Eight years after the Panama Papers leaked 11.5million financial documents of offshore bank accounts, the Panama Playlists have surfaced.
The Panama Playlists, claiming to expose the favourite music of politicians, celebrities and other public figures on Spotify, may not be too damaging to the individuals. But it could be embarrassing.
That is, embarrassing only if loving boy bands is something to be ashamed of. Everyone loves the Backstreet Boys, One Direction and Justin Bieber, right?
US Vice President JD Vance seemingly does.
Featured on Vance’s playlists are ‘I Want It That Way’ by the 1990s band Backstreet Boys, ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ by the 2010s pop band One Direction and ‘One Time’ by Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber, according to the Panama Playlists.
Vance apparently also really likes ‘Get Lucky’ by the electronic music duo Daft Punk, ‘You Are a Tourist’ by ’90s rock band Death Cab for Cutie, and ‘San Francisco’ by alternative rock band The Mowgli’s, and has them in two of his playlists named ‘Making Dinner’ and ‘Gold On The Ceiling’.
The anonymous person behind the playlists claims to have been scraping the public figures’ accounts since summer 2024, and know what songs they’ve played and how many times as well as their live listening feed.
‘I found the real Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists. Many use their real names. With a little sleuthing, I could say with near-certainty: yep, this is them,’ states the Panama Playlists website.
‘Heard of the Panama Papers? That exposed offshore bank accounts. This is about onshore vibes.’
The site, which went live on Wednesday, is not affiliated with Spotify or any of the individuals analysed.
Spotify playlists in their default setting are public, for those who did not know, and only public information was gleaned for the Panama Playlists.
Its eagle-eared researcher is convinced that the figures listed on the site are who they are, due to ‘lots of signals’, and provided the US attorney general and White House press secretary as cases in point.
‘An example is Pam Bondi. Her longtime partner is John Wakefield, and her profile has an old playlist called “john” and an old shared playlist with a user named “John Wakefield,” so that gives me a lot of confidence it is her account,’ the researcher told the New York Post.
‘Karoline Leavitt’s profile has a playlist called “Baby Shower,” and she had a baby a month after the playlist was made.’
Below are the Panama Playlists of a handful of individuals highlighted on the site – ranked somewhat in order of how interesting they are.
Pam Bondi
US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the Justice Department, has a self-titled playlist filled with Top 40 hits including Nelly’s ‘Hot In Herre’, Adele’s ‘Hello’, Selena Gomez’s ‘Kill Em With Kindness’, ‘Hands To Myself’, Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’, Mike Posner’s ‘Cooler Than Me’, and USHER, Lil Jon and Ludacris’ ‘YEAH!’
Karoline Leavitt
Trump’s White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has a ‘Baby Shower’ poppy playlist that includes Beyoncé’s ‘Run the World (Girls)’, Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’, Lee Ann Womack’s ‘I Hope You Dance’, Meghan Trainor’s ‘Mom’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’.
Sam Altman
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s ‘My Shazam Tracks’ playlist is a mixed bag including Dixon Dallas’ ‘Good Lookin”, RÜFÜS DU SOL’s ‘Until the Sun Needs To Rise’, David Guetta and OneRepublic’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Wait’, and Missy Elliot’s ‘Get Ur Freak On’.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has a mix of R&B, electronic and indie music in his ‘loud’ and ‘soft’ playlists including The Weeknd’s ‘Save Your Tears’, Sia’s ‘Unstoppable’, Bon Iver’s ‘Blindsided’ and Frank Ocean’s ‘Bad Religion’.
Ron DeSantis
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his ‘Hodge-podge mix’ playlist has some classics including Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’, Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’, and a-ha’s ‘Take On Me’, and a curveball – Miley Cyrus’ ‘Party In the U.S.A.’
Kashmir Hill
New York Times privacy and technology reporter Kashmir Hill’s ‘writing music’ playlist features a handful of respected European artists including Mogwai (‘Wake Up and Go Berserk’ and ‘I Do Have Weapons’), Aphex Twin (‘Avril 14th’), and Nils Frahm (‘Some’).
Seth Meyers
Comedian and TV host Seth Meyers’ ‘Porch Jams’ playlist suggest he’s partial to soft rock with Benji Hughes’ ‘Vibe so Hot’, Jackson Browne’s ‘The Fuse’, and Lucinda Williams’ ‘Can’t Let Go’.
Alexandr Wang
Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang is a fan of country and folk, with his top songs being Tyler Childers’ ‘Feathered Indians’, Jack Van Cleaf and Zach Bryan’s ‘Rattlesnake’, and Zach Bryan’s ‘Blue Jean Baby’.
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