Before packing up his things from the White House in a few days, Barack Obama is throwing one last party there. It’s tonight (Jan. 6), and—true to the outgoing president’s signature suave style—it’ll likely be spectacular.
While the administration never releases an official guest list for these types of private, non-political shindigs, various sources have leaked some of the biggest names that’ll pull up on the lawn of America’s most famous house tonight. They include:
- Jay Z and Beyoncé, a.k.a. the alternative First Couple, who are rumored to perform
- Usher
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Stevie Wonder
- Paul McCartney
- Bruce Springsteen
- Eddie Vedder
- David Letterman
- J.J. Abrams
- Oprah Winfrey
- George Lucas
- Bradley Cooper
- Chance the Rapper, who confirmed his attendance on Twitter:
For Beyoncé, Jay Z, and several other artists on the list, the party is by no means their first Obama soirée. Over the course of the last two terms, the Obamas have forged genuine friendships with many respected figures in the music and entertainment community, a symbolic relationship that was not lost on The Atlantic‘s Ta-Nehisi Coates, who wrote last month about the pivotal moment of his election eight years ago: ”The victory belonged to hip-hop—an art form birthed in the burning Bronx and now standing full grown, at the White House, unbroken and unedited.”
Many of those attending also performed at Obama’s inauguration. Contrast that with Trump’s mismatched lineup of official performers: a fresh-faced teenage girl who has no political history and can’t legally vote yet, a dance troupe that opposes him, and a Mormon choir. Performers at his various inauguration balls will include an ’80s cover band called The Reagan Years and the self-dubbed “DJ Freedom.”