Obama, President of Playlists?
It is the end of an era.
Current US President Barack Obama will make way for Donald Trump on Friday, January 20.
To keep him busy post-presidency, global music streaming site Spotify slyly dangled a 'job offer' earlier this month in the hope of getting Obama on board.
The role?
President of Playlists - and who would be better suited for it than the 44th US President himself?
A job description for the role posted earlier this month stated that Spotify was looking for someone with "eight years experience of running a highly-regarded nation".
Mr Obama has served two full terms, or eight years. But then so has George W Bush and Bill Clinton. Maybe their invitations got lost in the post.
The President of Playlists job scope includes providing "world-class leadership" to playlist editors and supporting staff, celebrating Spotify's diversity of playlists, analysing data and performance and playlists in a "clear and transparent manner using all available intelligence" and more.
The President of Playlists also has to be someone with "good team spirit" and an "excellent work ethic". Oh yes. And a Nobel Peace Prize.
That last one really narrows down the candidates.
Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek said in a tweet that linked to the role: "Hey @BarackObama, I heard you were interested in a role at Spotify. Have you seen this one?
It was allegedly a response to a quip by Mr Obama, joking that he was "still waiting" for his job at Spotify.
The job post seems to have been taken down but, no doubt, Mr Obama was/is the most suitable candidate.
The music lover is a fan of rappers Chance the Rapper and Jay Z and has created summer playlists in the past that were telling of his wide music taste.
As we cling to the hope that someday Obama might take Spotify up on its sweet offer, we have curated a special playlist — one we think Mr Obama himself might come up with if he was indeed President of Playlists.
It kicks off with President of What? by Death Cab for Cutie, which could have easily been President Obama's reaction to this surprise offer.
The Radio Dept's It's Been Eight Years and Aretha Franklin's A Brand New Me should be self-explanatory.
Some songs, like Aaliyah's I Care 4 U and Same Love by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert, are nods to his policies while others are songs by some of his favourite artists like Kendrick Lamar and Marvin Gaye.
Of course, an Obama playlist is not complete without a song that shows appreciation for the woman who has been with him every step of the way.
The Beatles' Michelle is, of course, a special addition for FLOTUS Michelle Obama.
If you have more songs to share with us and other TNP readers, we welcome you to e-mail us at tnpdigital@sph.com.sg, or message us on Facebook.
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