Michelle Obama's Motown Playlist

01 Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin & Tammi
02 The Way You Do The Things You Do - The Temptations
03 Dancing In The Street - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
04 Please Mr Postman - The Marvelettes
05 This Old Heart Of Mine - The Isley Brothers
06 Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing - Marvin & Tammi
07 Baby Love - Diana Ross & The Supremes
08 It's The Same Old Song - Four Tops
09 Just My Imagination - The Temptations
10 Sugned, Sealedm Delivered - Stevie Wonder
11 I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Gladys Knight & The Pips
12 My Guy - Mary Wells
13 It Takes Two - Marvin & Kim
14 I Can't Help Myself - Four Tops
15 Who's Lovin You - Jackson 5
16 Beauty Is Only Skin Deep - The Temptations
17 The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
18 For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
19 Baby I'm For Real - The Originals
20 Reach Out I'll Be There - Four Tops
21 What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
22 Mercy Mercy Me - Marvin Gaye
23 As - Stevie Wonder
24 Color - Zhane
25 I Love Your Smile - Shanice
26 Treat Her Like a Lady - Temptations
27 Zoom - Commodores
28 The Truth - India Arie
29 Didn't Cha Know - Erykah Badu
30 My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder
31 Woman's World - BJ The Chicago Kid
32 I'm Coming Out - Diana Ross
33 Video - India Arie
34 Square Biz- Teena Marie
35 Rhythm Of The Night - DeBarge
36 You and I - Rick James
37 Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross & The Supremes
38 Feels So Good - Do The Right Thing - Perri

https://www.motownrecords.com/lifest...e-motown-hits/

Wow, she's a huge Motown fan. Glad to see this. As I recall she has visited the Motown Museum earlier this year. This is colossal.

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Originally Posted by woodward

Wow, she's a huge Motown fan. Glad to see this. As I recall she has visited the Motown Museum earlier this year. This is colossal.

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Maybe this explains why her husband had so little Motown on his list; he probably didn't want to take away her shine! :D

As one can easily see, the vast majority of her favorites were on Motown. I went through the listing to see what percentage were Motown. It was somewhat difficult as there are some names on the list that I know NOTHING about. With the help of google, I determined that only 3 of the 38 listed were not Motown affiliated. Shanice, Erykah Badu, and Perri appear to be not Motown but three others [total 4 songs] are Motown affiliated, but I am unfamiliar with them. Zhane, India Arie, and BJ the Chicago Kid are Motown affiliated --- see you learn something every day. Therefore, 35 are Motown affiliated artists [92%] and 3 are now Motown affiliated artists [8%]. I am satisfied with this high percentage. It is doubtful that it could get much higher. It is nice that she likes some modern day Motown artists.

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Originally Posted by woodward

As one can easily see, the vast majority of her favorites were on Motown. I went through the listing to see what percentage were Motown. It was somewhat difficult as there are some names on the list that I know NOTHING about. With the help of google, I determined that only 3 of the 38 listed were not Motown affiliated. Shanice, Erykah Badu, and Perri appear to be not Motown but three others [total 4 songs] are Motown affiliated, but I am unfamiliar with them. Zhane, India Arie, and BJ the Chicago Kid are Motown affiliated --- see you learn something every day. Therefore, 35 are Motown affiliated artists [92%] and 3 are now Motown affiliated artists [8%]. I am satisfied with this high percentage. It is doubtful that it could get much higher. It is nice that she likes some modern day Motown artists.

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If I'm not mistaken, both Shanice and Erykah Badu were signed to Motown. Shanice even had a #1 hit there with I LOVE YOUR SMILE. I think Perri were on another label but their record FEELS SO GOOD was issued on Motown as part of the DO THE RIGHT THING soundtrack.

Shanice's "I Love Your Smile" is one of my all time favourite Motown tracks.

It is clear she prefers the black voice over white singers.

It's a Motown playlist so there's bound to be a large proportion of black voices.

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Originally Posted by Circa 1824

It is clear she prefers the black voice over white singers.

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It's a Motown playlist so there's bound to be a large proportion of black voices-
said mystery singer....

And it's Michelle's playlist, a Black woman who grew up with Black music.
Problem?....

The point is that it's a Motown playlist. A playlist of tracks released by Motown to the exclusion of any other label or genre. It is hardly surprising that a playlist of favourite Motown music selected by anyone would consist mostly of songs sung by a black person's voice. It's irrelevant what colour the selector is isn't it? If the purpose was for Michelle to select her favourite Beatles releases then the songs and artist would be different.

If I were to select my favourite Motown playlist there might be a similar cross section of artists to Michelle's and consist of predominantly black artists. If, however I was permitted to select my favourite music of any kind then whilst Motown releases would feature heavily I doubt any of them would come in the top 10 because, for example, classical works would feature highly.

It would be interesting to see a Michelle Obama selected playlist where she was allowed to select from music more widely.

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Originally Posted by mysterysinger

The point is that it's a Motown playlist.

It would be interesting to see a Michelle Obama selected playlist where she was allowed to select from music more widely.

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Michelle has for years posted playlists and other comments about the music she listens to
on other labels and in other genres. She's mentioned Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl,
Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time alongside Erykah Badu and a favorite of mine Lianne Las Havas. I thought for sure you already knew that. I'd probably throw a lot of the music played in her household in the trash but that's because I for the most part have outgrown
most hip-hop. It's like styrofoam for me. I wish sometimes we could un-invent it...

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Originally Posted by splanky

It's like styrofoam for me. I wish sometimes we could un-invent it...

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great line!