Great modern-era foreign songs

I was introduced to the music of Mr. Mabel Matiz on my recent trip to Turkey:

I also like this French song I heard on the radio recently:

There's nothing wrong with Eurotrash pop, OP. It can sound great when done correctly:

I'm not sure if Susanne Sundfør is the Tori Amos of Norway, but she's pretty close to it.

Francis Cabrel is a singer songwriter who sings clearly so he is easy to understand if you know some French

Carla Bruni is the Jewel of France

I think Susanne Sundfør is the Bjork of Norway.

the italian Lorde, Francesca Michielin

What is it with Norwegians' fascination with foxes?

From Quebec

more from Italy, Meg

A spanish drag queen singing in french. And it's a great song, actually.

There's only two great foreign songs Dominique and Volare....

THAT'S IT

Yeah, "Volare" is great!

R5, thank you for reminding me about Francis Cabrel.

I heard his song "Je l'aime à mourir" at an ice skating rink in the Courchevel village in the French Alps. The great French skater Brian Joubert (who I had a crush on as a teen) was performing there and skating to Cabrel's mesmerising guitar song.

It's a shame he isn't more well-known internationally. It must be quite difficult for foreign singers to overcome the audience's language barrier, and get them to fall in love with non-English songs.

Though, admittedly, "Je l'aime à mourir" is a song from the late 70s. Still, sounds timeless.

Mylene Farmer

And again.

R4, Susanne Sundfør really does sound similar to Tori Amos! Those vocal cascades.

Agreed, R3. Nothing against good quality pop. As long as it's fun and not too simplistic.

Heard this one in Biarritz during the summer of 2012 - Jenifer "Sur le fil". Love it.

I like a lot of J-pop/rock songs from the '90s and '00s. There's something endearing about such simple music put to poetic words.

Field of View's 'Kimi Ga Ita Kara' is one of my favorites; it's a mochi-sweet melodramatic pop-rock ballad about someone who can't quite express how deeply they feel undying love for the person they're with. The lyrics are lovely if the music is a bit saccharine.

This is a decent cover of it by rock singer/musical actor Kenta Kamakari.

Declan O'Rourke is a pretty good singer-songwriter. He's best known outside Ireland for 'Galileo' from his best album 'Since Kyabram' but hasn't had much traction otherwise.

Mylene Farmer is fantastic. I've always loved her. I lived in France in the late 80s and she was huge. She had a Madonna level popularity in France.

Sans contrefacon was the first song I ever heard by her. I still love it to this day.

In France : Keren Ann

And last summer everybody listened Juliette Armanet !

This song was pretty much every where in Europe a few years ago. Helene Fischer is basically the Celine Dione of Germany.

Lara Fabian - the Belgian Celine

China's Pu Shu isn't bad

There must be some great K-Pop surely.

K-pop has some bangers if you like frantic dance done with the dark insanity of Clown-World, R29.

Imo SHIN-ee totally snap on the vocals and choreo here, even though the melody is all one note and it sounds like pr o gra m ming and it's too sad to watch the video now that Jonghyun's dead. I can't stop listening to it once I start, it's catchy af.

[quote] Loverholic, Robotronic/Geobuhal su eobtneun neoeui maryeokeun LU-CI-FER...

The best K-pop band are f(x). Those women can work a concept like no-one else.

The RED LIGHT album and title-song are a great starting point. It's weird and dance-y like all K-pop, but with a serious side. Their music and visuals are more engaging than of the other cookie-cutter 'girl-bands' coming out of SM.

Arise by Wolfgang (Philippines)

Oo by Up Dharma Down (Philippines)

Lhasa de Sela, sadly died from cancer some few years ago. Very sad song, great viedo.