What music do the Presidents of the Republic listen to?

Instead of fixing the wheels or mowing the lawn at home after his visit to the White House, former United States President Barack Hussein Obama II wastes no time. Aware of the growing relevance of social networks, he has become something of an influencer of our time.

This July 27 alone, Obama repeated an exercise he has been practicing for several years. On his Instagram account, he posted a list of his favorite summer songs and books (2021 included terrible greenery, by the Chilean Benjamin Labatut). As for the first, it was surprising to include current names.

Thus, Obama said that in his summer playlist, he listens to the man of the moment, Harry Styles, with his song Music for a sushi restaurant; but also in Rosalía, with In case; to Bad Bunny and its collaboration with Bomba Estéreo, cute little eyes; a Kendrick Lamar, jerk die hard; or Beyoncé, with Break my soul.

But the Democrat also nuanced it with other, more classic names, likely what he heard on jukeboxes during his childhood years in Hawaii or as a college student in New York. In this sense, he included names like Joe Cocker (I feel good), Miles Davis (blue in green), Aretha Franklin (Save me).

Like Obama, other leaders of the northern giant have expressed their musical predilections. Thus, in his time, Jimmy Carter said he was a fan of Willie Nelson. For his part, Ronald Reagan was a close friend of Frank Sinatra, but his fanaticism was for the Beach Boys. The band led by Brian Wilson was once called “America’s band”.

But one noted music lover is Bill Clinton. The 42nd President of the United States plays the tenor saxophone, and in his autobiography he notes that the idea of ​​being a musician crossed his mind.

“At some point during my sixteenth birthday, I decided I wanted to get involved in public life as an elected official. I loved music and I thought I could be very good, but I knew I would never be John Coltrane or Stan Getz.” Indeed, during his campaign in 1992, he showed his saxophonist skills on the program The Arsenio room showwearing dark glasses, like Ray Charles, and playing Heartbeak Hotel, of Elvis Presley, one of his favorites. In the Republican way, they called him “president of MTV”, but that didn’t help them prevent his victory.

Already president, in 1997 Clinton spent time on the TV program rock ‘n’ roll president recognize some of his musical tastes, all classical and of his youth, in the 60s and 70s: Elvis, The Beatles, The Mamas and the Papas, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker and Simon and Garfunkel.

On the Republican side, the former president donald trump is a big consumer of pop culture. Not only because he made an appearance in My poor little angel 2; he also loves music. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2015, he said it was “an honor” to be on the cover, and that it was a publication he had followed since his youth. He added that his favorite musicians were The Beatles, Elton John, although mostly Aerosmith, which he describes as “fantastic”, in the same way as Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney. In addition, he recognized the “enormous talent” of Michael Jackson, whom he met.

For 16 years, Angela Dorothee Merkel was the Chancellor of Germany. Despite his reserved private life, some of his musical tastes have slipped into the public eye.

Without going any further, they were revealed on December 3, 2021, the day the German army gave her a farewell ceremony, and the military band performed three songs, chosen by her, and which somehow show her imaginary: You forgot the color film punk singer Nina Hagen; It should rain red roses for me, of the German singer Hildegard Knef, from 1968; and as a good daughter of a Lutheran pastor, she also chose a religious hymn from the 18th century: Great God, we praise you. Although in an interview in 2014 he admits that his tastes have few poperos: “I like to be outside, when I have time I also like to read a good book, go to a classical music concert or cook”.

For his part, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron is another that has rather traditional tastes. In an interview in 2017, he pointed out that his favorite singers are of course three classics of French song: Charles Aznavour, Johnny Hallyday and Léo Ferré. “I guess I have very classic taste in this area,” he confessed.

In addition, he is a regular at the theater, and during his administration he took up an old tradition of French leaders, that of organizing shows at the Elysée, the Gallic presidential palace. “Since General de Gaulle, there have been few concerts at the Elysée. With Brigitte (the first lady) we wanted to recover this tradition, ”explained Macron during a performance in 2018.

In the UK, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson He gave an interview in 2019 to The Times, where he surprised himself by commenting that one of his favorite musicians is the Argentine singer Rodrigo, “El Potro”, the Cordovan who died tragically in 2000. In addition, he indicated that he is a fan of the Irish U2.

The one who did not hide her musical tastes was former President Michelle Bachelet. Recently, referring to the proposal for a new Constitution, he made reference to one of his favourites, the Cuban troubadour Pablo Milanés. A few days ago, on July 22, after meeting her, President Gabriel Boric commented: “We sing Pablo Milanés”.

The former president is the only one to have carried out an exercise similar to that of Obama. In 2019, his foundation Horizonte Ciudadano released a playlist with his favorites on Spotify. Among others, there are songs by ABBA, Bob Dylan, Rubén Blades, The Beatles, all from his younger years. Although he included a more recent nod and added Villa Cariño, because at that time his daughter Sofía had a relationship with singer Max Vivar.

The former president also has a connection to Los Tres. In 2009, the Penquista group traveled with Bachelet to Cuba. The link came from before. During her 2005 presidential campaign, Bachelet was invited to Yein Fonda and even danced the cueca.

In 2017, the former president Sebastien Pinera assured the newspaper El Mercurio that the best concert he had attended was that of the Beatles. As confirmed by his brother Miguel, it was in Europe in 1965, when they were 15 and 11 respectively. The President himself has never clearly deciphered the size of the data, either in terms of when or where they saw the Fab Four.

Additionally, Piñera attended Paul McCartney’s recital in 2019, at the National Stadium. The former Beatle himself introduced the President, but the response was a resounding blunder from those present at Ñuñoa Redoubt.

For his part, the current President Gabriel Boric He has always expressed his musical tastes. Not just because he wore a Tool or Nine Inch Nails jockey when he was MP for Magallanes. On his social media, he confessed to listening to rock bands like Soundgarden, Deftones, Nirvana, Metallica, Beastie Boys, Queen, Garbage, Tool and Fiskales Ad-Hok. Although he also declared himself a fan of Taylor Swift’s pop.