Three summers ago, Despacito’s lilting Spanish lyrics dominated the
UK charts, but since then nearly all pop hits have been in English. Is it just a language barrier – or a sign of a narrow culture?
In 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s huge No 1 summer hit Despacito seemed to herald a new age where the domination of the English language in western pop was eroding. Global streaming has since allowed for the overwhelming popularity of slick
K-Pop titans BTS, the doleful flamenco flourishes of Spanish artist Rosalía and the multilingual Nigerian superstar Burna Boy among others, suggesting that, at last, non-English-language hits are moving beyond novelties such as The Ketchup Song and Dragostea Din Tei.
But three summers on from Despacito, the UK remains dominated by English-language pop. Latin
music hasn’t had nearly the same impact here as in the US, and Christine and the Queens’ “Ne me cherche pas, je ne suis plus la, baby” was a very rare burst of French on
British radio, via Gone, her hit song with Charli XCX last year. (It feels telling that Belgian singer-songwriter Angèle, one of
France and Belgium’s biggest new artists, has made no real attempt to break the UK market.) Music made by dominant
immigrant communities in the UK, such as those of Punjabi origin such as bhangra – even crossovers such as Birmingham
Rapper Mist and producer Steel Banglez joining forces for multilingual shout-outs (“Hold tight all my apnas, karlas, goras”) – is not consumed by the masses.