President Obama Will Host A White House Music Festival

Barack and Michelle Obama are confirmed music fans. The President's and First Lady's playlists show off surprisingly hip taste for two people that have spent eight years as the leaders of the free world. Now, months after the presidential couple delivered a pair of keynote speeches at South by Southwest, they'll host a music festival of their own. President Obama announced that he'll host South by South Lawn, a one-day festival on the South Lawn (duh) of the White House on October 3. The fest will be in partnership with SXSW, and is still in the planning stages. We know that there will be panel discussions, student short films, and live performances. But what could those be? Well, aside from asking the First Teen for her choices, we have some guesses about who the Obamas might pick. The obvious choices come from their playlists. Michelle's love for Beyoncé is probably not unrequited, she would be an amazing opening act. Demi Lovato, Janelle Monae, and Alicia Keys are all be amazing performers. President Obama's taste would actually fill out a festival undercard quite nicely. Courtney Barnett and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are appropriately indie to play some daytime sets. And Nas and Common could play just before Beyoncé. See? We have it all planned out. Obama, get at us. We will organize this.