The YouTube channel TwinsTheNewTrend — hosted by real-life twin brothers Fred and Tim Williams — usually entertains their 700,000 subscribers by posting video reactions to popular songs, from Dolly Parton to Aerosmith to Whitney Houston.
But on the channel’s latest episode, as the brothers were listening to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” from Barack Obama’s A Promised Land playlist, the former president himself joined them over video conference call.
“You guys have become these YouTube stars because you’ve been going to the backlist of old songs and rediscovering them, and opening up people’s minds to all kinds of different kinds of music,” Obama told them.
Obama then talked to the brothers about his appreciation for Bob Dylan specifically, and why he chose to include the song on his new memoir’s playlist. “Whenever you can find some musicians that really have a message about how America might be, about how the world might be — that always is something I pay attention to, and he’s one of the greatest examples of that.”
The interview shoot was part of an upcoming episode of the YouTube Originals series BookTube, where Obama will spend more time discussing A Promised Land with additional YouTube creators. The episode premieres on December 16th.