Last night, Michelle Obama joined “Late Late Show” host James Corden on his recurring “Carpool Karaoke” segment. The First Lady sang Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” (complete with dance moves), and her own charity song “This Is for My Girls,” with Missy Elliott (!) making a backseat cameo; the two also rapped together on “Get Ur Freak On” (!!!). The video has already racked up almost half a million views as of this typing—”How cool is the First Lady?” gushes Corden, quite accurately—but it’s only Obama’s latest welcome musical foray during the Obamas’ two terms in office.
Understandably, many of the times Michelle has shown her tuneful side have come jointly with the President. As recently as July 4, she and Barack hosted Kendrick Lamar and Janelle Monáe at the White House. A couple of years ago, they both honored the late house-music icon Frankie Knuckles. It takes two to first dance at inaugural balls, whether to Bey in 2009 or Jennifer Hudson in 2013. And there was the time the First Couple “were more than keeping up” on a dance floor with (again) Beyoncé for Michelle’s 50th birthday party. No matter who wins in November, our current White House will be tough to top when it comes to the tunes.
More and more, though, the East Wing occupant has let music speak through her as loudly as her husband over in the Oval. Michelle held a student workshop on Memphis soul featuring Justin Timberlake, enthusiastically welcomed the cast of Hamilton for a White House performance, even been shouted out as an ideal by pillow-talk R&B maestro Maxwell. (Alas, a so-called Michelle Obama rap album didn’t quite live up to that billing.) M.O.’s modus operandi has involved music more times than that, sometimes pointedly, sometimes endearingly, now and then with refreshing up-to-date taste. Let’s look at a few of her more memorable music moments.
“Go to College”
Comedy-rap sketches aren’t where you look for hard rhymes, but they’re also just about the last place you’d look for any past First Lady. In December 2015, Michelle Obama joined forces with College Humor and “Saturday Night Live” star Jay Pharoah for this goofy (yet historic) ode to, yes, matriculating at university. She raps in the clip, prompting the Twitter hashtag #FlotusBars. As if her verses weren’t enough, the playful video also served a laudable cause, coming as part of her Better Make Room and Reach Higher campaigns on behalf of post-high school education.
You used to call me on the red phone
— deray mckesson (@deray) December 10, 2015
Late night when you need my advice
Call me on the red phone#FlotusBarspic.twitter.com/cwLCQd1h1P
Big-Upping Frank Ocean
For a reminder of how far White House musical tastes have come, let’s flash back to George W. Bush’s presidential iPod, which reportedly emphasized traditional country, Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” and John Fogerty’s “Centerfield.” The current First Lady hasn’t been shy about promoting her, um, more contemporary preferences, naming “Uptown Funk” as her favorite song of 2015 (the President’s was Kendrick’s “How Much a Dollar Cost”) and raving quaintly about Bey shows (“I also got to hang out in the Beyhive at a Beyoncé concert. Oh, my stars!”). A standout moment, however, was when she told Jimmy Fallon in early 2013, after Channel Orange had just finished topping year-end lists, that Frank Ocean was on the First Family’s playlist. Not long before that, she named Channel Orange as her Grammy pick for Album of the Year in an interview with People, saying of Ocean, “He’s a young, innovative performer with a soulful sound.” Somehow, it’s satisfying to think FLOTUS might be anticipating a new Frank album almost as anxiously as the rest of us.
(Official video of the Fallon interview is offline now, but you can still see Obama join the host for the “Evolution of Mom Dancing.”)
“This Is For My Girls” / SXSW 2016
Sure, both Barack and Michelle gave keynotes at SXSW this year, but it was only the First Lady who spoke at SXSW Music (the prez talked at SXSW Interactive). Just ahead of her appearance, she unveiled “This Is For My Girls,” an all-star track bringing together Missy Elliott, Janelle Monaé, Kelly Rowland, Kelly Clarkson, Zendaya, and more. The inspirational song benefited Michelle’s Let Girls Learn campaign, an effort focused on improving worldwide education rates for girls. Naturally, Let Girls Learn was the subject of her SXSW talk the following day, where she chatted with Missy, songwriter Diane Warren, and “One Tree Hill” actress Sophia Bush while Queen Latifah moderated. The First Lady also talked music, reminiscing about the huge impact she’d felt from Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book and Songs in the Key of Life LPs. As for the impending end of her husband’s time in office, she sang the title line of Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” because, well, why not? More recently, she paid tribute to Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott just this month at the “VH1 Hip Hop Honors.”
“Turnip for What”
Remember, if you will, 2014, a time when DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s booming trap single “Turn Down for What” was ubiquitous meme fodder. That October, when asked on Twitter by actor/YouTube personality Iman Crosson how many calories FLOTUS burns “every time you ‘turn up,’” she responded on the White House’s Vine account with a mesmerizing message: “#TurnipForWhat?” As of this typing, the six-second clip, of Obama dancing while holding a turnip, had more than 51 million views. While supporting the First Lady’s Let's Move! initiative and push for healthy eating, the video perfectly captures her willingness get a little goofy. Can you imagine any other First Lady being aware of, let alone semi-parodying, a song by someone named DJ Snake? This past April, Michelle reprised her hit with basketball star Steph Curry and his wife Ayesha.
Hey, @Alphacat. The First Lady wants to know… #TurnipForWhat? https://t.co/WL7jCellbC#AskTheFirstLady#TD4W
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) October 15, 2014
In honor of turnips being planted in the Kitchen Garden today, @StephenCurry30 brings back #TurnipForWhat. pic.twitter.com/avqMVIvnkU
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) April 5, 2016
“Move Your Body”
It’s only fitting that one of Michelle Obama’s most successful musical dabblings would bring together Let’s Move! and Beyoncé, whose ties to the Obamas run deep. In 2011, the singer redid her 2006 solo hit “Get Me Bodied” as “Move Your Body,” with the new song and video playing at middle schools nationwide as part of a “flash workout.” The clip included step-by-step instructions for dances from the Running Man to the Dougie. Because even the Queen knows to get on the floor for the First Lady.