President Obama’s adoration of old school R&B has been well documented, but he gave some love yesterday to some black music on the more contemporary side—namely, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Nas.
During a radio interview with KOB-FM in New Mexico, Obama picked out Beyonce’s upbeat smash “Crazy in Love” as a particular favorite of his.
“If I’m really trying to get my heart rate up, ‘Crazy in Love’ is a pretty good song to work out to,” he said, when asked what was his favorite song to work out to.
“I’ve got a lot of old school R&B: you know, Steve Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye,” the president said. “But I’ve always got a bunch of contemporary stuff: Jay-Z, Beyonce, Nas. You name it, I’ve got it.”
Beyonce and Jay-Z have long had an almost psychic connection to the president and First Lady Michelle Obama. During the 2008 campaign, Obama famously used Jay-Z’s song, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” to indicate that his opponent’s attacks couldn’t touch him. After he was elected, Beyonce memorably sang “At Last” to the First Couple at an inauguration ball while they slow danced and gazed into each other’s eyes. And of course Michelle Obama and Beyonce have had the mutual admiration society going in full force over the last year. Michelle said that if she could switch places with any celebrity, it would be Beyonce. And Beyonce penned a letter to Michelle, telling her how much of an inspiration she is to girls around the world.
The radio station asked the president his view on the hit single “Call Me Maybe” by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen. Obama said he’d actually never heard the song—but he had seen the parody mash-up using his speeches.
“I have to admit, I’ve never actually heard the original version of the song,” he said. “I saw this version where they spliced up me from a whole bunch of different speeches that I made. They kind of mashed together an Obama version of it.”
“It looks like a cute pop song,” Obama said.
In one of those questions typical of pop radio and celebrity magazines, Obama was asked, if he could choose one super power, what would it be.
The president said he would choose the ability to speak any language.
Memo to Marvel Comics—sounds like your next comic book super hero has just been written for you.
