Music

Former President Barack Obama has released his annual summer playlist, and as usual, it’s an eclectic mix of musical genres and eras.

Among Obama’s picks are Luther Vandross’ “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” Sheryl Crow’s “The Book” and The Police’s “Message in a Bottle.” Also on the list: “Ain’t Nobody” by Chaka Khan; “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young; David Bowie’s “Modern Love”; “Revolution” by The Beatles; “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye; and “Can’t Hide Love” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Among the more recent tracks on Obama’s list are Noah Kahan’s “Doors”; “Where Is My Husband!” by RAYE;  “Charlie Brown” by Coldplay; and “Rubber Band Man,” a song Hozier recently released as a collaboration with Mumford & Sons.

Obama also included “Song of Good Hope” by the late Glen Hansard, the Irish musician, actor and Oscar winner who died in a motorcycle crash Wednesday. Obama wrote that he and wife Michelle Obama love that particular song, adding, “Our hearts go out to his family.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Former President Barack Obama has released his annual summer playlist, and as usual, it’s an eclectic mix of musical genres and eras.

Among Obama’s picks are Noah Kahan’s “Doors”; “Where Is My Husband!” by RAYE; “She Did It Again” by Tyla and Zara Larsson; “Charlie Brown” by Coldplay; Drake’s Iceman track “Ran to Atlanta,” featuring Future and Molly Santana; Hozier and Mumford & Sons’ collab “Rubber Band Man”; and “girl, get up.” by Doechii and SZA.

Obama also picked a bunch of classic tunes from artists like The Police, David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross, The Beatles, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, The Temptations and Earth, Wind & Fire. 

He also included “Song of Good Hope,” a song by the late Glen Hansard, the Irish musician, actor and Oscar winner who died in a motorcycle crash Wednesday. Obama wrote that he and wife Michelle Obama love that particular song, adding, “Our hearts go out to his family.”

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Tony Iommi was hoping his upcoming solo album, From the Dark, would feature a mini Black Sabbath reunion.

The guitarist tells Rolling Stone that he originally wanted Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler to play on the record.

“I wanted [Butler] to play on this album, but he couldn’t do it,” Iommi says. “He’s doing his own album, I think. Or at the time, something happened there, so he couldn’t come to England. I wanted to get it done and finally get it out, really.”

Instead, Iommi recruited musician Becky Baldwin to play bass on From the Dark.

“Becky lives in Birmingham, and she’s a really good player,” Iommi says. “And she’s certainly a fan of Geezer, and she plays in Geezer’s style. And that’s what I wanted. She’s really good.”

From the Dark does feature a guest spot from Queen’s Brian May, who plays the solo on a song called “Death Wake.”

“He’s a very, very close friend,” Iommi says of May.

From the Dark is due out Oct. 23. Lead single “World Alone” is out now.

As for Sabbath, Iommi and Butler performed alongside fellow original band members Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward for the final time at the 2025 Back to the Beginning concert. Ozzy died just over two weeks later.

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Former President Barack Obama has unveiled the 2026 edition of his annual summer playlist.

Among the included songs are The Strokes’ “Going Shopping,” Noah Kahan’s “Doors,” Coldplay’s “Charlie Brown,” Mumford & Sons’ Hozier collaboration “Rubber Band Man” and Temper City’s “Self Aware,” which is currently the #1 single on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart.

The playlist begins with the track “Song of Good Hope” by Glen Hansard, who died Wednesday at age 56.

“Here are some of the songs I’ve been listening to this summer,” Obama writes in a social media post. “It starts with a song [former first lady] Michelle [Obama] and I love by Glen Hansard, a great musician who passed tragically this week. Our hearts go out to his family.”

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K. Michelle’s full-length country debut, titled Jesus & Whiskey, will arrive Oct. 16, and the title track is out now. 

It’s the seventh studio album for the R&B star born in Memphis, famous for both Love and Hip-Hop and Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Produced by Sugarland’s Kristian Bush — who’s also had recent success with Megan Moroney — the nine-track album was co-written by K. Michelle, save for “Damn Good Friend,” which counts George Birge among its creators. It also features the previously released “Jack Daniel’s.”

You can catch K. Michelle Sunday on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen following the RHOA finale.

Here’s the complete track listing for K. Michelle’s Jesus & Whiskey:
“Intro”
“Yodel”
“Blame Tennessee”
“Damn Good Friend”
“Jesus & Whiskey”
“Anything (featuring Blush)”
“Handle on It”
“Jack Daniel’s”
“If It Ain’t Broke” 

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Here’s the story of a lovely Smashing Pumpkins show, which featured two surprise guests, including a member of The Brady Bunch.

Barry Williams, who played the eldest Brady son Greg Brady in the classic ’70s sitcom, joined Billy Corgan and company onstage during their pre-Lollapalooza concert in Chicago on Wednesday. They rocked a rendition of the very Brady classic “It’s a Sunshine Day” with Williams on lead vocals.

The collaboration comes after Williams guested on an episode of Corgan’s podcast, The Magnificent Others. And that’s the way they became the Smashing Bunch-kins.

As for the concert’s other guest, that would be former Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, who reunited with the band to play “The Everlasting Gaze,” a track off their 2000 album, Machina/The Machines of God.

Auf der Maur played in the Pumpkins from 1999 to 2000 following the departure of original bassist D’arcy Wretzky. She previously reunited with Corgan during his 2025 Machines of God tour.

The Smashing Pumpkins will perform a headlining set at Lollapalooza on Friday night, marking the first time they’ve played the festival since it moved permanently to the band’s hometown of Chicago in 2005. You can watch their performance via the Lollapalooza livestream on Hulu and Disney+. 

Disney is the parent company of Hulu and ABC News.

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Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT concert film will soon be streaming hard and soft.

The movie is set to debut on Paramount+ on Aug. 6.

BILLIE EILISH – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR was filmed during the “bad guy” artist’s world tour in support of her latest album, 2024’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. It was co-directed by Eilish alongside famed Titanic and Aliens director James Cameron.

The film premiered in theaters in May and was released to digital platforms in June.

In related news, Eilish paid tribute to late Irish singer-songwriter and Oscar-winning Once star Glen Hansard, who died Wednesday at age 56.

“Devasted… wouldn’t be who I am today without glen,” Eilish wrote in an Instagram Story.

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There’ll soon be “one more face in that hallway hall of fame” at Russell Dickerson’s house, Kailey Dickerson revealed Wednesday evening on her socials. 

A video captured on the beach shows a visibly pregnant Kailey holding hands with Russell while their two boys play in the water, all set to the title track of his latest album, Famous Back Home.

Russell and Kailey have been married since May 2013, with Remington Edward Dickerson arriving on Sept. 10, 2020, and Radford Arthur Dickerson on Oct. 1, 2023. 

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