Barack Obama releases his 2020 summer playlist

No matter how much you might want to cancel 2020, we can all admit some fire tunes have come out of it. There's something to be said for artists having more time than ever to create and music-lovers having more time than ever to listen. True to character, the former president Barack Obama has been listening in to all the new releases (and a couple throwbacks) to compile his own summer playlist for the year. And thankfully, he's also continued his habit of sharing that playlist by releasing his official favourite summer jams of 2020 this week.The list includes more than 50 selections, and encompasses a wide variety of artists and genres—including some notable Canadian talent. Among the final selections were “Work” from Rihanna featuring Drake, Popcaan’s “Twist & Turn” featuring Drizzy and Mississauga, ON talent PARTYNEXTDOOR, and “Neon Skyline” from Saskatchewan’s Andy Shauf.

Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to music with my family. I wanted to share some of my favorites from the summer—including songs from some of the artists at this week’s @DemConvention. Hope you enjoy it. pic.twitter.com/2ZFwdN46jR

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 17, 2020

It’s no real surprise that No. 44 timed his playlist release in coordination with this week’s virtual Democratic Convention, where some of the artists selected—like Common, Billy Porter, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and The Chicks—are performing. Songs from artists like Beyoncé (duh), Megan Thee Stallion, Mac Miller, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Billie Eilish, and John Coltrane rounded out the impressive list, reminding everyone of Obama’s love of all kinds of pop culture."As always, [the 2020 Summer Playlist is] a mix of genres that travels through various eras. I think there's something in here for everybody—hope you enjoy it," Obama captioned his parallel Instagram post.[video_embed id='2016896']RELATED: Watch Michelle Obama's full speech at the DNC [/video_embed]As savvy fans already know, this isn’t the first time Obama has released a playlist for those wondering what he’s jamming out to. Both he and Michelle Obama have shared their favourite song selections in the past, posting them on social media or creating Spotify lists. In 2019, Barack not only released an extensive summer playlist that included artists like Beyoncé (again), Drake (again), Lauryn Hill, Frank Sinatra, Shawn Mendes, SZA, DJ Khaled and Lizzo, as well as his favourite music of the year on December 30. And who could forget the songs Michelle curated for her hubby back on Valentine’s Day 2018 in a playlist fittingly called Forever Mine? Add in workout playlists, annual summer picks and year-end selections, and it’s fair to say the Obamas have quite the history with lifting up artists and creating musical milestones.It’s also worth noting that Obama and Michelle inked a deal with Spotify last summer to produce a series of podcasts under their production company, Higher Ground Productions. The Michelle Obama Podcast, which launched last month, is the first in what is expected to be a series of such radio-inspired chats. To celebrate the deal and debut, Michelle gave the world her workout playlist in early 2020 and followed that up with a list of tracks that inspired the first season of her podcast.[video_embed id='2017024']BEFORE YOU GO: Jessie Reyez performs national anthem on top of the CN Tower [/video_embed]