The Beths and Jesse Photo: RNZ
It's pretty big news when a former president of the United States puts you on his summer playlist. Just ask New Zealand band The Beths.
Barack Obama has just released his 2023 annual summer music playlist - the songs that have kept him going through his leisure time for the year so far.
This year's playlist includes Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and The Beths from Auckland, New Zealand.
The band, currently touring the UK, were shocked at the news, lead singer Liz Stokes told Jesse Mulligan.
“We didn't see it coming. We were just having dinner at the pub, we’re in the UK at the moment, and just suddenly got a bunch of messages from people."
Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer — a mix of old and new. Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed. pic.twitter.com/H2Do2iaD1p
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 20, 2023
While she's thrilled at the news, Stokes said she's not expecting the band to be instantly catapulted into stadium status.
“It's funny these things happen, and it feels like a big deal. But it's never like, exploded us suddenly into a huge, a huge, giant, viral audience or anything, so it's always good.
“And then I think we're yeah, we're not expecting that it we’ll suddenly be playing stadiums.”
The song Obama chose for his playlist is 'Watching The Credits'.
“Thinking about the song itself and the lyrics and stuff. It's kind of funny to imagine him listening to it, I guess, because it feels quite relevant," Stokes said.
Obama also named New Zealand author Eleanor Catton's new eco-thriller Birnam Wood among his picks on his Summer Reading List, where it sits among books including an acclaimed new biography of Martin Luther King Jr. and a historic shipwreck thriller by New Yorker writer David Grann.
