The best music right now isn’t American or in English, and if you haven’t figured that out yet, you’re missing out on a cultural renaissance. It’s not just pop or rap anymore; it’s about Reggaeton, K-pop, Brazilian Funk, Nigerian Afrobeats and more.
This shift isn’t accidental. It’s the result of a melting-pot nation educating itself on foreign music. Besides, music doesn’t need translation when it makes you feel something.
Take Peso Pluma, whose genre-bending Mexican ballads have topped Spotify charts in the US despite being fully in Spanish. Or take Rema, Tyla and Ayra Starr, for example, whose Afrobeats tracks are taking over American festivals without switching languages. Even Rosalía, blending flamenco with electronic beats, doesn’t cater to English speakers yet still headlines Coachella.
However, I’m surprised this didn’t happen earlier, with the rise of social media. Yes, lots of Spanish music went viral in the US, but never before have we seen such big songs from France, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa and Korea.
A lot of TikTok trends are boosting Portuguese lyrics into global playlists and helping artists from different countries collaborate with each other. Latin artists collaborate with French rappers, who feature Korean singers, who duet with Arabic pop stars. It’s no longer about crossover hits; it’s about cross-cultural celebration.
For decades, English music has dominated the charts globally, largely due to the Western influence on the music industry. Honestly, and maybe this is just me, but there’s something refreshing about listening to beats and patterns you’re not used to and a language you can’t quite understand.
