International Music

This is Brooke Fraser, a singer from New Zealand. Have you heard of her? No? Here, I'll try another.

This is Adele. She's a chart topper in the UK, and she's becoming more and more popular here. I bet you've heard that song before.

I'm sure you've heard of Enrique Iglesias before. Sorry this song's in Spanish, his Spanish songs are significantly better than his English ones. Maybe that's just me. His English songs tend to be about sex and about having an incredible physical passion for some attractive woman, whereas his Spanish ones are about having a deep love for a woman, or sometimes a lot of angst about a misunderstanding. But it's ok, angst sounds better in Spanish. Is this a statement about our culture, that the English chart toppers are more sexual whereas Spanish ones are more romantic?

This is Calle Paris. They are a pair of siblings who are half Spanish, half French, and they sing in Spanish. Before I went to Spain, I looked up a ton of Spanish songs like the one above so that I would be used to listening to Spanish music, and so that maybe I would have an understanding of the pop music common in Spain when I went there. So I got there with a pretty good knowledge of Mexican and Spanish artists, some common like Ricky Martin or David Bisbal, some less common like Calle Paris or Chenoa. Then I got there and listened to the music. English! My host sister loved Katie Perry's "Hot 'n' Cold" and she played a lot of Linkin Park and Green Day. Maybe it was just her, I thought, maybe it was because she was so interested in international studies and because she wanted to make me feel comfortable, but then I would listen to the radio or go to the mall and there it was! Shakira's "Waka Waka" song played a ton while I was there because of the world cup, but I heard it first in Spanish and I didn't realize it had an English version until a couple months later when I heard it in English and--what? "When you fall get up, oh oh/ If you fall get up, eh eh/ Tsamina mina zangalewa/ Cuz this is Africa." What was that? The boys soccer team played it a ton this spring while we had track practice, and every time I hear it I still say in my head "esto es Africa."

But I wonder why American music is so popular. Is our culture really something people want to take part in that much? Our music certainly isn't superior just as our clothing, our movies, and our language aren't superior. The sandals and sun dresses sold on the southern coast of Spain are adorable, but once you get even ten miles out from the coast, any mall has more shirts with English writing on them than with Spanish. White Americans are always looking for some interesting culture to associate themselves with, some intriguing place to travel, but we bring so much of our culture with us when we go places.

But it's funny because in the US, nobody wants to be mainstream. Our mainstream music is for the rest of the world, we associate ourselves with either unknown American singers or international groups. I'm sure Vicki and Claire have mentioned kpop, Korean pop music with groups like the one below:

And yes, that's adorable, though it's a little odd to see a korean group dressed as cheerleaders and football players. Even other countries' pop music that is so alien to people in the US has our influence. More examples? When I was thirteen or fourteen, I was obsessed with Filipino pop. Songs like this:

Wait a minute... that's a Celine Dion song...

Wait... that's a cover of Melissa Manchester...

I think you get the point. Even the music that we think is so alien to us is hugely impacted by American music and American culture. It makes you think. Ethnocentrism factors into some of our world view, but a lot of the world really is that based on American music and culture.