20 Minutes of British English Conversation - Native Speakers Talk About Music 🎵 S2E7

0:05 What's the best concert you've ever been to?

0:07 Oh my gosh.

0:08 I haven't been to many concerts to be honest.

0:10 No, we're not big concert people.

0:11 We've been to some, but not a lot.

0:13 And I think I think some people go to more

0:15 concerts a year than we have in our entire life.

0:18 Oh yeah, people.

0:19 Yeah, some people love it.

0:20 People love it.

0:21 Um, the best concert I've ever been to,

0:23 I'm going to say I haven't been to many, have I?

0:25 The 1975.

0:26 Yeah, I do like them.

0:28 People think I think sometimes real like

0:31 music lovers get a bit snobby about them.

0:33 I think Yeah.

0:34 Why?

0:34 I would think the opposite.

0:35 I think they're quite No, cuz they're like, but Well, here's the thing.

0:39 I think Why is it do you think that people who love real music,

0:43 they always seem to like older music,

0:45 you know, like there's people who go like, "Oh, well, they don't,

0:47 you know, music isn't as good as it used to be.

0:49 Why can't they appreciate the music that's around

0:51 now?" Do you reckon music has just gotten worse?

0:54 I think it has.

0:58 I probably appreciate if you grew up in like the 70s and you heard,

1:03 you know, like these amazing bands and whatever and now you realize that, oh,

1:07 making music is so much easier because you can literally just like you can train

1:11 a a keyboard to sound like a guitar and you can just go like there you go.

1:18 Whereas in the past it used to be like

1:19 that was a good little melody that was, wasn't Hey, don't you steal that?

1:24 Whereas um whereas like in the past you used to have to actually

1:26 be able to play it and everyone play their instruments and everyone played live.

1:29 Put it this way.

1:30 Put it this way.

1:30 I think any I think any kind of band pre 80s and before

1:36 any music I hear, I'm imagining people playing the instruments.

1:40 Whereas if I'm listening to Sabrina Carpenter, hey, don't say it with that tone.

1:44 She's great.

1:45 Sabrina Carpenter.

1:46 I'll say it again.

1:47 If I'm listening to her, I'm not I'm not imagining there's a band with her.

1:52 No, you can't imagine instruments.

1:53 No, you just imagine there's the vibe behind her.

1:56 There's a track and she's singing

1:57 and she's singing.

1:58 And so I can imagine you might look

1:59 at that and go that doesn't take much talent, does it?

2:03 Like where are the where are the musicians, the the art?

2:06 I get that.

2:06 I do get that.

2:07 But that doesn't mean it doesn't sound any worse.

2:09 I don't personally think.

2:10 I think it's some amazing music is being made now.

2:13 And I really like a lot of music now.

2:15 And there's just different ways of making it.

2:17 But I understand if that's what you're used to, you're probably a bit like

2:22 I I can't I do disagree.

2:24 Oh, can you hear the difference?

2:25 But you like the 1975.

2:27 Yeah.

2:27 But I think they do they imitate kind of they they're they're impersonating

2:32 and they are an actual band actually, aren't they?

2:34 They're a band and they are impersonating genres and they are actually Yeah.

2:39 imitating.

2:41 Is that a good thing to impersonate and imitate in music?

2:44 No, but [laughter] I do think that the 1975 do it in an ironic way.

2:51 Like they do it and they make a point of it like we are we are

2:54 we are now doing a parody of this style of music now and it's quite meta.

3:00 Um, there's there's this thing with films as well where they there's like we're

3:05 we're in this weird thing now with films now where it's like something like

3:11 ultra meta films or something where people are making

3:14 films that look like they're made in the' 70s,

3:18 but the people in it know that they are in making a film that is

3:22 set to be in the 70s.

3:23 So, it's this kind of like selfreerring kind of like weird thing.

3:27 And I think that music can be like that.

3:30 Good music now can still do that a little bit.

3:32 Sabrina Carpenter really does that.

3:33 She's just released an album where she's really referencing like

3:36 one of her songs sounds exactly like an ABBA song.

3:38 Sounds very absent.

3:41 Um it's very hard.

3:43 I just I feel sorry I feel like you can't

3:47 uh Matty Healey from the 1975 said this in an interview.

3:50 Um if you imagine a a song from the 80s, you know what that sounds like.

3:56 someone with the 70s, 60s, even 50s, 40s.

3:59 But if I said to you, "What's the sound of the 2020s?" You can't really

4:06 say that now, but if I'd asked you that in the 2010s,

4:10 if I'd said, "What's the sound of the 2010s," you'd gone,

4:12 "I don't know." But now,

4:13 when we hear a song from 2010, we go, "That's very 2010."

4:16 But I think now that it's things are moving.

4:20 It's very that kind of stuff.

4:21 But I think that it's moving so quickly that now like a song like we know,

4:27 oh that's very 2012.

4:29 We say like it's very 2012 very that

4:33 or and that's very different to 2016 or 2017.

4:36 So it's moving quicker now because of

4:39 there's not like a solid sound of the decade.

4:41 No, because of I think because of the internet

4:44 because our own um this is really weird.

4:48 Our own quickness, what's it called?

4:52 Like short attention span.

4:53 Our short attention span is reflected in how quickly music moves on.

4:58 Well, you told me that Sabrina Carpenter needs

5:01 to make a second album within a year because

5:04 the wave it I was about to say it's so hard

5:07 to be a m to make it as a musician now.

5:09 I think the the way that it seems to be if you want

5:11 to make it as a musician is you need to become Tik Tok viral.

5:15 That's kind of like a shorefire way.

5:17 So there's an artist called Lola Young who was making music and then

5:20 shared that cuz I'm too messy and then remember that song you

5:25 I've heard it.

5:25 I've heard it.

5:26 Now she's like a musician and she's like releasing album.

5:28 Same with Sabrina Carter.

5:29 She was making stuff but then think about me that got really popular.

5:33 So like you have to um and then but then I can

5:36 imagine if I was a true musician I'd be so annoyed by that.

5:38 be like, "What do you mean?

5:39 I've got to like" And then Yeah.

5:41 Sabrina Carter, she released an album one year and then had to release an album

5:44 the next year just to keep in the public eye and to keep, you know,

5:47 you're telling [clears throat] me if she hadn't released an album.

5:50 You're telling me that people would have forgotten about it?

5:52 Not forgotten, but it's just it's a lot harder now to make

5:55 an impact and to like sink your claws in and go, I'm staying here.

5:59 Like, it's very easy to become a one-hit wonder.

6:02 That's so easy.

6:03 No, I agree with that.

6:03 I agree.

6:04 So she has to kind of go

6:05 but could she not have if she'd have released a second album?

6:08 Not even a second album is it really?

6:09 It's not her second but but let but more like

6:13 let's all intent and purposes it is her second album.

6:16 Um if she'd have released her second album next year so waited two years.

6:21 You're telling me people would have gone who?

6:23 Oh that girl who sang that song about coffee.

6:26 But people are trying to musicians want to become huge and it's like how

6:32 okay it's very easy to be a you know you can be a successful

6:35 musician but if you want to become the Beyonce you've got to become like

6:40 so well known and so that does take a lot of push and like

6:44 but do you think because of Tik Tok and stuff now

6:47 it's an oversaturated market there's so many I'm sound like an old

6:52 man now but there's so many just like singers that I have

6:55 no idea idea who they are bands that you not even bands.

6:58 Do you remember this whole thing about that apparently there's

7:01 no bands anymore something like and again I'm the king

7:05 bands are mostly like K-pop that's where all the bands are.

7:08 Do you remember I I remember this statistic that in the first half of the 2020

7:13 so now we are in 2025 so we are halfway through this decade now

7:18 there's been three UK top 40 songs from bands

7:23 from bands and one of them was the Beatles.

7:25 Yeah.

7:25 Yeah.

7:26 You don't get bands anymore.

7:27 It was the Beatles, the Little Mix,

7:28 and some It was a It was a charity song for Children in Need, I think.

7:34 So, literally like except for basically Little Mix,

7:38 it's it's it's basically like no bands anymore.

7:41 People have been trying like there's been many kind of bands that have tried

7:44 to like push for I just don't there's not the appetite for them for some reason.

7:47 I think it everything goes in waves.

7:49 you know, in the 90s it was band city, like everything was a band,

7:53 you know, like all these groups and whatever, and it just fades off.

7:56 They'll come back.

7:57 But I think genuinely, I think K-pop has kind of just taken the band market.

8:00 I feel like people don't feel like they need

8:01 to listen to any bands because they got K-pop.

8:02 It's like there's so many K-pop bands.

8:04 So many that they go, great, that'll do.

8:06 Sorry, I don't know any.

8:07 You don't know any K-pop bands?

8:08 I know.

8:08 Uh oh.

8:12 Oh, what are they called now?

8:14 No, I can't remember what they're called.

8:15 So, what are they called?

8:16 What the I like.

8:17 No, the the the main popular one.

8:19 No, boys.

8:22 BTS.

8:22 BTS.

8:23 That's it.

8:24 Yeah, I don't know if it was BTS.

8:25 I'm not sure.

8:27 It might have been.

8:27 How long have they been around for?

8:29 Oh, a while now.

8:30 So, it might be these.

8:31 So, I remember when I went to New York with school.

8:33 We went on a school trip to New York like some people.

8:36 And um there was a girl who went with us

8:41 and she was obsessed with K-pop bands, right?

8:43 And at that time in like 2011,

8:46 I don't think they're that old.

8:47 That was pretty niche.

8:48 I don't think they're that old.

8:49 Okay.

8:49 There would have been other.

8:50 It could have been Big Bang.

8:52 I just know about K-pop, man.

8:54 I've never heard about Bang Bang.

8:55 I'm pretty sure that's

8:56 okay.

8:56 But by the way, let's say 2011,

8:59 she was obsessed with K-pop and which was a very niche thing at that time.

9:03 Niche.

9:03 Um, and

9:05 it was like her thing that she was obsessed with it.

9:08 And people used to like take the mick out of her for it and things like that.

9:10 And then we were in Time Square and they were there.

9:14 No, they were just there doing something.

9:16 Filming something and she was like crying and everything.

9:18 What are the ch What were the chances of that?

9:20 Oh wow.

9:20 I bet that was the best day of her life.

9:22 She just we just bumped into them.

9:24 Who were your f Who do you remember was your first kind of like musical?

9:29 I like this artist.

9:30 Like the first person you remember going this is an artist.

9:34 I I didn't have an interest in music at all.

9:38 M I remember learning the concept very late on.

9:42 Oh wow.

9:43 That um m like the person who sings the song is actually quite important.

9:48 I used to just think that like oh there's just songs

9:50 that get sung and then I remember kind of realizing oh

9:53 yeah that the same person that sung that song which I

9:56 like is the same person who sings that song that I like.

9:58 Oh maybe I should listen to more songs from that person.

10:02 And I remember thinking like

10:04 I'm like I'm like

10:05 I've figured out Yeah.

10:07 for some reason.

10:07 And that's when I was like 11.

10:10 Yeah.

10:09 I didn't have any kind of

10:11 I wasn't bothered at all.

10:12 But the first person,

10:15 it's Tiny Temper.

10:18 Tiny.

10:17 Tiny Temper for some reason.

10:19 Who's a UK rapper?

10:21 Yeah.

10:22 Wow.

10:22 Yeah.

10:22 I don't know why.

10:22 I don't know why.

10:23 My first one was Aval Lavine.

10:25 I loved How How old were you?

10:27 Six.

10:29 Yeah.

10:28 I loved A Lavine.

10:29 But I used to watch religiously the music channels at MTV.

10:34 Like I don't know.

10:34 What is MTV?

10:35 People talk about MTV.

10:37 It was just music videos.

10:38 Is it still is it on now?

10:40 I think YouTube killed MTV really cuz

10:42 you can watch whatever music video you want.

10:44 But it was basically just music videos and I was obsessed with just

10:47 watching like how like songs and like the music videos that went with them.

10:51 So

10:51 like the visualization.

10:53 Yeah.

10:53 If you give me a song that came out in like between 2002 and 2004,

10:58 I can probably tell you like what the music video looked like.

11:01 See, I was I'm not even That wasn't even

11:02 Music wasn't on my radar at that point at all.

11:04 No, I loved it.

11:05 Or maybe later than that.

11:06 Maybe like Yeah.

11:07 Either way.

11:07 Um, so I I was quite into it and then I remember getting a a Walkman,

11:11 which makes me sound older than I am,

11:12 but I think it was my mom's kind of first

11:14 introduction to like you can take So I had like

11:16 a CD player that you carried around and some headphones

11:18 and I remember just being obsessed with like listening to stuff, but

11:23 bizarrely, and this is awful, my big a big musical education for me was Glee.

11:28 I learned a lot about different bands and different artists from

11:32 We often say that now.

11:33 We often we often sometimes like we'll be like

11:35 in a shop and then some song is playing on the

11:39 and we both sing we're both singing along and then I think

11:42 have you did you do you know this because they sang on Glee.

11:46 Yeah.

11:46 Which some people might laugh but now we weren't around.

11:49 We weren't around.

11:50 Sorry.

11:50 So now we know a lot of songs from the 70s and the 80s.

11:53 But then I do get it.

11:54 Everyone hate Well, not everyone but a lot

11:56 of people hated when Glee did Don't Stop Believing.

11:59 Oh, I bet they did.

12:00 And um I get it now.

12:01 Yeah, of course.

12:02 Because if I I I get it.

12:03 The journey version is so much better.

12:05 Yeah.

12:05 I'm not saying it's good,

12:06 but that that was a big music musical education for me.

12:09 Um, and I went through a big Beatles phase.

12:12 I love the Beatles.

12:13 I still love the Beatles.

12:14 In the UK, there's a I don't know if this happens in other countries,

12:19 but in the UK, there's a CD called Now That's What I Call Music.

12:22 Oh, it's like a music compilation

12:24 and it's like I don't know if it used

12:25 to be every year or every six months or something,

12:28 but they used to compile the number ones or like the most popular

12:32 songs of that year or that those six months or something like that.

12:35 I don't think it's every year because they haven't been going

12:37 they've been going around they've been going for about six years.

12:40 So, it's probably every six months cuz now

12:42 they're on like now that's what I call music

12:44 160 or something which is crazy cuz the first one

12:47 I bought was now that's what I call music 70

12:50 I think.

12:51 And I remember the cover it was like a beach thing and everyone is different.

12:54 So there's like different numbers and there's

12:55 like a different theme for each one.

12:57 And I remember that was that's quite

12:59 a nice way of just listening to popular songs.

13:02 Well, before streaming if you just want to like listen

13:05 to a group of the popular songs before we had Spotify.

13:07 That's a great way

13:08 because otherwise you'd have to buy an album with all the songs from that that

13:11 Exactly.

13:11 No, it's a great it was a great thing.

13:12 I had a a now

13:13 they started as like tapes and then they become

13:16 CDs and now like you can just get them a playlist

13:19 a playlist on spot on Spotify totally which is weird.

13:23 Um yeah.

13:24 Is there any type of music that you don't like?

13:26 I can't get into heavy metal screo death metal.

13:32 No, I can't get into that.

13:32 It's not my but I mean yeah clearly it's not

13:35 my vibe but like I can respect it and I

13:38 go you know what sure I'm glad that that music

13:40 exists for those people because I'm glad they like it but

13:43 I don't get it at all.

13:44 Like I don't even understand it to be honest.

13:46 Are you talking about just literally people going like Yeah.

13:49 Yeah.

13:50 Yeah.

13:50 Yeah.

13:50 That but some people love it.

13:52 Yeah.

13:52 No, of course it's very popular.

13:54 It's more popular than classical music.

13:56 If you love that kind of music, everything else feels really tame.

14:00 Oh yeah.

14:00 Well, if you if you love listen to that, then you hear like Sabrina

14:04 me be like, "Oh, this has got nothing to it.

14:06 There's no there's no rap."

14:07 But then it's interesting that music is like like with food,

14:09 you could say like if you love curry or something

14:12 and then you have like a cucumber sandwich, you'd be like,

14:14 "What's this?" The taste of anything.

14:17 Yeah.

14:17 Yeah.

14:17 No, of course.

14:17 So, I can't get on board with that.

14:19 I'm I'm not a big lover of like um actually that's

14:27 probably the only genre of music I wouldn't enjoy listening to.

14:30 Everything else I could find enjoyment.

14:32 Music.

14:33 Yeah.

14:33 You don't like kind of sad songs.

14:35 Oh.

14:35 Oh, here's a big thing.

14:36 Melancholic kind of music.

14:37 I am a big believer that music sets your mood and I have always

14:42 always preferred listening to upbeat happy songs

14:46 cuz it makes me feel upbeat and happy.

14:48 If I listen to like a sad song that makes me feel sad.

14:51 So I don't if I'm choosing what song to listen to.

14:53 Yeah.

14:54 I don't know why I would choose to listen to a song that would

14:57 make me feel sad versus a song that would make me feel happy.

15:00 I understand.

15:01 But there's some But I'm sure people will

15:03 tell us in the comments here cuz please

15:05 agree with me please on this that sometimes

15:09 you just want to not want to feel sad.

15:11 I'm not saying that.

15:12 But there's this there's just about allowing

15:14 you to feel those emotions at that time.

15:17 So, for example, for example, for example, if I um if my if I had a cat

15:27 and I had to take that cat to the vet to get

15:29 it put down and then I'm getting in the car and I'm like,

15:34 I'm sad, but then I just put on celebrate good times.

15:39 Come on.

15:40 Like this.

15:40 It would it would be quite a con um what's the word?

15:44 Like a kind of a clash, wouldn't it?

15:46 It would be okay in that situation.

15:47 Do you know what I mean?

15:48 So, so in that situation,

15:50 I would allow myself maybe just the journey home just to go, do you know what?

15:54 I'm either going to not listen to music or if I'm going to listen to music,

15:57 maybe I'll just listen to something quite reflective

15:59 or something just to help me think of the cat.

16:02 Okay.

16:02 So, what I would go in that situation is I would go for inspirational music.

16:07 So, I'd go for like I'm not going to just listen

16:10 to like I'll listen to um something that's a bit like

16:15 Enya or something something that's a bit kind of like it

16:17 gives me a moment to appreciate what I've had with this cat.

16:20 like there's a song that goes like that and it's kind of like uplifting

16:26 but reflective in the same way cuz that would set my mood as yes

16:30 I'm acknowledging the wonderful times I've had with the cat but I'm also

16:32 acknowledging that you know what a wonderful thing that was and we're moving on.

16:37 What I don't understand is wallowing music where

16:40 it's like like you just wallow in sadness.

16:42 I I

16:43 like kind of just yeah I'm sad that's awful and I'm just thinking that's awful.

16:47 That is what I don't get.

16:48 I do I do think that there must be

16:50 something in that because when I was a teenager, if I think back now,

16:53 when I was a teenager is the time in my life where I did listen to the like

16:58 that wallowing music the most and it must be

17:01 something to do with like your hormones and stuff.

17:03 Yeah.

17:03 Angsty kind of music and things like that a little bit.

17:06 Um but yeah, no, I do I I get I get listening to sad music sometimes.

17:12 I have a playlist on Spotify.

17:14 Like I don't make the playlist, but I just find them.

17:16 Is that right?

17:17 you find the spot playlist

17:18 and it's called like the most beautiful songs in the world and it's

17:22 just like these random songs you'll never have heard of before and they're

17:25 just little things like so someone playing the guitar and sometimes in the car

17:31 I'm in the mood to listen to that because I just am

17:35 it just doesn't get me going like for me music is like a boom yeah and I love

17:43 No no no sometimes I feel like it's like a It's something just to sit back.

17:49 I'm bored when I listen to music like that.

17:51 It kind of bors me.

17:52 I want like And also I am I couldn't care less what the lyrics are.

17:57 I am so not Yeah.

17:58 No, this is where we Yeah, we are very care.

18:00 You could literally go as long as the melody and the vocal.

18:08 It's for me it's about vocals.

18:10 They are amazing singer.

18:12 Beat and melody.

18:14 Great.

18:14 That's all I need.

18:15 The lyrics.

18:15 That's what I like.

18:16 I don't mind I don't K-pop.

18:17 I don't know what they're singing,

18:18 but I don't care because I just love the the song like whatever.

18:21 But some people really value lyrics.

18:23 I don't.

18:24 I'm the complete opposite.

18:25 That's really interesting.

18:26 I would listen to a song that Yeah.

18:29 Like Well, there's a thing there's a thing in Welsh um called Kerant

18:34 where you have uh someone's going to correct me on this.

18:38 Well, no, probably not.

18:39 But um where there's like a poem.

18:41 It's like a It's like a poem that is put to music, right?

18:45 basically and you have to create like a melody for that poem.

18:47 So it starts with the words.

18:49 So maybe like maybe because of this like for me

18:51 there's this culture of like listening to the words

18:55 and what you're saying is very important maybe you know

18:58 whereas you grew up around brass bands where it's just instruments.

19:03 So that's what matters to you is just like

19:05 what it sounds like rather than what they're saying.

19:07 And also singing as well, like the vocals,

19:09 like you could sing if Beyonce could sing

19:13 her shopping list and it would be amazing.

19:15 Like I don't care what she's singing.

19:16 I care about the vocals that are coming out, you know?

19:18 That's whereas like I remember I saw like a video

19:21 on Instagram about it was like a guy in an Irish

19:25 pub and he's like singing a song about like

19:27 a Guinness and he's going like or whatever whatever it is.

19:34 And uh so you you wouldn't like that?

19:40 Uh whereas I like I like listening to it going like, "Oh,

19:42 he's described the like the the atmosphere at the pub." And

19:45 yeah, that that's a little bit different.

19:46 That's like a poem, isn't it?

19:48 That's an interesting thing.

19:49 But um yeah, my my top played artists for the last

19:53 for the last five years has been Beyonce Without Fail.

19:57 I because she ticks all my boxes.

19:59 She's an amazing singer, an amazing performer.

20:02 Her songs have great melody, great beat.

20:05 I wouldn't consider Beyonce like a wordssmith as much as other

20:08 I mean I don't think people often talk about Beyonce's lyrics.

20:11 That's why I like the 1975 because

20:13 lyrics he is one of the greatest lyricists of our generation.

20:16 He is.

20:17 I think he is.

20:17 I think he is.

20:18 But I think Beyonce sums up my style.

20:20 She sums it up.

20:21 I I want to listen to someone who is a powerhouse vocalist,

20:26 can dance, can sell the song.

20:27 I think you just like happy music because like you love Beyonce,

20:31 but then sometimes I'll sometimes there'll be a Beyonce song and I'll say,

20:34 "Oh, this is Beyonce." Or, "Do you like the song Lauren?" Or say,

20:37 "No, I always skip this one cuz it's a slow one." Cuz it's a slow one.

20:40 But like, no, I do like some of the slow ones, but I prefer like the

20:45 I remember I remember when I was a kid,

20:46 I I when I was a teenager, I used to walk the dog

20:51 and uh download entire discoraphies of uh of artists and just listen to

21:00 literally all of them.

21:00 I did that with Microsoft

21:01 and um and I used to go for like maybe two walks like kind of one on a Monday,

21:07 one on a Tuesday and I'd go for like 4hour walks each time.

21:10 And I just listen to all of their music.

21:13 Um just so I can tell like so I can say like I've listened

21:16 to all of and I did things like um what's the blind guy called?

21:19 Stevie Wonder.

21:20 Stevie Wonder.

21:21 Um yeah.

21:22 Not um what's his name?

21:24 Michael Jackson.

21:25 Michael Jackson.

21:26 Yeah.

21:26 Train.

21:27 [laughter] I weirdly first listened to Michael Jackson properly on a train.

21:31 Yeah, you did.

21:32 Yeah.

21:32 I remember everyone I was sat on a train and had

21:34 a bit of time and I was like what should I listen to?

21:36 And then I remember just thinking,

21:37 I've never properly listened to Michael Jackson.

21:39 Like I've listened to stuff and from then I was obsessed.

21:42 I loved Michael Jackson.

21:43 Again, sums up great voice, great beats, dance performer, just brilliant.

21:48 Well, who's just one more question.

21:50 Sorry.

21:51 Who is I know the answer to this and you're going to say the same answer as me.

21:54 Who is the most underrated performer right now?

21:59 Bruno.

21:59 Yeah, Bruno Mars is brilliant.

22:00 He He should be not like Bruno Mars with a hat.

22:03 Bruno Mars now.

22:04 Fantastic.

22:05 Yeah, he's very good.

22:06 He should be 10 times more successful than he is.

22:08 He's already very successful, but very good.

22:10 The prince of pop.

22:11 Let's go listen to some Bruno Mars.

22:13 Ow.

22:14 made you made a hand