It appears that US vice-president J.D. Vance vibes to I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys and One Time by Justin Bieber whenever his “Making Dinner” playlist is summoned. Nine years after the Panama Papers exposed how some of the world’s most powerful people may have used offshore bank accounts to avoid taxes, the world is now experiencing Panama Playlists that exposes the musical mood of politicians, celebrities, and even journalists.
The website that went live on Wednesday is run by an anonymous music-loving soul who likes “sleuthing” around and has been “scraping” playlists since summer 2024. Imagine Vance preparing his wife Usha’s favourite food while listening to the Backstreet Boys hit from 1999. So far, his skills at making chana masala and desserts have impressed Usha. But will his handling of his boss’ tariff tiff with India cut the mustard? Vance apparently likes Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits (on his other playlist, “Gold on the Ceiling”) while US President Donald Trump has previously called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his “friend”. The conflict is clear to see.
Guess what the US attorney general Pam Bondi could be listening to while dealing with the Trump-Jeffrey Epstein saga (recently, Trump said he “never had the privilege” of visiting Epstein’s private Caribbean island because he had turned down an invitation from the convicted sex offender). If the playlist is truly of Bondi’s, she takes comfort in hits like Nelly’s Hot In Herre, Adele’s Hello, Selena Gomez’s Hands to Myself, and Kacey Musgraves’s Slow Burn (written while on an LSD trip). There is also Foreigner’s Cold as Ice, which sounds like Trump’s current immigration policy.
The website is putting music streaming service Spotify under the scanner. By default, all playlists and profiles are public (“new playlists you create will be viewable by others by default, and can be added to your profile”, mentions a setting on Spotify). To handle the situation, users need to visit “privacy and social” menu and toggle the ‘public playlists’ setting to private.
There’s a catch: It won’t retroactively make playlists private, meaning you will have to achieve that manually with each individual playlist.
The authenticity of the playlists that have been out is difficult to confirm. The New York Times reporter Mike Isaac, whose playlist has been featured, has confirmed his choices.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis apparently streams AC/DC’s Highway To Hell, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt enjoys Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Aretha Franklin’s Respect, and Beyonce’s Run the World (Girls). Respect is not something she radiates when dealing with the press during conferences at the White House.
The person pulling the strings at Panama Playlists writes on the website: “I know what songs they played, when, and how many times.”
The owner of the website has told The New York Post: “I gained confidence in each person by looking at lots of signals. 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.”
Some of the profiles listed, like that of NBC’s Al Roker, include play counts for specific songs (for example, he listened to Elton John’s Philadelphia Freedom 151 times).
Even techies like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (he has a soft spot for Miss Elliott’s Get Ur Freak On) and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen grace the list.
The value of data offered by Panama Playlists deserves one to mention Paul McCartney and Wings’s Silly Love Songs. It has none of the scurrilous data one may find in email boxes or direct messages, but it proves that someone is watching every move we make.
Hang on, isn’t that what the British group The Police sang: Every breath you take/ And every move you make/ Every bond you break, every step you take/ I’ll be watchin’ you.
No, Trump’s playlist – if he has one – is not there, but he doesn’t mind listening to James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World and dancing to Village People’s YMCA.