Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist currently polling a fighting second in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, and the only candidate who appears to be having any fun on the campaign trail, is tight on time these days. Running for mayor is an all-consuming task, after all, and despite carving out space in his schedule to appear on the leftist Hasan Piker’s popular Twitch stream, Mamdani doesn’t have much opportunity to even listen to a podcast or take in much social-media scrolling. (Music, though, fits in naturally.) Still, a compact social-media intake is a little surprising given his prowess in utilizing the platforms to reach voters and draw attention; a few weeks ago, Politico singled out the 33-year-old New York state representative as a model for the Democratic Party to emulate if it wanted to match up against the Republican Party’s outright dominance of the internet.
When we spoke, Mamdani was in the scrum of yet another busy day. He had called me from the Union Square subway station, en route from Friday prayers to another meeting. The day before, his campaign announced its first broadcast ad that would air during the Knicks’ playoff game against the Pistons that night — “Knicks in five” — and it would introduce the candidate to more people and attack former governor Andrew Cuomo, who became the front-runner after joining the race in March despite the historical baggage that led to his resignation from the governorship. The ad buy was a show of strength, underscoring Mamdani’s success in raising funds. It signaled a campaign kicking things up a notch.
I went into the conversation expecting to hear about chat podcasts he’s into, but as I found out, his media habits tend to veer elsewhere. Here’s an excerpt from what Mamdani told us he’s been listening to these days — you can read the full thing here.
Podcast: Arseblog Arsecast
I’m more of a podcast person when I have a little bit more time. Before the race, when I get a few minutes here and there, I’d listen to this podcast about Arsenal. I’m a big Arsenal fan, and it’s an incredible podcast that brings you into the depths of fan culture in recent years. Since I’m running to be the next mayor of this city, I haven’t been able to watch many games, but we are currently in the midst of one of the most exciting European seasons we’ve had in a long time. We’re in the semifinals of the Champions League!
Song: The One-Hour AutoTuned Version of “One Pound Fish,” by One Pound Fish Man
I have one song to give you … It’s on YouTube. So this is a man who was selling fish in England, and someone took a video of him because he would sing about the fish itself. He’s saying “It’s very, very good, it’s very nice, it’s one pound fish, very good, very nice, very sweet.” This video went viral many years ago, and he actually recorded an official song that’s received millions of streams. But real heads know — it’s the AutoTuned one-hour version you should be listening to. Every now and then, when I’m grocery shopping, I just put in my headphones and put on the one-hour loop and I go from aisle to aisle listening to this man trying to sell me fish in 45-second intervals. I just love it. It’s the beauty of the everyday, you know? This man brought art into an interaction that most people think of as, You just gotta get through it, you gotta just buy the thing you need. And here’s this guy who brings real beauty to it. But what I love about the AutoTuned version specifically is that there’s a portion of the song that’s a little bit reflective and a little bit sad. It’s the same lyrics! [Laughs] But the way they tuned it … Man, it brings me up and then it makes me think about the day as it brings me back down.
And I gotta say I only put things on my platform that I believe we can actually achieve, which is why I haven’t put that I would get Spotify to add the one-hour loop up on Spotify, because I don’t know if that can get cleared. That would be a dream of mine if anyone reading this can make that happen.
