People, especially native English speakers, tend to get trapped in the world of music sung in their own language. Exposure to music in foreign languages only happens if they seek for that exposure... and if they don't, they get scared.
Ever since I became a fan of Asian music, I have seen that fear first hand. People have flat out told me they just won't listen to music in languages other than English. And that's sad! They're missing out on literally an entire world of music they would probably love if they gave it a try.
While I'm especially fond of Korean music (if you've looked around my blog and social media you've probably figured that out), I am also a fan of music from Japan, Kazakhstan, The Philippines, and many other countries. I want to help music lovers of all kinds be able to add some Asian music to their playlist, and help people who are already familiar with Asian music find even more songs and artists to love.
These are some of the ways I give song recommendations:
Sharing One Song Every Day
Over on the LIS'n Instagram (@languageinsong), I share one song in the Story everyday. Each day is a different theme to cover different music styles. We've got groovy, rap, rock, "feel good", dance-y, and slow songs. There's also a wildcard day for anything that might not fit in those categories, and then a day dedication to English (which I'll explain later). These song recommendations are archived in the Story Highlights with an easy access link to Spotify.
Since today is #LISn2FeelGoodFriday, here is one of my favorite "feel good" songs from 2019:
Listen to this song on Spotify here.
Curating Playlists
In addition to the categories above, I also do posts here on the blog with playlists for all sorts of different moods, situations, or artist spotlights. It's kind of whatever I'm in the mood to write about or whatever group of songs in a similar theme I can think of. These posts give a little more background on the songs and artists. For example, here is what I dubbed as "goosebump inducing" songs from Kazakhstan.
In a few months I'll do a post about summer road trip songs... here is one that will definitely be on that list:
Listen to this song on Spotify here.
Including English Songs
LIS'n is all about the Asian languages in music... but that doesn't mean excluding songs in English by Asian artists. Handfuls of Asian artists sing the majority of their songs in English, but because they're from Asia, they're drastically under-represented in English speaking countries. Those artists deserve some recognition as well. Starting with these English songs from Asian artists is also a great way to ease your way into listening to Asian languages.
This is a Japanese band that has been singing in English a lot lately:
Listen to this song on Spotify here.
I love recommending songs, and I love it even more when someone actually enjoys one of my recommendations. Let LIS'n help you find some Asian songs to add to your playlist!
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