In American society, pieces of art that are foreign are tossed aside or ignored because, as a mainly English speaking society, we tend to gravitate towards works in English. This causes an unfortunate circumstance for foreign musicians because if they don’t conform to English standards, then they are eliminated from one of the biggest countries of consumers in the world. On the other hand, others, such as The Scorpions from Germany and Daft Punk from France, choose to sing in English in order to reach American consumers but have to compromise being able to express themselves in their native language for sales.
Coeur de Pirate, a francophone singer from Canada, stays true to her bilingual roots, singing in both English and French. She has won four Félix awards for her music, and her most recent album, “Roses,” released in late August of this year, peaked at number two in the Canadian charts and five in the Belgian and French charts. Yet, she didn’t chart in the U.S. Longwood junior Kaitlyn Chandler attributes this to a lack of interest in foreign music in the U.S.
“I think people limit themselves to only listening to songs in their native language. They think they won’t enjoy the music because they don’t understand the words, but you don’t need to understand every word to like the music,” Chandler said.
Despite being in French, her music follows a lot of patterns that are prominent within American pop music. For example, her song “Comme des enfants” is characterized by a piano-driven pop melody.
“I like that it’s a pop style. It’s really fun to listen to,” Chandler said.
Coeur de Pirate also attempts to weave aspects from other genres into her music.
“I think she blends a lot of genres in really interesting ways. Like, in ‘Place de la republique,’ it’s like kinda instrumental and almost classical but pop at the same time,” Chandler said.
Even though her music is a lot like that of her American counterparts, Coeur de Pirate isn’t well known here. Chandler explains that this is because of the emphasis on lyrics versus the music.
“If you tell someone ‘Hey, I really like this song, it’s in French,’ they get really freaked out. People want to sing along, but that’s not really critical to listening to music. People listen to classical music, and that doesn’t have words. So, why can’t you appreciate foreign music in the same way?”
Listening to foreign music can also be beneficial in expanding one’s worldview.
“If you’re trying to learn a language, it can be really helpful to listen to songs in that particular language,” Chandler explained.
Acknowledging many people’s distaste for things they don’t understand, Chandler calls on others to give Coeur de Pirate’s music a chance.
“I think people need to go out of their comfort zone when listening to music,” Chandler said. “It’s a really limiting thing to only listen to music in your native language, and there’s a lot you can learn about your world by listening to new music.”
