Did you hear about the New Jersey candidate for governor who faked his Spotify Wrapped? He made sure it was all Bruce Springsteen songs.
That’s not a joke. It really happened. And it shows the extent some politicians will go to boost their local bona fides.
That got us thinking: what are Georgia politicians listening to? We’re not suggesting anyone here would stoop so low as to alter their stats. But we thought it would be fun to find out the soundtrack of Georgia politics for 2024.
We asked several politicians to share their stats from their music streaming service of choice. Unfortunately, many of the state’s top players didn’t play along. Maybe they don’t stream music. Or maybe they’re afraid of what we would say about their music tastes (editor’s note: that’s a reasonable fear).
Credit: Screenshots/AJC
Credit: Screenshots/AJC
But we did get a few. Here are the five most listened to artists for U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, who is a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate:
- The Beatles
- Eagles
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Billy Joel
- The Allman Brothers Band
That’s a solid classic rock list, rounded out by Georgia’s own Allman Brothers Band.
Let’s check in across the aisle with a look at Democratic state Rep. Ruwa Romman’s top artists:
- Taylor Swift
- Gracie Abrams
- Sherine
- Ariana Grande
- Chappell Roan
No Georgia artists there. But it’s never a bad idea to woo the Taylor Swift constituency.
When the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu called state Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, he said he didn’t have Spotify because he’s “just a country boy from the mountains.” Then his phone cut out. When he called back, he said: “We don’t have Spotify, but we have spotty cell phone service.”
Nice one.
Credit: screenshot
Credit: screenshot
Asked to share his Spotify stats, Democratic state Sen. Josh McLaurin said: “Hell no.” But he did offer us a tantalizing clue. In the month of September, Spotify says McLaurin’s music had “heist movie tunes soundtrack” vibes.
“When your year is structured around the adrenaline of regular session, you can go through withdrawal around this time,” he said. “I needed to feel like something was going on.”
While no one faked their stats — at least that we know of — we did have one person who begged us to make a last-minute change to their list. You know who you are.
MORE LISTENING: We made a playlist of Georgia politicians’ favorite songs, including picks from state Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Give it a listen. And tell us your favorite tracks of 2024.
- A version of this story appeared in the AJC Politically Georgia newsletter.
