Iberian Hipster

I recently had a conversation with a friend who was telling me about a girl he met and is a little into, for the sake of not using the word crush. He went on and on about how he seized the moment after a class field trip and went for tapas with her, getting to know each other more sufficiently than exchanging extreme stories of what their respective host mothers did this time.  


We had a generic conversation about this girl he was chasing, until he said this: "The only thing that gets me is the music she listens to - I did a little Facebook research, and honestly Aimee, it's horrible. Like Danny Gokey..."


Not that I disagree with him, but it's an interesting segway into music in Spain. (If you listen to Danny Gokey, god knows what music you'll unearth here.)


Judging people by their music taste is a great game. This especially rings true when my señora, Encarna, told me she remembers how to pronounce my name because of Amy Winehouse. 

The minute the car started en route to my host home the radio turned on, and lukewarm Bruno Mars came on. (Seriously I thought I escaped this guy going west.) Anyway, I talked to Andrea, my host sister, for a while about American music. She didn't blatantly say this, but the Spanish music industry seriously lacks talent, and most people love American music. Except Encarna just can't get enough of Spain's sensational Manuel Carrasco:

Spanish men singing whiney songs are the mirror image to many English-speaking singers, case in point Chris Martin. Andrea, though, doesn't really listen to Coldplay or any other so-called alternative music. She listens to Spanish dubstep crap and dance music, along with whatever American music is blasted on the radio. They can't get enough of Rihanna and Alexandra Stan here.


The most popular song in Spain right now is from Portuguese artist Michel Telo. Listen here, it's actually a great song with (almost) pretty much meaningless lyrics. I think Telo was just afraid to go the distance the Akon went in "Hynotized:"




It's catchy. Pandora doesn't work outside the United States, so I spent a long time on last.fm last night finding Spanish music that people seem to listen to other than the standard Top 40 songs. Among my favorite band names were Love of Lesbian and Olivia de Happyland.


Anyway, the Iberian hipster probably isn't your typical hipster, but the music is okay. I think I'll stick to what I love, but I try to find ways to embrace the new. Take a listen to La Buena Vida.