What songs do you like that are in a language which you don't speak?

99 Luftballoons - Nena https://open.spotify.com/track/2IJftBfq7pJ43tfnOR0RB3?si=Tj9rOKguQkOmpb3jJM27uw

45

Rammstein

22

Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano

https://youtu.be/-VsmF9m_Nt8?feature=shared

19

Snow - Informer

17

So many. I like music and I like languages so when there are lyrics there's a good chance it's not English.

Dead can dance - The Host of Seraphim - moody female vocals with backing instruments and synth that resembles religious sad hymns (not even in a real language)
王菲 Faye Wong《四月雪 April Snow - melancholy mandarin pop from 2003
Hocico - Ecos - Mexican electro-industrial on the aggressive side
Juno Reactor - Conquistador (part 1 and 2) - technically 2 songs, in Latin, Spanish and I think Xhosa. Same person who did the music from the matrix, these are sort of a musical interpretation of South American history
Sepultura - Ratamahatta - Brazilian metal
All about Lily Chou-Chou OST - Arabesque(アラベスク) - fictional band with female vocals, beautiful melancholy song in Okinawan
Fly, Fly My Sadness - The Bulgarian Voices Angelite with Huun-Huur-Tu and Moscow Art Trio - Mongolian throat singers (if you've never heard this technique, it's incredible and unlike anything else, this song isn't the best example though, search for huun huur tu videos) and an ethereal Bulgarian choir.
The Mirror Conspiracy ft. LouLou - Le Monde - French lyrics, chillout downtempo electronic
Björk - Úm Akkeri - Icelandic version of her song The Anchor Song
Yothu Yindi - Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming) - a classic 1989 Australian song in Yolŋu and English. Not my favourite but I wanted to have the continent represented here.
Thievery Corporation - Satyam Shivam Sundaram - another downtempo chillour from the same group, this time in Hindi
Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun - too catchy not to mention, Punjabi pop, hilariously cheesy video clip

There are so many more. I didn't even touch Caribbean patois or Arabic or Polynesian languages etc. I'm very big on global music though, especially with a strong beat and lyrical themes on anti-colonialism...

17

Off the top of my head,

Psy - Gangnam Style

Rammstein - entire catalog

The Hu - most of their stuff

15

Manu Chao - clandestino

12

I got really into German punk a few years ago. Some of my favorites.

Die Ärzte Schrei nach Liebe

Wizo Raum Der Zeit

Die Toten Hosen Hier kommt Alex

12

Bella Ciao

10

Numa Numa Yay, Numa Numa Yay, Numa Numa Numa Yay!

9

Eivør - Trøllabundin

I have listened to it so much that I know the lyrics perfectly, and it's even possible my pronunciation is close to correct, yet I don't speak a word of Faroese.

9

La Bamba

8

Kind of a joke but the song is catchy.

Salsa Tequila

The guy is a Norwegian comedian I think & he bet his friends that he could get a dumb song into the Billboard top 10 or something. I believe he succeeded in a few European countries.

The song is absolutely ridiculous considering he doesn’t speak Spanish, but it’s just a funny story.

8

Anything by stromae really. In some of his songs you can even hear the emotion he conveys without understanding any French

8

Dragostea Din Tei (aka, the "Numa numa" song) is always a hit.

7

Nier Replicant & Nier Automata soundtracks

All in chaos language (a.k.a. pure gibberish).

6

I recently found this song, Kai Tangata, by Alien Weaponry. They're a New Zealand band, and the song features a lot of Maori warriors and the entire song is sung in Maori. Really amazing imagery in the video, shows off a lot of combat and Haka.

6

Stromae - Papaoutai (I found out it existed because Pentatonix did a cover of it)

That guy's also got some other interesting songs, with quite a bit of social commentary: carmen, Fils de joie, tous les mêmes, Santé

6

France Gall - Ella, Elle L'a

6

Yelle - A Cause Des Garçons (Tepr Remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqYhuwu614Y

5

Camille - Ta douleur

5

My playlist of Armenian music is inappropriately huge. You will regret asking this question.

Garabala - Habrban
Serj Tankian ft. Larisa Ryan - Ari Im Sokhag
Serj Tankian - Artsakh
Garik and Sona - Mayro I do not have a huge crush on Sona Rubenyan shut up.
Adana Project - Gini Lic maybe turn off the subtitles unless you hate Turkey as much as Armenia does...
Sevak Amroyan - Yarkhushta aw fuck yeah
Nare Gevorgyan - Mer Ergire

I have many, MANY more. I am not remotely Armenian, just a huge SOAD fan who fell down a youtube rabbit hole one day...

5

Ederlezi

5

I think that would describe half my catalog :-/

Finnish Iskelmä
- Stig - Puumaa mä metsästä
- Arttu Wiskari - Sirpa
- Lemon - Nainen Tummissa (cover of Lady in Black)
Thai
- จ๊อบ บรรจบ - ดูเธอทำ (Job 2 Do - Doo doo doo)
- Soreng Santi (สรวง สันติ) - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng (cover of Iron Man … sort of)
most versions of Bella Ciao (except La Casa de Papel for some reason)
- Bella ciao cantata dal coro R'Esistente del Pratello
the “fun” stuff coming out of Ukraine
- О.Пономарьов М.Хома Т.Тополя Є.Кошовий Ю.Ткач П.Чорний - УКРАЇНА ПЕРЕМОЖЕ
- Andriy Khlyvnyuk x The Kiffness - Ukrainian Folk Song ARMY REMIX
- Cвітоглядець - Bayraktar

5

Basically anything Sigur Rós does.

Though, half of their music is in a "language" nobody speaks.

5

Poi E - Patea Māori Club

4

Pretty partial to Japanese pop myself. I'm learning Japanese partially so i can understand the songs. Yoasobi's songs are a good general recommendation, I would recommend Yoru ni Kakeru, Gunjou, and Seventeen.

4

Indian Folk Metal -- Bloodywood - Dana Dan

4

The entirety of NieR and NieR Automata's vocal tracks. Most of them are actually just gibberish.

4

The whole genre of City Pop is awesome.

4

some chill, maybe non-angsty rap
Ievan Polkka
Коробейники
跟我在一起 the number of 天s in this song hits the feels.

4

Love this thread. Here are some of my favs off the top of my head. My music tastes are all over the place.

4

The entire sound track for FLCL by The Pillows.

When that show was new, I could sing them all. Kinda. I certainly had no idea what the words were, but I listened to them enough that I could fake it lol

4

Dude so many! I'll link some favorites old and new.

All things Rammstein. I speak an elementary amount of German so maybe this doesn't count. If you only know Du Hast, you really should check out more of Rammstein. These are a few of my recent favorites. (each video is probably nsfw if you have a puritanical office.)

Angst - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONj9cvHCado
Deutschland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeQM1c-XCDc
Zeit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbHGS_bVkXY

Sigur Ros

Sæglópur - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiFgfPiJHyA

Sakanaction is a great Japanese band that a friend introduced me to years ago.

Sayonara wa Emotion - さよならはエモーション - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wlRFsmceo0
多分、風。- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lx0vLTH_yg
Shintakarajima - #新宝島 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIlZCmETvsY

Tiziano Ferro (bit older song but I still dig it)

Perdono - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnGjr_czU1E

Las Ketchup (It got old fast for me but this was a huge hit at the time)

Asereje https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0PisGe66mY

King and Jester

Forester- лесник - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BdJ8piaEkA

Hikaru Utada

Automatic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9DxpPiE458

Juli (Love her voice. One of my favorite voices)

Perfeckte Welle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8ukI7Z-b8
Irgendwann - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npdk6IxqjFE

Annenmaykantereit (Told myself if I ever learn piano this would be one of the first songs)

Barfuss am Klavier - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tERRFWuYG48

Mylene Farmer

Belle Journee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huZTRymyfpU

Grand Corps Malade & Camille Lellouche (Had this one on loop for awhile when I first found it)

Mais je t'aime - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ss-xmvLGFw

Passi

Le Monde est à Moi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvwSVCnLF1Q

Panzer AG

Bereit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ0KjI8Oxug

That's a decent list of some of my favorites. (please excuse the wonky formatting. I can't get it to behave.)

4

Äppelknyckarjazz by Movits! Such a great album.

4

Tanz mit Mir by Faun

4

French?

Florina - Va Va Vis
The Longest Johns - Santiano (only partly in french, but damn bro)
Cedric Watson - La Vieille Chanson De Mardi Gras

4

"Prisencolinensinainciusol" by Adriano Celentano. I don't know if we could really say what language it's in, but I definitely don't speak it.

https://youtu.be/-VsmF9m_Nt8

4

There's a bunch of hardbass I like that's usually in Russian or some other slavic language Mostly listen to Uamee

3

Taikatalvi by Nightwish

3

Ruina Imperii by Sabaton

3

Jane Air, Junk

Rammstein, Moskau

Afterhours, Vedova Bianca (There's an English version that was used in Mr. Robot)

3

This, which I remember from the FIFA 06 soundtrack: https://youtu.be/M-rZ3602Lm8?feature=shared

3

Who killed UN Owen https://youtu.be/eCyf9C6dHYE?si=IcV5ZkNFNGBexBey

3

I would normally just go with an Infected Mushroom tune (there are a few in Hebrew like Lost in Space which also has Arabic at the end), but I challenged myself to think beyond my regular playlist, and Disko Partizani was the first that came to mind (partly in English, but otherwise in Romanian, I'm pretty sure).. Great tune and it's been ages since I gave it a listen, so thanks for the reminder!

I'm sure there are more examples, but my mind is drawing a blank right now.. This is going to bug me all evening lol

3

Malagueña Salerosa from the Kill Bill soundtrack.

3

All of Warduna and Heilung. Don't understand a single word but love the music.

3

Asian Kung Fu Generation - After Dark

3

(French) Meryl - Coucou https://open.spotify.com/track/3kiTnvHHKipoAwa40GTGGy?si=hjnmnrfbTEOoypCdxLeSOw

(Twi) Kato Change, Winyo: Abiro (with Winyo) - Afro House https://open.spotify.com/track/3dC7XCt0E0bJG53Tdp6AkC?si=_1lzZa8BTlGXD4ZgFgcL2A

(Russian) Erik Lundmoen - Яд (Yad) https://open.spotify.com/track/59vIllaE2ottAAAtAiAuLt?si=qomTpbPuQi2A_TZZ7y105A

(Chinese, assuming Mandarin) Xian (from Daily life of the immortal king, a good song) https://open.spotify.com/track/4wS9qzjqOEZdZqpTQpUvzp?si=rAGehbsWQR60flO9eROk2Q

(Japanese) Hatsune Miku x STEAKA - Doping Dance https://open.spotify.com/track/42pjAjhZQG4BGmOmAhgwbP?si=MwOf09VlTdKP1y5WuWDo9Q

(Brazilian Portuguese) DJ Gudog - Beat Mágico que mexe a sua mente https://open.spotify.com/track/6nluwwQLiTI2ExXtWm81w6?si=ovRzolZcREqzdAd4RGob8A

(Spanish) Kali Uchis x Peso Pluma - Igual que un Ángel https://open.spotify.com/track/6XaJfhwof7qIgbbXO5tIQI?si=vxm3V8hOTYKYqZ9jk0qBQg

(Assuming Hindi) Mitraz - Akhiyaan https://open.spotify.com/track/2l3dFxtoSMgMQVyRIUHjpz?si=UyhBbaHiQLuJCbaNFpmY9w

3

I listen to a lot of K-pop. I don't know more than a very small handful of Korean.

3

I've got quite a bunch, in multiple languages and genres. Here are a few. Let me know what you think.

Culcha Candela x HBz - Hamma 2k22
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q9fD6UA4xs

Tacabro - Tacata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqFtayBRdfs

Shiva - Auto Blu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGlWbPR6SjA

t.A.T.u. - Malchik Gay

Blümchen - Heut' ist mein Tag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXay1pdfQpI

G-Dragon - Butterfly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98qqghzKAMM

3

There are a lot of operas that I thoroughly enjoy that are largely in Italian that are just incredibly moving. Pavarotti singing Pagliacci is insanely moving, as one example.

3

Too much kpop and jpop to list, but Kent (swedish) has a lot of good songs: Stanna Hos Mig, 400 Slag

3

Gangnam Style, O Fortuna (Carmina Burana), stuff by Hildegard von Bingen

3

I have an entire playlist for this. But the my favorite ones are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7cuTnbF-2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J9FuvPmMoI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbaAxgufFA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nfziCIMrHs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvfFJGeZH_w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVkGRoLicuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWl5NcRB8UI

3

Wen Bie by Jackie Cheung

3

Cocteau Twins. I'm pretty sure she just gave up using actual words entirely at some point.

3

Most things by Snow Tha Product - start with 'Butter' or 'No Cap In My Captions'.

3

Hijo de la Luna - Mecano

3

"Habibi"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JcrIvCaDGt8&list=PLrvbNZgqiZcTFEs3lNXegUoTB-3lB-nB_&index=10&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB

3

I really like the French national anthem.

3

La Vie en Rose - Eddie Piaf

Ievan Polka

Du Hast - Rammstein

I think that's a pretty good spread

3

I listen to quite a decent amount of French music

https://open.spotify.com/track/5exiWZkZho6AvCGkabEMeA?si=YRhnFPEHSfuxozVZSoVkSQ

3

Jonas Dichoso - Empilight

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kENZU2VKrf4&si=9B86AAEYqA6ZO9Vl

3

Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan. The whole album is magical.

3

Mostly songs from C. Tangana , especially the songs from his "concert" on TinyDesk.

3

some of the ones that spontaneously come to my mind are:
- 99 luftballons
- Ievan polkka
- Cannabis
- Naruto's second opening

3

Asilos Magdalena by Mars Volta

I like all their stuff, but that’s the only one I can think of that is completely in Spanish

3

Surprised there are no mentions of BTS more generally, lol

Although I guess for most they are a bit of a "gateway drug" to the K-pop genre.

3

Tricot - 爆裂トリコさん

3

Rammstein - all songs 🙂

3

Basshunter, obviously.

3

"Teresa Rampell" by Manel. It's in Catalan.

2

This Frederic song was on my feed one day. I had to hunt it down later that week and fortunately it was easy to describe because I found a thread of someone trying to find the same song.

2

Leva's polka

2

September by Mariya Takeuchi.

I like a good amount of Japanese music but that makes my top five songs.

2

DIEGO ALIONE CANTA: "A RAMBO NO LE GUSTA LA GUERRA" I kinda understand it :)

2

I'm a Eurovision Song Contest fan, though I only came to it in the last few years, so I have a ton of good songs for this question!

ESC 2021

SHUM by GO_A (Ukraine) was my winner for that year.
Zitti E Buoni by Maneskin (Italy) was the actual winner and launched them to international success. They are on the US radio now too.
Voy a Quedarme by Blas Canto (Spain) is very pretty. I DO speak Spanish, but y'all might dig it.

ESC 2022

Brividi by Mahmood & Blanco (Italy)
Trenulețul by Zdob şi Zdub & Frații Advahov (Moldova) is some of the most fun music I've ever heard.
Saudade Saudade by MARO (Portugal) is partly in English but entirely beautiful.
In Corpore Sano by Konstrakta (Serbia) was one of my top songs this year. Her odd stage/video performance really makes it.
Stefania by Kalush Orchestra (Ukraine) was the winner this year, only partly because of the invasion. It was probably in most people's top 3 anyway, and it got such a huge percentage of the votes that it really skewed the rest of the results. (Fun fact, the flautist/lead in this song is the same flautist from SHUM in 2021)

ESC 2023

Cha Cha Cha by Käärijä (Finland) is a TREMENDOUS bop. It's so catchy. As he was touring around before the actual semi-finals he lost his trademark lime green jacket, and fans made and brought replacements to shows for him until it was found.
Mama ŠČ! by Let 3 (Croatia) is beyond weird but really catchy. They're the most charismatic artists ever to fake pooping themselves during an interview.
Ai Coração by Mimicat (Portugal) is fun and has a kind of old school vibe.

ESC 2024 is in National Finals season now, where each country chooses their entry, usually with a reality show contest. The semi-finals are 7 and 9 May and the Finals will be on 11 May. You can stream on Peacock, or hop on a VPN and watch the live feed from Sweden or Denmark or somewhere.

2

Melor Famigal

2

indihome packet phoenix

2

Pretty much anything from Frontside, but especially their album 'Sprawa jest osobista". I have no idea what those poles are singing about, but you can just taste the thick sarcasm through kick ass guitar riffs.

2

Traicionera by Sebastian Yatra.

2

Anything by Sigur Ros.

2

Well I do speak some Spanish but Del Castillo Rios Misticos is such a banger whether you can understand it or not.

The song Inta Omri is gorgeous, look for a Um Kathoum version.

2

Great thread - I'll throw in a few although I'm late to the party.

Gaspar Nali - Abale Ndikuwuzeni

Anything from the Afro-Cuban All Stars or Buena Vista Social Club albums

Orchestra Baobab - Sey

Mory Kante - Yeke Yeke (Hardfloor mix)

Lexicon Avenue - Here I Am (Rutabaga mix)

2

Anything by:

Dir En Grey

Yoshida Brothers

2

Nanook - Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut

2

I'm enough of a lyrics person that the language barrier is a pretty big issue when it comes to music but HATRIÐ MUN SIGRA and I si demà no tornara are both undeniable bangers

2

https://open.spotify.com/track/0y7m0EBue5jIrSojxqqPR2?si=h0InWsdcQgSdD5jlu5D-nA

2

I read further down that a user even has a dedicated playlist for these kinds of songs. I should probably start my own.

And I'm afraid this thread is going to keep me busy for a while...

Here are a few examples from my "favorites" playlist:

Youssou N'Dour - Undecided (Japoulo)

Ornella Vanoni - Non Dirmi Niente

Kourosh Yaghmaei - Gole Yakh

Nana Caymmi - Tens (Calmaria)

2

White Tiger Field (Byakkoya) by Susumu Hirasawa

2

Starts off in English but really kicks in when it turns Welsh.

patio song by Gorkys Zygotic Mynci

2

Tunak Tunak Tun will forever be a banger.

2

Ave Maria

2

Aaand now onto Bollywood...

2

No idea what this song name is Infected Mushroom - תרקוד לנצח. It's in Hebrew I believe. No idea what it's about, but I think it sounds great. Also Leonard Dembo - Mutadzi Ngaaregererwe. It's just super chill. It's in an African language, can't remember which.

2

Amatz by Shanti Dope https://g.co/kgs/wkcx8Wj

2

All of Sigur Ros. Makes me want to move to Iceland and be confused all day long.

2

Anything from Ningen Isu.

Ningen Isu - Heartless Scat

2

Rammstein, most of what eluveitie makes and inabakumori makes...

2

"Ari Im Sokhag", Serj Tankian (system of a down) and Larisa Ryan, very beautiful Armenian song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg-tfFfHm8E

2

Any Song I listen because I don't like songs in my language. I don't know why.

2

Anything Jam Hsiao works, but I really like his song A Love Song For You. I also found out about a group called 製燥者StoryMaker and I absolutely love their song Sin of Sloth. I have so many different songs, mostly vocaloid and other related software, songs that I like that are in Chinese, Japanese, some in Korean, and even a song in Ukrainian that I like, but I ain't doing a super list of songs. I know about 3 quarters of college worth of Japanese, but I still don't consider it a language I speak.

2

I like most songs by Carla's Dreams (Romanian/Moldovan + Russian). From eurovision, Shum (Ukrainian) and My sister's crown (English+Ukrainian+Czech+Bulgarian) are pretty good. Slavic languages just sound nice in songs.

Also most pop in catalan (eg. La sortida, escriurem, Ara!).

For something rarer check out Pat Boy who sings in Mayan.

2

Gangnam Style

1

Kasa no Hone - Anathallo

Pretty much anything by Sigur Ros

1

The gipsy kings cover of Hotel California.

1

I think nobody posted yet this Finnish duo...This song slaps: Maustetytöt - Syntynyt suruun ja puettu pettymyksin I'm posting this link as it has both subtitles and you get to see them playing, but audio is better in the Studio version.

Since I'm at it...how about some Mongolian metal with throat singing? The HU - Yuve Yuve Yu. Comments on this video are hilarious too.

This video still cracks me up... Bomba Estéreo - Soy Yo

Japanese pop/rock overloaded with traditional instruments and general chaos...Wagakki - Kishikaisei

And...this. Namewee - Makudonarudo

El Pescador y La Luna - DJ Ignato

1

Mungkin Nanti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWcMwUySDvI

1

Olivia Lufkin - Stars shining out

1

[Bratisla Boys - Stach Stach

](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0mv7ljo9x0g)

I think that for this one we can all agree on "not speaking the language"

1

I'm partial to Klingon Opera.

1

Discovered Leningrad - Fish
in a similar post on Reddit a while back

1

Na Laetha Geal M'Oige - Enya

Sidi Mansour (any version)

The Vietnam National Anthem

Voyage Voyage - Desireless

Xoris Esena - Despina Vandi

Epic of Gilgamesh

1

I quite like stromae on occasion. And I'm a fan of rammstein, but while I don't speak German I do understand it reasonably well so I'm not sure that counts

1