Why buy foreign language music?

My first response, I have to say, is simply "Well why not?" and to be honest I'm quite happy with it.

It isn't, unfortunately, always a sufficient answer to a question that I'm asked surprisingly often and sometimes even by friends that I might have suspected knew better! I think this is actually mainly a matter of perception - that such music will somehow be "difficult" therefore, by default, it will require a special effort to appreciate.
There certainly is music that falls into that category, and I can understand why many wish to avoid the effort it entails, but is just as likely to be sung in English. As far as I'm concerned music is for fun and sometimes I give up on artists that I thought I might like for no better reason than the fact that, when it comes to decision time, I decide I simply don't care for their music; but I don't find that foreign language music is overwhelmingly likely to fall into this category if it is of a genre that I generally like.

I say this for two reasons:

• We have all known each other long enough to be happy to take what comes and only to opine that "This album is utter s**t!"if that is what really needs to be said, because it blatantly crosses some unspoken boundary (and we even tend to be fairly forgiving about those) without giving or taking offence. It happens rarely but, as we have all been on both the 'giving' and the 'receiving' end at one time or another, so there there is a certain equity too.
• They are generally quite aware of most of my musical foibles (but clearly not this one) - however some of them also secretly like Rachel Stevens' solo albums. I know exactly who you are and of your irrational, entirely self-inflicted, guilt - that's why the CDs tend to be in the car when appropriate!

The same suspects however generally profess not to listen to song lyrics, but if I play a foreign language album regardless of how non-foreign it sounds, you can be pretty certain that it will be commented on before the end of the second track at the latest. The first track might sometimes get away with it, I suppose, due to inattention or possibly the thought that it might have been merely some artistic "experiment" but clearly lyrics do matter as part of the song as a whole (which perhaps makes some people's equally negative attitude towards modern instrumental music understandable) but maybe not particularly as regards their actual meaning?
I own quite a lot of music, whether whole albums or just individual songs, sung in a variety of mostly European languages from Icelandic and Welsh to French and Spanish. The obvious question now is which is my favourite?
When it comes to studio albums, and for start to end listening pleasure it beats Camille - Le Fil into second place, there is still only one real contender:

Dónde Están Los Ladrones? Shakira, 1999.

It was also the first album that I purchased without ever having heard so much as a single track taken from it (something I now however quite often do without thinking twice about it) - so the fact that it was sung entirely in Spanish hardly seemed relevant at the time . I then reviewed it almost five years ago. How time flies - it was one of my earliest efforts at reviewing and the first to tackle a foreign language album - but I still wouldn't change a thing I wrote then and that is surely the sign of a really solid album; one that has staying power.
Here is that review, complete and original, as it is still to be found on amazon.co.uk. It has dated in the meantime, but the ways are an interesting reflection on the passing of five years in the story of pop music...

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
An album not to be dismissed!, 27 April 2002

I like 'Laundry Service', and happen to think that 'Suerte' the Spanish version of the [UK] hit single 'Whenever, Wherever' is way better than the version in English. On the other hand I think 'Objection (Tango)' is magnificent! I don't speak Spanish, and therefore wondered if a whole album might be too much. I bought 'Dónde Están Los Ladrones?' anyway, and I'm very glad I did! Please let me digress for a moment. Shakira has often been compared to Britney in the popular press, but that is unfair to both of them. Britney sings songs written for her, and usually does so well. Skakira writes her own lyrics and music, so she can set her own musical agenda, and her albums therefore comprise many influences without seeming disconnected. Without the added distraction of two languages, this is perhaps more obvious on 'Dónde Están Los Ladrones'. It may seem a strange comparison, but it is the same sort of accomplishment that Dido achieved with 'No Angel'. Both are brilliant, but not directly comparable! My favourite tracks on the album? Dónde Están Los Ladrones (up-beat, as summer beckons), and the bitter 'Inevitable'! Both made me reach for a Spanish-English dictionary. My least favourite is 'Ojos así' which appears in two versions on this album, and again in English as 'Eyes like yours' on the album 'Laundry Service'."

I know what you are thinking, and I was sceptical too.
I like 'Laundry Service', and happen to think that 'Suerte' the Spanish version of the hit single 'Whenever, Wherever' is way better than the version in English. On the other hand I think 'Objection (Tango)' is magnificent!
I don't speak Spanish, and therefore wondered if a whole album might be too much. I bought 'Dónde Están Los Ladrones' anyway, and I'm very glad I did!
Please let me digress for a moment. Shakira has often been compared to Britney in the popular press, but that is unfair to both of them. Britney sings songs written for her, and usually does so well.
Skakira writes her own lyrics and music, so she can set her own musical agenda, and her albums therefore comprise many influences without seeming disconnected. Without the added distraction of two languages, this is perhaps more obvious on 'Dónde Están Los Ladrones'. It may seem a strange comparison, but it is the same sort of accomplishment that Dido achieved with 'No Angel'. Both are brilliant, but not directly comparable!
My favourite tracks on the album? Dónde Están Los Ladrones (up-beat, as summer beckons), and the bitter 'Inevitable'! Both made me reach for a Spanish-English dictionary. My least favourite is 'Ojos así' which appears in two versions on this album, and again in English as 'Eyes like yours' on the album 'Laundry Service'.