It seems that nobody told Senator J.D. Vance about how privacy settings work on social media. Around the same time his Venmo account—with its friends list loaded with conservative elites—was uncovered, the Daily Dot reported that it discovered what appears to be his Spotify account.
Slate separately reached out to Vance’s office to confirm the authenticity of the account, but the outlet never heard back. But the Spotify account features the same photo as his private Facebook profile, which is common for users who sign up for the music streaming platform through Facebook.
While Vance’s friends list on Venmo included scholars who promote fascism and conservative think tank cronies, his Spotify account follows Imagine Dragons, Rage Against the Machine, and one woman who appears to have graduated from Yale law school the same year as the Ohio senator.
Another reason to believe it could be him is that one of the playlists, titled “Morning Has Broken,” contains what he once said was his favorite song: Merry Go ’Round by Kacey Musgraves.
He has several playlists that go back all the way to 2012, when he paired Justin Bieber with some Christmas songs on a playlist called “Making Dinner.” His most recent public playlist, put together in 2014, seems to have every song by Rockabye Baby! which produces lullaby covers of popular music by artists such as The White Stripes and Elton John, presumably for his kids, Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel, to jam out to.
Exactly why the Republican nominee for vice president has allowed his public digital footprint to grow so large is unclear. It could possibly be because he is a political novice, or perhaps he’s trying to seem like an average American. At least, that’s what the mellow tunes of his laid-back morning playlist would suggest. But to be clear, Vance is far from an everyman.
The bestselling author had his rise to power bankrolled by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel and a network of tech billionaires in Silicon Valley. He has ties to the “new right,” a movement of autocratic populists, and Christian nationalists who pass themselves off as the intellectual vanguard of the conservative movement. Despite unleashing strong condemnations of Donald Trump, Vance has slowly grafted himself to the former president—and now he’s his right-hand man.
But hey, he can still put together a decent playlist, so that’s nice.
