James Corden’s recurring Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show usually features a musician singing his or her own hits (for the most part), but Michelle Obama uses it more like the rest of us: to rock out to everyone else’s favorite songs.
Corden and Obama drive around the White House—as Barack Obama explained on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee last year, he can’t leave the White House to drive around Washington, D.C. with host Jerry Seinfeld—and even that’s a treat for Obama, who doesn’t get to just ride in the passenger’s seat and jam to music. They reminisce on what she’ll miss most about living in the White House and what she’s looking forward. Obama also brings attention to her Let Girls Learn initiative before digging into the main course: a rendition of the song she commissioned earlier this year, “This Is For My Girls.”
We don’t imagine most rides include a surprise appearance from Missy Elliott, but the duo fully embrace it. Plus it gives us the image of Obama rapping with Elliott, which is a delight in itself.
