Two Australian artists have made it onto Barack Obama’s annual roundup of favourite music for 2021.
Melbourne singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett and Canberra hip-hop luminary Genesis Owusu and have both appeared on the list – the former for ‘Write a List of Things to Look Forward To’ from Things Take Time, Take Time and the latter for Smiling with No Teeth‘s ‘Gold Chains’.
Both artists have since responded to their inclusion of the former US president’s list on social media. “AYO???? OBAMA SAYS STREAM SMILING WITH NO TEETH… Hahaha this is crazy,” Owusu wrote on Twitter, while Barnett gave a more straightforward thankyou.
AYO????
OBAMA SAYS STREAM SMILING WITH NO TEETHhttps://t.co/1pO5NbYFDSHahaha this is crazy https://t.co/XmDIQmoZPs
— genesis owusu (@genesisowusu) December 17, 2021
Thanks @BarackObama for including my song “Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To” ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/ME1pcgFy7u
— Courtney Barnett (@courtneymelba) December 17, 2021
‘Gold Chains’ arrived back in February before appearing on Owusu’s acclaimed debut album, which saw him pick up four awards at this year’s ARIAs. Owusu is set to close out the SWNT album cycle with an Australian tour next year. ‘Write a List of Things to Look Forward To’, meanwhile, arrived back in September. Barnett is also set to tour Things Take Time, Take Time in Australia next year.
It’s not the first time Barnett has made it into Obama’s favourite music for the year. Back in 2018, ‘Need a Little Time’ from that year’s Tell Me How You Really Feel made an appearance on the list. Elsewhere on this year’s edition were the likes of Mitski, The War on Drugs, Brandi Carlile, Little Simz, Lil Nas X, Lizzo and Parquet Courts.
