9 English Tips from Santigold
Learn English with ‘Who be Lovin’ Me’
So, tell me dear … Are you ready to learn some English with music?! Of course you are. “Who be Lovin’ Me” is a dreamy, slow-paced song by indie hip-hop artist, Santigold, from her 2016 album called 99¢. It also features rapper ILoveMakonnen for some smooth verses. What can we learn from this song as students, then?
Apparently, there are some interesting vocabulary, expressions, and styles of speech that could be helpful for your English understanding. Ready to find out who be loving me? Let’s see what can we learn…
Vocabulary
Frown
A serious facial expression that usually shows anger, displeasure, or concentration.
Turning smiles from your frown —
A frown is considered the opposite of a smile. Common expressions to change a person’s mood are “Turn that frown upside down” or “Turn that frown into a smile”.
“To frown” is the verb version, meaning to make a frown with one’s face.
Ex: He just frowns all the time!
Jetsetter
Sometimes spelled as two words (jet-setter). This is a person that is constantly traveling, especially by plane, and to exciting or exclusive events.
What, I’m a jetsetter —
Grammar
(Someone) be (doing something)
To be doing something isn’t wrong. The problem is when we don’t conjugate “be” when we’re supposed to. This is the case when people say “she be”, “they be”, “I be” and more. In proper English, these should be “she is”, “they are”, and “I am”.
When used with an action, it means that the subject or object does that action frequently, or it is a common characteristic. For example, “Johnny be making too many mistakes” means that Johnny makes frequent mistakes, or it’s a part of his character to make mistakes.
I got boys around the world who be loving me —
In the U.S., this style of speech is most common in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). I can’t speak on other countries’ accents, but I’m sure this is used in other places. It is not grammatically correct in common English, but is considered normal in AAVE and maybe some other accents.
Some other features of AAVE are used in this song by Sylvan Esso, if you’re interested.
Expressions
Swerve
What an interesting slang word! It can mean to try and avoid a person or situation. “Swerve” can also be to perform an action smoothly and cooly.
I had to swerve on little mama —
Since he says “swerve on”, I’m guessing he means to come up smoothly to the lady. Sometimes, it’s not so easy to tell what people mean. But we try.
Hon / Hun
If you date an English speaker or watch Romantic TV, you’ve probably heard this term. “Hon” is short for honey, which is a term people use to call their loved ones, especially a boyfriend/girlfriend or a spouse. “Hun” is another way to spell the same word. Not to be confused with the medieval Asian Huns.
Girls be going crazy, hon —
“Hon” can also be used in a mildly sarcastic way to refer to a person in general. It’s similar to saying sweety or dear.
Turned off
When this happens … Well, it’s not a good sign. If someone is “turned off”, it means they don’t like or want you anymore. This is usually in the situation of an intimate activity like sex. However, you can also be turned off of an idea or other desire.
Talking about what we had, I been turned off —
Above, Santigold is saying how talking about her past relationship with a person is “turning her off” from him/her. When talking about a person’s effect on another, you can say “turn (person) off.”
Ex: He turns me off. Does Karen turn Jacob off?
The opposite, of course, is “turn on”. This means to excite and ignite desire in a person. Fun.
Hear (someone) out
To give someone a chance and listen to what they have to say. This is usually in a situation where a person is going to give an explanation or express an idea.
Got no time to hear you out —
So, she has no time to listen, basically.
To pull (something)
Pull can have a lot of meanings, as you might know. One meaning of “to pull (something)” is simply to do it. This is usually said for actions that are not so easy to do, or aren’t considered good to do.
I be pulling stunts from France to Japan —
“Pulling” a stunt is doing fun and interesting things, causing a little trouble, and probably showing her fashion style at the same time.
Another phrase to give you a better idea is “We pulled a win today.” This means we were able to win (a game), and it was probably difficult. Or, “I pulled a trick on Johnny.” I did a trick on Johnny, or I tricked him somehow. Poor Johnny.
This is just one meaning of pull, and even “pulling (something)” can have several meanings.
Knee-deep
To be deeply involved or indebted to a person, situation, or cause. It can also express an excessive amount of something. Just imagine standing in a lake with water up to your knees. That’s “knee-deep”.
See me knee-deep, up in a sea of those love letters —
Here, she plays on both the literal meaning of knee-deep (in a sea) and the figurative meaning. Other common expressions are “knee-deep in debt” or “knee-deep in trouble”. It’s most often used for negative situations, but not always.
There you have it! It turns out there is plenty to learn from a Santigold song. Even though some of these were informal and probably wouldn’t be used by an English student, many of these words are good to add to your vocabulary. Or, at least to help you understand other speakers.
Stop by again soon! And check out some other articles by Neboh on Culture Surf.
