BarackDubs, the YouTube channel famous for editing together various speeches given by the president into hit songs, has finally produced a version of President Barack Obama singing Taylor Swift's immensely popular "Shake it Off."
The highlight of the video is Obama yelling "Shake it Off" in the chorus, unsurprisingly, but what should we make of this pairing?
Does President Obama like Taylor Swift?
In 2013, at the White House Corespondents Dinner, President Obama commented on the budget sequester issue, saying, "Republicans fell in love with this thing, and now they can't stop talking about how much they hate it. It's like we're trapped in a Taylor Swift album." Though indicative of familiarity with her work, that was kind of a dig at pop's raining princess.
Whether or not President Obama listens to Taylor Swift in real life is unclear. When Obama has spoken about his musical taste in the past, he's said that he's "still and old school guy." He told Hot Radio 97 in June 2007 that "generally, I'm more of a jazz guy, a Miles Davis, a John Coltrane guy, more of a Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder kind of guy. But having said that, I'm current enough that on my iPod I've got a little bit of Jay-Z. I've got a little Beyoncé." It seems like President Obama is probably indifferent to Taylor Swift.
What are Taylor Swift's political views? Would she approve of this?
Taylor has not commented on this video on any of her social media platforms, and she is notoriously shy about sharing political opinions. Because her brand as a pop star is to appear as everyone's best friend, she rarely makes any commentary on controversial issues. There are, however, two clues to Taylor Swift's political leanings.
In 2008, back in the deep, curly-haired days of Swift's career, shewrote on her Myspace page "Republicans do it better."
However, as her music has become more mainstream, her political views look to have shifted left. "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive," she told Rolling Stone in 2009, hinting her support for Barack Obama, "I'm so glad this was my first election. Since then, she's announced herself a feminist, and dropped lyrics like "you can love who you love/ boys and boys and girls and girls." Taylor probably approves of this.
