Barack Obama says Stevie Wonder gave him, Michelle and “a lot of people hope”

Stevie Wonder’s optimism about life has inspired Barack and Michelle Obama, the former president reveals in a new podcast about Stevie’s career, The Wonder of Stevie.

He and Michelle are featured on the final episode of the series, which captures Stevie discussing how he adopted an optimistic mindset at a young age, when he found out he was blind.

“For me, me being an optimist doesn’t mean that I don’t think tragedies won’t happen, because I think part of growing is understanding pain as well as joy,” Stevie says, recalling how difficult it was for his mother to accept that he was blind. “And I said, ‘Maybe God has something for me that’s bigger than all this.’”

Barack then praised Wonder’s “version of optimism that is not blind to pain and tragedy and history, but that shows us what’s possible, that gave me hope, gave Michelle hope, gave a lot of people hope.”

He added, “It turns out that that spirit through your music has carried forward and is still doing its work.”

The Wonder of Stevie specifically focuses on the five-year period in which the singer created five hit albums and won 13 Grammys. 

“As I reflect back on some of my fondest and proudest moments on this music journey, I am beyond humbled to have those that I respect and deeply cherish show me the kind of love that I can hear and feel in their voices,” Wonder previously said of the series. It exclusively hits Audible on Thursday.

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