# Pop Music and Languages



## soundoftritones (Dec 24, 2014)

I've recently taken an interest in pop music - namely, German and Russian pop (Louisan, Cro, 5sta Family, and so on. I think these artists are worth a listen - if you do decide to, I'd love to hear what you think of them!). I think it's really interesting with what they do with their music, and for some reason, I like it a lot more than English pop (perhaps it's partially due to the fact that I can't really understand 100% of the things they're saying, or perhaps it's not. It's strange for me )

Does anyone also share an interest in pop? What bands/artists do you enjoy? What languages do you like listening to in your music?


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Lieder en Mélodies really helped with my German and French, but they usually contain somewhat more difficult language, so pop music is another effective alternative, and I can actually sing along with it. This is difficult to memorize (and sing along to), while this is easy and similarly helps my pronunciation and vocabulary a little.

As for the language barrier making the lyrics less ridiculous, I agree with that too. I listened to quite a few Japanese albums containing a lot of Engrish mixed with Japanese, and though to some it may detract from the music, to me it's both funny ("I don't wanna livin' your class … I don't wanna livin' your law"; "You're guilty of electric faith", "I'm get down, get down") and really interesting: to make such preposterous lyrics completely engaging is a considerable feat. Somehow the mix of English and Japanese in the lyrics is often executed in an unbelievably cool way. The thick accent and bad English are disarmingly charming, and yet very cool at the same time. I love the dual-language edge, which you don't encounter often.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Pop/rock sung in languages other than English has pretty much passed me by - the most notable exception being the band Santana who sometimes peppered their early albums with Spanish lyrics. 

One eccentric exception I can think of was when Fairport Convention had a freak top-30 hit single in 1969 with a cover of Bob Dylan's 'If You Gotta Go, Go Now', which, in typically idiosyncratic fashion, they sung in French after translating the lyrics impromptu when playing it at a gig. The recorded version was entitled 'Si Tu Dois Partir' and the group put a Cajun slant on it.


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