While Ted Cruz was booed off the stage at the Republican National Convention and Melania Trump continued to ward off accusations of plagiarism, the US first lady, Michelle Obama, injected some much-needed humour into US politics with the help of TV host James Corden.
Obama rocked out to Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered as well as Beyonce’s girl-power anthem Single Ladies for a special episode of Corden’s sketch Carpool Karaoke. “We just dropped the mic, we were making honey in the beehive, we were making honey to put in our lemonade,” Obama joked from the passenger seat of Corden’s car.
During a tour of the White House, the pair were also joined by the rapper Missy Elliott for a rendition of This is For My Girls and later Elliott’s hit Get Ur Freak On.
Inbetween songs Obama highlighted her Let Girls Learn initiative, which aims to promote education for girls around the world. “We’re doing a really important trip to Liberia, Morocco and Spain,” she said. “Right now there’s 62 million girls worldwide that aren’t in school for a variety of different reasons. So much could be corrected in the world if girls were educated and had power over their lives.
“My message to kids here is don’t take your education for granted, because there are girls around the world who would die to get the education we have, they would do anything, they would move mountains to make it happen.”
The first lady also revealed that this was only the second time in seven and a half years that she had been in the passenger seat of a car listening to music. The last time was some months ago “with my daughter, who learned to drive, and we rocked out with her … so this is a treat”.
Asked what she would miss the most about the White House, Obama responded: “The people; these are people you see every single day, they help you, they love you, that’s going to be hard.”
Carpool Karaoke, a regular segment in Corden’s Late Late Show, sees celebrities join him for light-hearted conversations and singalongs. Previous guests have included Adele, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Elton John and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
