A new website called the Panama Playlists — a nod to the 2016 Panama Papers — claims to have found the Spotify playlists that reveal the music habits of several journalists, technology executives, and even U.S. political leaders.
It's investigative journalism at its finest.
"I’ve been scraping their playlists for over a year," the Panama Playlists' website reads. "Some individuals even have a setting enabled that displays their last played song. I scraped this continuously, so I know what songs they played, how many times, and when."
One of the exposed playlists reportedly belongs to none other than Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis. His profile pic? Himself in military uniform. His playlist? A self-described “hodge-podge mix.” The "Don't Say Gay" mastermind seems to enjoy rocking out to gay anthems like Elton John's "I'm Still Standing," Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now," and Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." Perhaps he enjoyed watching Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders because AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" appears on the playlist. He seems to also be listening to CeeLo Green's "Forget You" (of course, he does not listen to the explicit version, "Fuck You").
U.S. Attorney General and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's music taste was also exposed on the site. She is busy listening to Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself," Chance the Rapper's "Same Drugs," Usher's "Yeah!," and Nelly's "Hot In Herre." She probably shouldn't share her "Pam" playlist, which has plenty of Taylor Swift songs, with President Donald Trump. He wouldn't be happy with his attorney general.
"The Panama Papers revealed hidden bank accounts," the website continues. "This reveals hidden tastes." White House Secretary and Alligator Alcatraz defender Karoline Leavitt's Baby Shower playlist included Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)" and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," And Swift's "Shake It Off." Trump wouldn’t be pleased with her music taste either; too much Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
When Vice President JD Vance is making dinner, he appears to enjoy the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" and Justin Bieber's "One Time." In his free time, he seemingly likes to bop out to One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful," from his "Gold on the Ceiling" playlist. Vance is also listening to some "queer classics," by Whitney Houston, Tracy Chapman, and Lisa Loeb, according to LGBTQ publication Them.
The anonymous sleuth behind the website told the New York Post they spent months monitoring and authenticating the Spotify accounts.
"Many use their real names," they wrote to the publication. "With a little sleuthing, I could say with near-certainty: yep, this is them.”
“I gained confidence in each person by looking at lots of signals," they said. "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."
