Have you ever listened to music in a foreign language, other than English? A language which you don’t even understand? Have you ever realized that as you listen, you may hear a couple English words here and there in the lyrics that are full of foreign words?
A lot of us listen to songs in English, and rarely, do we ever hear the composer add foreign words into the lyrics. Try to listen to a popular song in a different language, you will most likely not understand anything but you will hear some English. Why is this you may ask?
The following music videos show foreign songs that have incorporated English into their lyrics.
As you can see from the music videos above, it is not just one culture that is incorporating English into their songs, but several of them.
Many years ago, different cultures kept to themselves and avoided influences from the outside world. Take Japan as an example, the country isolated itself from foreigners for about 200 years hoping to become self-sufficient and to not have any outside influences on their traditional culture. In the 19th century, Japan was forced to open up its borders to Westerners, especially the United States. (If you want to learn more about this, click on the links on the bottom.) While the Japanese isolated themselves from the rest of the world, they got rid of anything that could possibly bring over influences from the outside. In regards to music, there were very little, if any, Western influences to Japanese music in terms of additional English lyrics and musical texture. However, after the isolation period ended and the Japanese started modernizing their economy and technology, Japan’s music started to see more Western influences. You can see as a result that Japanese music started to incorporate more Western elements.
But the question still remains, why do foreign cultures use English in their lyrics? There are many languages out there as an option for composers to use if they wanted to add in a foreign language to their lyrics, but most opted for English.
In other countries, English is not a first language and there are only a few places where English is actually taught. This means that only the younger generations who were educated are able to know enough English to possibly understand the lyrics.
The composers want their music to be exposed to international audiences, not just exposed locally. English can be considered as an international language. Although it is not the official language of many countries, numerous people have at least some basic understanding of the English language. Composers would therefore choose English as their first choice if they wanted to use a foreign language in their lyrics or they want to create a strong impact on the listeners.
In addition to using English to target international fans, English could be used as a type of ornamentation to the song. Some composers could just write the entire song in their native language, but it would not have a strong impact as it would have if one or several of the words were changed to English due to the way it might be sung or the fact that it would match the rhythm better.
You might question some people around you as to why they listen to a song in a language they don’t know but the reasoning is simple — everyone has different taste in music. Even if they don’t understand, they are pulled towards the song with its unique cultural style that they are unaware of and some Western elements that they are used to. They may not be able to sing along to the song as they do not know the foreign words, but as soon as there are English words, even if it’s just one, they could be screaming in your ears.
Try to open up your perspective and listen to a pop song in a language you don’t know. See how many songs you come across that has incorporated English into their lyrics. You may be surprised by how many you can find across the different cultures.
Most people are usually ignorant of the diversity cultures that surround their everyday life. If they were to expand their perspectives a little, even through music, they will come to know how much influence they have on other cultures. That in turn may even spark their curiosity of other cultures and plant in them a seed of tolerance and appreciation of cultural differences.
The Seclusion of Japan
http://users.wfu.edu/watts/w03_Japancl.html
The United States and the Opening to Japan, 1853 https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/opening-to-japan