One thing you can say about Andrew Yang, the Democratic presidential candidate pledging $1,000 per month to every American 18 and over, is that he really gets into music he likes.
The tech entrepreneur sang along boisterously, front and center stage, to Weezer‘s “Say It Ain’t So” when frontman Rivers Cuomo played at a Yang rally in Des Moines earlier this month. With the fifth Democratic Presidential debate slated for tonight (Nov. 20), Yang created a playlist of his favorite female empowerment anthems — to commemorate the first time all four debate moderators will be women — exclusively for Billboard.
It’s clear he gave considerable thought to his list, which contains hits and some deeper cuts — his Jessie J pick, her first U.K. No. 1– is “Price Tag,” which is pretty amusing, and he shows he’s a Swiftie by picking an album cut, “The Man,” as opposed to a single from Taylor Swift’s Lover.
But as he tells Billboard, one song reigns supreme. “Florence + the Machine might be my favorite out of this entire list — ‘Dog Days Are Over’ was the first song I listened to when I was getting pumped up for the Detroit Democratic debate, so it’s a special one,” he says.
Tonight’s debate, taking place from 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, will be moderated by MSNBC anchors Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker, and Washington Post White House reporter Ashley Parker.
Yang will be joined by nine other qualifying candidates: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Kobluchar, Bernie Sanders,Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren.
Check out Yang’s empowering, all-female playlist ahead of tonight’s debate below.