99 Luftballoons - Nena https://open.spotify.com/track/2IJftBfq7pJ43tfnOR0RB3?si=Tj9rOKguQkOmpb3jJM27uw
“99 Red Balloons”'es Nena officially outs herself as QAnon, “Reichsbürger”
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I was just gonna say this. I’m learning German and it felt cool being anle to losten to it in the original
Rammstein
Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano
This is the most correct answer
A language that no one can understand.
Snow - Informer
(reluctant upvote)
So many. I like music and I like languages so when there are lyrics there’s a good chance it’s not English.
- Dead can dance - The Host of Seraphim - moody female vocals with backing instruments and synth that resembles religious sad hymns (not even in a real language)
- 王菲 Faye Wong《四月雪 April Snow - melancholy mandarin pop from 2003
- Hocico - Ecos - Mexican electro-industrial on the aggressive side
- Juno Reactor - Conquistador (part 1 and 2) - technically 2 songs, in Latin, Spanish and I think Xhosa. Same person who did the music from the matrix, these are sort of a musical interpretation of South American history
- Sepultura - Ratamahatta - Brazilian metal
- All about Lily Chou-Chou OST - Arabesque(アラベスク) - fictional band with female vocals, beautiful melancholy song in Okinawan
- Fly, Fly My Sadness - The Bulgarian Voices Angelite with Huun-Huur-Tu and Moscow Art Trio - Mongolian throat singers (if you’ve never heard this technique, it’s incredible and unlike anything else, this song isn’t the best example though, search for huun huur tu videos) and an ethereal Bulgarian choir.
- The Mirror Conspiracy ft. LouLou - Le Monde - French lyrics, chillout downtempo electronic
- Björk - Úm Akkeri - Icelandic version of her song The Anchor Song
- Yothu Yindi - Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming) - a classic 1989 Australian song in Yolŋu and English. Not my favourite but I wanted to have the continent represented here.
- Thievery Corporation - Satyam Shivam Sundaram - another downtempo chillour from the same group, this time in Hindi
- Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun - too catchy not to mention, Punjabi pop, hilariously cheesy video clip
There are so many more. I didn’t even touch Caribbean patois or Arabic or Polynesian languages etc. I’m very big on global music though, especially with a strong beat and lyrical themes on anti-colonialism…
Off the top of my head,
Psy - Gangnam Style
Rammstein - entire catalog
The Hu - most of their stuff
Also right now by psy.
And most of madkid and chihara minoris music
I like Mother Father Gentleman too by PSY.
That That with Psy and Suga frequently gets stuck in my head
I got really into German punk a few years ago. Some of my favorites.
Die Ärzte Schrei nach Liebe
Wizo Raum Der Zeit
Die Toten Hosen Hier kommt Alex
Die Ärtze are cool. I like many of their songs, but I DO speak (some) German so I couldn’t list it here.
My German is limited to what I remember from taking high school German nearly 30 years ago (basically cursing and asking how much the calculator costs), so I figured it was safe for me to post them.
I suppose OP isn’t going to know if we play down our language skills a bit!
Escapado is very underrated.
Manu Chao - clandestino
That whole album is amazing.
Numa Numa Yay, Numa Numa Yay, Numa Numa Numa Yay!
Bella Ciao
France Gall - Ella, Elle L’a
The entire sound track for FLCL by The Pillows.
When that show was new, I could sing them all. Kinda. I certainly had no idea what the words were, but I listened to them enough that I could fake it lol
Just rewatched the first season this past weekend, the soundtrack for that show is absolutely incredible
Anything by stromae really. In some of his songs you can even hear the emotion he conveys without understanding any French
Eivør - Trøllabundin
I have listened to it so much that I know the lyrics perfectly, and it’s even possible my pronunciation is close to correct, yet I don’t speak a word of Faroese.
I’m a Eurovision Song Contest fan, though I only came to it in the last few years, so I have a ton of good songs for this question!
ESC 2021
- SHUM by GO_A (Ukraine) was my winner for that year.
- Zitti E Buoni by Maneskin (Italy) was the actual winner and launched them to international success. They are on the US radio now too.
- Voy a Quedarme by Blas Canto (Spain) is very pretty. I DO speak Spanish, but y’all might dig it.
ESC 2022
- Brividi by Mahmood & Blanco (Italy)
- Trenulețul by Zdob şi Zdub & Frații Advahov (Moldova) is some of the most fun music I’ve ever heard.
- Saudade Saudade by MARO (Portugal) is partly in English but entirely beautiful.
- In Corpore Sano by Konstrakta (Serbia) was one of my top songs this year. Her odd stage/video performance really makes it.
- Stefania by Kalush Orchestra (Ukraine) was the winner this year, only partly because of the invasion. It was probably in most people’s top 3 anyway, and it got such a huge percentage of the votes that it really skewed the rest of the results. (Fun fact, the flautist/lead in this song is the same flautist from SHUM in 2021)
ESC 2023
- Cha Cha Cha by Käärijä (Finland) is a TREMENDOUS bop. It’s so catchy. As he was touring around before the actual semi-finals he lost his trademark lime green jacket, and fans made and brought replacements to shows for him until it was found.
- Mama ŠČ! by Let 3 (Croatia) is beyond weird but really catchy. They’re the most charismatic artists ever to fake pooping themselves during an interview.
- Ai Coração by Mimicat (Portugal) is fun and has a kind of old school vibe.
ESC 2024 is in National Finals season now, where each country chooses their entry, usually with a reality show contest. The semi-finals are 7 and 9 May and the Finals will be on 11 May. You can stream on Peacock, or hop on a VPN and watch the live feed from Sweden or Denmark or somewhere.
Not a huge ESC fan usually, but I did love the 2021 edition for the proprtion of native language songs, both in total and among the top spots
It makes me happy to see songs in their natives languages, but since the rules changed to allow more English songs, we see countries sending them with the assumption that they’ll get more attention from countries other than their own.
The most important rules change to me would be to revert the 2020(?) loosening of recorded vocals restrictions. In the last two or three years we’ve noticed lots of countries where the recorded “background vocals” include the lead part to cover up bad live performances. Heck, I’d even support live instruments too.
