Not sure if you heard, but President Barack Obama has a new book out this week, A Promised Land. To accompany its release, he dropped (yet another) Spotify playlist to soundtrack the read. And, yeah, while the songs are a painfully bland selection of inoffensive, focus-grouped obviousness, that isn’t to say its individual tunes are in any way bad.
For example, take Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin,’” a classic protest anthem if there ever was one. Man, remember the first time you heard it? Well, if you don’t, how about vicariously experiencing that thrill via those adorable twins who discovered “In the Air Tonight” not too long ago?
Boy oh boy, it’s as if it were only yesterday that we felt empowered by Dylan’s soulful call to action, only to be surprised ourselves by a video conference call with the 44th President of the United States. While filming what they thought was just a promo for Obama’s upcoming episode of BookTube, twins Fred and Tim Williams of TwinsthenewTrend suddenly found themselves face-to-virtual-face with the former Commander-in-Chief.
The pair are adorably bashful—as we imagine pretty much anyone would be if suddenly greeted with a “Hey, people! What’s going on?” from Barack Obama—but soon ease into asking him a few questions about Dylan, the role of music in the politician’s life, and what he hopes young readers will glean from his new book. All in all, it’s much more worthy of your time than Obama’s dud playlist.
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