Tu vuò fà l'americano? Then Listen to More Music in Other Languages

English used to be the music industry's lingua franca. Now, we're more ready than ever to hear what the rest of the world has to offer. A huge playlist of non-English music awaits you.

I didn’t grow up listening to music in English. Not at home, anyway.

In fact, my most cherished childhood record was a 1969 Soviet-era cartoon soundtrack called The Bremen Town Musicians¹ .

Itself an adaptation of a German folktale, the story followed a troupe of troubadours and their adventures rescuing a king from bandits, romancing a princess, and of course all the rock and roll antics they got into along the way.

It’s absolutely delightful, but more to the point, the music is actually fantastic — inspired by both rock and folk (or, the Soviet Bards, more precisely) in equal measure, it’s produced beautifully, played well, and oozes charm.

Above, you can watch the cartoon in its entirety with terrible English subtitles. My favorite track is at the 7:47 mark, but I’ll warn you - the animation is employing some seriously outmoded stereotypes of Romani people. The song itself is no less incredible for it, but it does taint my memory somewhat.

In retrospect, this soundtrack clearly primed me for my later love affair with glam rock, Rufus Wainwright, and maybe even Tom Waits.

Sadly, like a lot of immigrant kids, if I wanted to stay relevant and relatable, I had to push aside my parents’ culture and focus on what everyone else was doing: listening to music in English.

After age eight or so, I could only trot out this sort of novelty during contextually appropriate occasions. To a roomful of first-year Russian students I’m tutoring? Fine. On a first date? Maybe not.

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English: No Longer the Lingua Franca

I always thought it was a broadly accepted fact that singing in English was a prerequisite for success for any musician, regardless of their national origin.

It turns out I was essentially correct, at least before 2012.

“From September 2010 to August 2011, with the exception of Adele, only American acts – including Jennifer Lopez, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas – managed to top the charts across Europe.”²

Thinking back on the non-American or British artists who broke through our collective consciousness over the last few decades, there were precious few who managed it in their native language.

• Bjork’s lyrics weren’t particularly easy to decipher, but her hits weren’t in Icelandic.

• Ace of Base and Robyn most certainly didn’t sing their most famous songs in Swedish, and did anyone even realize that Rednex (yes, of “Cotton Eye Joe” fame) were Swedish in the first place?

• If Phoenix or Daft Punk ever sang in French, those are never the numbers that got them any airplay.

Until maybe the last five years, the only bands I can think of who became famous specifically for the songs they did NOT sing in English are Rammstein, t.A.T.u, and Sigur Rós.³

What band were you surprised to learn wasn’t from an English-speaking country?

Luckily, the world has changed. We’ve entered an era where non-English songs aren’t stuck with niche success anymore.

Gone are Shakira and Celine Dion’s monopoly over the bilingual household name business. Bad Bunny has more Instagram followers than entire European nations. Rosalía’s Motomami⁴ didn’t just win over critics; it landed her several Grammys and a role in Euphoria to boot.

And I barely have to mention K-Pop at all, right? Good, because I’m not going to.

In short, English no longer has to be the default, and our listening habits bear that out.

Read the full report at Luminated Data

Each year, Americans are listening to less music in English and more music in other languages.

Of course, the entire world is moving away from English-language music, but it’s the U.S. — the land of “this is America, we speak English” — whose change is the most heartening to see. It’s no surprise either that it’s the younger generations who are leading the charge.

Read the full report at Luminated Data

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

(Well… we’re trying to get out of it, anyway.)

This is New Bands for Old Heads, which means it’s all well and good to rehash the music you already know, but I need to knuckle down and get to the reason you’re here: new music that makes you feel nostalgic.

As you may have expected, I’ve pulled together a few recommendations on that theme, but I challenged myself to meet a few basic guidelines:

1. No artists from an English-speaking country.

2. No songs in English.

3. No songs from super well-known artists.

4. Only songs released in the last five years.

The third is always a tricky burden to meet, because I don’t know your life, dammit. But I’ll assume I’ve done my part already mentioning Bad Bunny and Rosalía in the post and not the playlist, at least.

Paid subscribers can access a three-hour playlist of non-English language songs I’ve hand-selected from new artists around the world.

Click below for the full playlist, and keep reading for a few artist highlights.

Just A Dozen Artists to Get You Started…

Emo, coldwave, indie, dance, experimental, oh my!

If you like Emo + Pop-Punk try:

• Ya Stanu Krasce (Я стану краще) // Ukraine

  • Did you know that Russia and Ukraine had a well-established Midwest Emo scene? It’s so good, and there’s so much of it, that I barely know where to start. It deserves its own post by an expert. But in the meantime,