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Spotify has been available to the general public in the
United States for just over a year now, which means that this is the first
Presidential Election to have access to the new music streaming software. Both
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney set up Spotify playlists to accompany their
campaigns.
My favorite selection is Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song.” The
story behind the song and Obama’s ethics match perfectly. When Bareilles was
starting her career, her record label rejected her songs and told her that she
needed to write a marketable love song. Instead she went home and wrote, “I’m
not gonna write you a love song, cause you ask for it, cause you need one.” Ironically,
her anti love song fulfilled the request of her record label and sprung her to the
top of the charts. During the campaign, Obama has not sacrificed his morals by
just telling the American people what they want to hear. Instead, he has laid
out the facts and what he really intends to do as President. I’m sure he’s also
hoping to follow in the footsteps of Bareilles to win the popular vote.
This week's cleverly spliced video features Barack Obama singing Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe." The song took off earlier this year, where it stole the #1 spot for nine consecutive weeks. While there are enough spoofs on this song for an entire blog post and more, I just had to feature this one for this month's campaign music theme. I'll let you come to your own conclusions on the intended message. To me it's just plain funny.
And in case you're as obsessed with the song as the rest of the country, here's Carly Rae Jepsen's version.
As promised last week, it’s now time to examine President
Barack Obama’s use of music in his campaign.
Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama
As the incumbent, the President had already built a base of
celebrity supporters from the 2008 election. One of these was Bruce
Springsteen, who wanted his political career to be short. He told the New Yorker, “It seemed like if I was ever going to spend whatever small political
capital I had, that was the moment to do so. But that capital diminishes the
more often you do it. While I’m not saying never, and I still like to support
the President, you know, it's something I didn’t do for a long time, and I
don’t have plans to be out there every time.”
Clearly The Boss is again worried for the future of the
country because he’s agreed to do two rallies tomorrow in Ohio and Iowa.
But Springsteen’s point of having a limited amount of political
clout, may not hold up. History shows that despite the power of music, it may
not do anything to sway an election. The first time musicians rallied behind a
politician was the 1972 election Nixon vs. McGovern. Despite anti-war
demonstrations supporting McGovern by Carole King, the Grateful Dead, and Simon
and Garfunkel and Neil Young’s “War Song” written expressly for the candidate,
Nixon still won the election with the most electoral votes in American history.
Springsteen himself has seen one candidate lose and one win
for each election he’s supported. His first step into politics was in 2004 Bush
vs. Kerry, and then made a return performance in 2008 Obama vs. McCain, both
times supporting the Democratic nominee. Looking at all of these examples, it’s
hard to find any evidence of musician support influencing the vote.
In keeping with this month’s politically themed posts, I
wanted to share some presidential video spoofs. Some clever people have taken
the time to splice together words that Romney or Obama have actually said and
fit them into a popular song. “Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up,” is
one I particularly enjoyed. It’s a spoof on Eminem’s song “The Real Slim Shady,”
and the message is that it’s hard to figure out who Romney actually is because
he has made so many conflicting statements. While the creator has clearly put his own spin on Romney's words, it's entertaining nonetheless.
And just in case you want to see how the spoof matches the real song, I've included the original Eminem video as well.
In light of the upcoming election, I thought I’d explore the
angle of music along the campaign trail. A celebrity endorsement can be worth thousands of campaign dollars and since music sends such powerful messages and feelings, a musician endorsement for a campaign can really boost voter interest. To be fair, Romney and Obama will have
his own post examining the musicians aligned with or opposed to his campaign.
Mitt Romney and Kid Rock
Mitt Romney chose Kid Rock’s 2010 hit “Born Free” as his
theme song. Kid Rock gave Romney, and anyone else, permission to use his music.
He posted, “Anyone else who wants to use my song do not need my permission. I
said he could use it and I would say the same for any other candidate. I have
to have a little faith that every candidate feels like he or she can help this
country. Without faith, we got nothing. I make music to have it be heard.”
But just because Kid Rock allowed Romney to use the song,
didn’t mean that he endorsed the Presidential candidate. Back in February,
Romney contacted Kid Rock about performing at the Michigan Rally. Kid Rock said
he would consider it as long as he got a private interview. After Romney
promised to help the state of Michigan if he is elected, Kid Rock agreed to
perform “Born Free” at the rally and gave his official endorsement to the candidate.
On the other side of the spectrum, some musicians are not as
forgiving when their songs are used without permission. Some prefer
to stay out of politics and do not want to be seen as endorsing a campaign just
because the candidate is using a particular songs. The band Silversun issued a
cease-and-desist order to the Romney campaign on the song “Panic Switch.”
What a surprise I found when I opened Spotify yesterday and
saw that “Gangnam Style” was the #1 song in Top Lists. After weeks of Carly
Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” and Fun.’s “Some Nights” dominating the top spots,
“Gangnam Style” suddenly appeared at #1 without, to my knowledge, even making
an appearance at any of the other top 100 spots.
Released in July, the song made Korean pop an international
splash. One of my co-workers sent me “Gangnam Style” a few weeks ago and I had
intended to feature it as a song of the week showing that a song can be catchy
even if you can’t understand the lyrics. But apparently when rapper Psy’s video
made it to the Video Music Awards in early September the rest of America proved
this point for me by bumping the video’s hits on YouTube to over 350 million.
I’m not sure if it’s the invisible horse dance, a
dubstep-esque breakdown in the middle, or a melody that makes me want to sing
even though I don’t know the words, but “Gangnam Style” is worth listening to, language barrier and all.