Get Your Duolingo Out! Songs in Spanish Are the New Wave
On October 9th, Colombian artist Kali Uchis took to Instagram to announce that she will drop a new album in January 2024. The album is titled Orquideas and will be another of her primarily Spanish albums, like her 2020 album, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios). Her way of singing in English and Spanish, sometimes in the same song, made her popular. By doing this, she expanded her fanbase to English and Spanish speakers. "Telepatia" and "Moonlight" are two of her most viral songs to date, and she sings the two languages in both. However, this is nothing new for Latin musicians; it's becoming increasingly popular for artists to speak more English in their songs and ultimately increase their English-speaker fanbase.
Long story short, you don't have to understand the artist to enjoy the song's rhythm. One example of this is Bad Bunny. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you know that his songs are the most fun in clubs-- maybe that's just a South Florida experience-- but I've never met anyone who doesn't enjoy his tunes. More recently, songs by Karol G and Rosalia have gone viral on social media and have been used as audio for many TikToks or Instagram reels. Rosalia created "BIZCOCHITO,'' and Karol G wrote "TQG" featuring Shakira, both songs entirely in Spanish. However, that didn't stop them from becoming wildly popular among the non-Spanish speaker community. Since Latinos are known for their "celebratory" culture, it makes others want to join, and the primary way is through music.
Don't believe me? Data proves that more and more people are listening to Latin music. Luminate, an entertainment insight company, provides the following information that reveals trustworthy data for film, TV, and music. The top language for music listeners in the United States is 93% English, while 40% listen to music in another language. Of that 40%, music in Spanish takes up 26%, making it the second most popular language for listeners. The graph also shows that French and Japanese are 8%, and Korean makes up 7%. These changes in U.S. language consumption demonstrate a shift in what we always knew. About 20 years ago, radio stations in the United States were not adamant about allowing a song in any language (other than English) to enter a Top 50 chart. In recent years, non-English songs and artists occupy a significant chunk of the charts.
Another notable trend is the concept of On-Demand audio streams. Users go onto their music streaming app and choose what song they want to listen to by looking it up or scrolling through their library. When looking at a graph listing the major genres of music played, it puts Latin music as the 5th largest genre. In that order, this sets Latin music behind R&B/Hip-Hop, Pop, Rock, and Country music. When looking at just Latin On-Demand music streaming, the first 34 weeks of 2023 had 57.9 billion streams for music in Spanish– compared to the first 34 weeks of 2022, which had 47.4 billion streams. The rise in streaming numbers shows the increasing popularity of streamed Latin music.
It's no secret that social media is an excellent way for your music to be discovered as an artist. But for regular users, it's also an ideal way to encounter new music. This is also true in the Latin community, with trends in music discovery. Music discovery is self-explanatory; it's how users discover unfamiliar music. Findings show that one in two non-Hispanic Latin music fans uncover songs through movie and TV soundtracks. The top three music discovery sources are streaming platforms with 55%, friends and relatives with 47%, and 48% from social media.
WhatsApp is a popular app most people use to keep in touch with relatives and friends overseas. Within the Hispanic listener community, 73% use WhatsApp, 265% more than the general population. On the other hand, 31% of non-Hispanic listeners use it, which is 55% more than the general population. As such, the app is used to communicate about music, and a recent app update lets artists create a personal channel to share their art with fans.
Strike Out,
Emily Fiorini-Casamayouret
Boca Raton
Emily Fiorini-Casamayouret is the Senior Editor and Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca Raton. When she isn’t writing, this Cancer enjoys listening to music, reading, doing some retail therapy, & eating pasta. You can reach her on Instagram @emilyfiorini, or at emilyfiorinic@gmail.com
