Eric Church Lands a Spot on Michael Phelps’ Warm-Up Playlist

When Michael Phelps is preparing himself for his Olympic swim events, he’s known to put on his game face and keep his massive headphones on until he takes the board. Fans keeping up with the decorated swimmer started to wonder…what exactly is Phelps listening to that gets him so pumped up for his races?

Answer: Eric Church and a few other selected artists.

In an article with the New York Times recently, Phelps revealed his pre-swim playlist and Church just so happened to land among many other popular artists. Also mentioned to make the list included Eminem, Young Jeezy and others that feature a pumping beat to get his blood flowing before he jumps into the pool.

The article also discusses Phelps’ rollercoaster relationship with his fiancée and the joys of becoming a father to his new baby boy, Boomer. It mentioned that even though he and Nicole Johnson have dealt with breakups and the pressures of his career, he’s happy that they both have each other’s backs through it all.

“We’ve been through a lot,” he said in the piece. “But I love her to death. We’ve been able to grow as a couple through everything we’ve been through, the positive changes I’ve made in my life.”

Music is obviously a big part of Phelps’ career through the constant use of his headphones at meets to his cameo in the U.S. Swimming Team’s version of Carpool Karaoke. The athletes all got down to a number of memorable songs from Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.”

Phelps is currently competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics, in which he has already won a gold medal for his work on the 4×100 freestyle relay. He will also be going for gold again as he races in the 200m butterfly tonight (8/9) to hopefully add to his 23 total medal count.