About Damn Time’
- Adam Blackstone and Jazmine Sullivan – ‘Round Midnight’
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