If Language is Not an Obstacle to Universalizing a Song, Then What is?
In my nearly one month of travels across South America, there was one thing that was commonly done in every country and city that I set foot in. That is, the bars and restaurants repeatedly played this summer's (or in South America, this winter's) smash hit, Despacito. While the Spanish-language reggaeton dance number is just as popular in the US and many other countries around the world, in South America, the craze is at a whole new level, with the song played as part of the pop music hit list so frequently that it is impossible to not go anywhere that plays music without hearing it at least once (if not more).
Only in South America can one understands the cultural significance of a song like Despacito. While in the US, people would bob their heads when the song come on a radio, and perhaps sing along to it if Justin Bieber's English-version remix is played, in South America, when the song comes on, it leads to an instantaneous dance party. The crowds go absolutely wild, whether it be a bar, a nightclub, or just nearby a streetside boombox. The sultry dances of Despacito's music video is often expressed naturally by normal people, without prior learning or deliberate imitation.
The recent years have shown that having an incomprehensible foreign language can no longer stop a song from becoming a global hit. Whether it be the meteoric rise of Gangnam Style a few years ago, or the current streak of Despacito on the top of the charts, the target audience not understanding what the song is saying has not prevented the audience from listening to the song repeatedly and accepting it as part of the current pop culture repertoire. The cliche of how music knows no borders has in particular applied well to these rhythmic dance numbers that could get the most foreign of listeners moving.
But in some ways Despacito takes the "being accepted by foreigners" a whole new level from the success of Gangnam Style. Gangnam Style, after all, uses more or less the standard formula of techno-like EDM genre prevalent in American nightclubs. To the global audience, the Korean language might be foreign but the musical style is highly familiar. Hence it does not stand out in any EDM playlist without the need to remix and modify for localization. The same cannot be said of Despacito, considering that reggaeton, while not fringe, remain outside the mainstream in Western pop music.
In other words, Despacito is considerably more exotic and ethnic than Gangnam Style. If the listener ignores the lyrics of Gangnam Style, it can easily be taken for an American-written and produced song, but the same cannot be said of Despacito. Listening to it requires the audience to accept the underlying Latin American culture of street dancing and embracing an attitude toward music that is, more likely than not, absent in mainstream North American, European, Asian, or African cultures. For Despacito to be become the global hit that it has become, global audience had to embrace that Latin American culture it represents.
To put in terms that are repeatedly used in this blog, what Despacito's global success represents is some sort of Latin American "soft power," a global affinity toward the local music culture that ensure its products can become palatable everywhere. In other words, because a segment of Latin American soft power, as expressed by its music, has already become reasonably entrenched in non-Latin American areas, Despacito can ride the waves of that existing soft power to top the charts. The song's success is not an isolated incident of simply a song written well.
On the contrary, Gangnam Style is a "tool" of soft power creation, rather than a result of existing soft power's success. Gangnam Style's use of Western musical style connotes the fact that its success is primarily a result of appealing to Korea's similarity to the West. To put another way, Gangnam Style pushes for increase in Korean soft power in Western markets by piggybacking off of existing strengths of Western soft power. The difference in how the two songs succeeded serve to illustrate the different stages at which Korean and Latin American cultures are accepted in different countries around the world.
So if language is not an obstacle for a song to go global, then what is? The answer should again be the idea of soft power. A country without soft power, no matter how much musical talent it manages to produce, will not gain the attention of people around the world. The fact is that people associate a country with certain characteristics before they even get ahead and find out anything about that country's music. Without some way of entrenching soft power abroad (whether it be through Gangnam Style-like borrowing of already strong Western soft power, or general cultural diffusion exhibited by Latin Americans) it is simply impossible to make music "stick" in foreign markets no matter how musically excellent the songs may be.
Only in South America can one understands the cultural significance of a song like Despacito. While in the US, people would bob their heads when the song come on a radio, and perhaps sing along to it if Justin Bieber's English-version remix is played, in South America, when the song comes on, it leads to an instantaneous dance party. The crowds go absolutely wild, whether it be a bar, a nightclub, or just nearby a streetside boombox. The sultry dances of Despacito's music video is often expressed naturally by normal people, without prior learning or deliberate imitation.
The recent years have shown that having an incomprehensible foreign language can no longer stop a song from becoming a global hit. Whether it be the meteoric rise of Gangnam Style a few years ago, or the current streak of Despacito on the top of the charts, the target audience not understanding what the song is saying has not prevented the audience from listening to the song repeatedly and accepting it as part of the current pop culture repertoire. The cliche of how music knows no borders has in particular applied well to these rhythmic dance numbers that could get the most foreign of listeners moving.
But in some ways Despacito takes the "being accepted by foreigners" a whole new level from the success of Gangnam Style. Gangnam Style, after all, uses more or less the standard formula of techno-like EDM genre prevalent in American nightclubs. To the global audience, the Korean language might be foreign but the musical style is highly familiar. Hence it does not stand out in any EDM playlist without the need to remix and modify for localization. The same cannot be said of Despacito, considering that reggaeton, while not fringe, remain outside the mainstream in Western pop music.
In other words, Despacito is considerably more exotic and ethnic than Gangnam Style. If the listener ignores the lyrics of Gangnam Style, it can easily be taken for an American-written and produced song, but the same cannot be said of Despacito. Listening to it requires the audience to accept the underlying Latin American culture of street dancing and embracing an attitude toward music that is, more likely than not, absent in mainstream North American, European, Asian, or African cultures. For Despacito to be become the global hit that it has become, global audience had to embrace that Latin American culture it represents.
To put in terms that are repeatedly used in this blog, what Despacito's global success represents is some sort of Latin American "soft power," a global affinity toward the local music culture that ensure its products can become palatable everywhere. In other words, because a segment of Latin American soft power, as expressed by its music, has already become reasonably entrenched in non-Latin American areas, Despacito can ride the waves of that existing soft power to top the charts. The song's success is not an isolated incident of simply a song written well.
On the contrary, Gangnam Style is a "tool" of soft power creation, rather than a result of existing soft power's success. Gangnam Style's use of Western musical style connotes the fact that its success is primarily a result of appealing to Korea's similarity to the West. To put another way, Gangnam Style pushes for increase in Korean soft power in Western markets by piggybacking off of existing strengths of Western soft power. The difference in how the two songs succeeded serve to illustrate the different stages at which Korean and Latin American cultures are accepted in different countries around the world.
So if language is not an obstacle for a song to go global, then what is? The answer should again be the idea of soft power. A country without soft power, no matter how much musical talent it manages to produce, will not gain the attention of people around the world. The fact is that people associate a country with certain characteristics before they even get ahead and find out anything about that country's music. Without some way of entrenching soft power abroad (whether it be through Gangnam Style-like borrowing of already strong Western soft power, or general cultural diffusion exhibited by Latin Americans) it is simply impossible to make music "stick" in foreign markets no matter how musically excellent the songs may be.
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