Former U.S. president Barack Obama isn’t the only one with public music playlists now. This week, Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is also sharing his favorite jams as a way to recommend new music to the youth — instead of listening to corridos tumbados.
During a press conference earlier on June 26, AMLO criticized genres like corridos tumbados and said he was going to share 10 songs as an effort to introduce young people to other types of music. “So young people don’t tell me, ‘Since you’re censoring, let’s see, what do you propose?’ I’m going to present a selection of about 10 good, good, good, good songs,” he said during the press conference.
He continued, “[The youth] can sing whatever they want, but we are not going to keep quiet when they say that ecstasy is good and that they have a 50 caliber gun, and that their idols are the most famous narcos, and that kind of corridos.” Before wrapping up the conference, he said there’s better music for young people, and recommended Grupo Firme’s “Ya Supérame.”
The following day (June 27), López Obrador officially started sharing his picks. His first selection was none other than Grupo Frontera’s “No Se Va.” “There is a wide repertoire of songs that has nothing to do with drugs or violence, that have to do with love. And I said I was going to present a repertoire that was not too long, I still have to settle the copyright issues, so they won’t brush me off,” he said before putting the music video on. “We are going to start with one that I like–and let’s see if the young people will say that this one isn’t cool. This one that’s called ‘No se va’.”
Yesterday (June 28), he continued his selections with “Te Mereces Un Amor,” a mariachi tune by Vivir Quintana. Today (June 29), before wrapping up his daily morning meeting—and after reassuring yet again that he’s not going to censor anyone—he recommended “Frágil” by Grupo Frontera and Yahritza y Su Esencia.
Mexico’s President will continue his music selections tomorrow during his daily morning press conferences.