Lost In Translation

• Peter Seeley +2 — Thank you Judd.
• ared56 +1
• Edward James +1 — Trying to get lightning to strike twice with Hugh Masekela. Not happening like before, but in a field of weak competition, this stood out for sure.
• Regina Scime +1 — Easy upvote
• Brad Stalcup +1 — Loved this one. A fusion of so many good things. What a pleasure to listen to. One of my favorites so far in all of ML
• Sam Ary +1
• Spicey Riche +1
• SamRobertsND 0 — Shoulda gona for Stimela again
• Claire 0 — Stimela was such a revelation that a second song by the same artist doesn’t feel like an original enough pull. But this song is fun and very different
• judd.baker 0 — In the spirit of being lost in translation, I actually can’t find translated lyrics for this song, although Google Translate apparently does have Xhosa. Best I can figure out is that it’s a song celebrating how beautiful his wife/girlfriend is while also making fun of her for being a picky eater. (The lyric “bunny chow” is not a failed transcription of a Xhosa word, he’s really singing about bunny chow)

• Joseph Harvey +2 — Before I even realized what this was, the first second had already locked in my vote
• Edward James +1 — I am mad that I have to vote for this. Seems too obvious among this group. But it's viral for a reason.
• Regina Scime +1 — For the memory…
• fionmul +1 — i mean... yeah ofc but the original by Baker Judd is better
• Sam Ary +1
• Peter Seeley 0 — Like it.
• Claire 0 — This is pleasant
• judd.baker 0 — Too easy

• SamRobertsND +1 — City Pop gets the Sammy vote this time around.
• Joseph Harvey +1 — The Japanese really know how to do this kind of thing. The bongos are an interesting addition to this
• Edward James +1 — Now that's smooth!
• shea nowicki +1
• Brad Stalcup +1 — Diggin it. Strong suspicion this is Eddie.
• fionmul +1 — groovy
• Peter Staffelbach -1

• Joseph Harvey +1 — Didn’t know this song was originally in French. It’s a great tune and this rendition sounds great
• shea nowicki +1
• Claire +1 — I was today years old when I learned this was originally a French song. Submitting a Spanish guy singing a French song that is perhaps best known in English is a fun bit.
• judd.baker +1 — Wow this is good stuff. Spanish singer performing an English song in French. Lost in translation truly. Amazing shout
• Peter Staffelbach +1
• SamRobertsND 0 — Very good, probably 5th vote. Misses the vote just because I was already so familiar with it.
• Edward James 0 — Sorry, found this very boring
• Brad Stalcup 0 — love the jazzy elevator-music-esque organ playing in the background of this one. Hate his vibrato though. Bass line is killer.
• Sam Ary -1

• SamRobertsND +1 — I loved this so much! Truly excellent.
• ared56 +1
• shea nowicki +1
• Sam Ary +1
• Edward James 0 — Sorry, found this very boring
• Claire 0 — I feel like this is the music Jharvey would make if he were Icelandic
• Brad Stalcup 0 — This sounds like it belongs at the end of How to Train your Dragon or something. As the credits roll I can see this song. But grainy/whiny vocals never does much for me.
• judd.baker 0 — Icelandic is a great pull but this song was too long and too slow for me to really get into

• Spicey Riche +3
• Claire +1 — I was hooked by the strings at the beginning, which were intensely reminiscent of a fall out boy song I love. The song went on to sound…not that much like fall out boy but it’s still cool
• judd.baker +1 — Bonus thank you for this amazing submission to the category of “songs I should sing for karaoke”
• SamRobertsND 0 — Sorry, Alex, Peter Fox isn't that good
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Singing in German always sounds gimmicky to me. Even for Germans
• Edward James -1 — Sorry, but something about German's trying to do hip hop strikes me as deeply deeply unacceptable. I was angry listening to this.

Edward James: Simply for your own enjoyment, I recommend watching the music video

• SamRobertsND +1
• Peter Seeley +1 — Actually unironically enjoyed this.
• Brad Stalcup +1 — Man this song slaps.
• Sam Ary +1
• Edward James 0 — My own song was my fave by far. Not sure why but this was one of my least favorite playlists.
• Regina Scime 0 — The video was EVERYTHING, but not quite enough for an upvote
• Claire 0 — I imagine that if I were at a party this would absolutely make me want to get down on the dance floor. But I can’t say it fully lands on its own
• fionmul 0 — I think I have heard this; it's p fire
• judd.baker 0 — Cute but too obvious
• Joseph Harvey -1 — What began as an amusing novelty ended as musical torture

Sam Ary: So catchy

• shea nowicki +1
• Regina Scime +1 — Love this vibe!!
• judd.baker +1 — I will always upvote Brazilian music
• SamRobertsND 0 — "So catchy" Really?
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Bing bom bin bin bing bong bong
• Edward James 0 — Sorry, found this very boring
• Claire 0 — This was pleasant but didn’t wow me enough to garner a vote
• Brad Stalcup 0 — Meh. Nothing special.

• Brad Stalcup +1 — This song definitely should have been in ratatouille or something.
• fionmul +1 — delightful
• Peter Staffelbach +1
• SamRobertsND 0 — This ain't it, chief
• Joseph Harvey 0 — French is such a cute language
• Edward James 0 — Sorry, found this very boring
• Claire 0 — This was cute and fun but imo the correct pick for “song by Camille from an animated movie” would be Le Festin from Ratatouille

• SamRobertsND +1 — Puffy AmiYumi's stuff on Teen Titans got me hooked on this sort of Japanese music. Will never not love it.
• ared56 +1
• Claire +1 — Japanese ska pop? Hell yeah
• judd.baker +1 — One of the best marks of a song in another language to me is whether the song is catchy/enough of a banger to make me want to learn how to sing it, and therefore learn the words. This song passes that test with flying colors
• Edward James 0 — I like this style sometimes but this didn't really stand out to me
• Brad Stalcup 0 — Senior year of high school i had a real obsession with J-Ska. This was probably the best song I discovered.
• Peter Seeley -1 — Downvoting purely because the cover art is too anime-esque. Admiral Perry made a big mistake
• fionmul -1 — it annoyed me

• Peter Staffelbach +1
• SamRobertsND 0 — Unmemorable
• Edward James 0 — Just didn't stand out to me
• Claire 0 — With deepest apologies to my polish ancestors: meh
• Brad Stalcup 0 — Polish alternative is pretty good. But didn't blow me away.
• fionmul 0 — was sorta boring/mid to me but Viva Poland

• ared56 +1
• Claire +1 — This was fun. I did my best not to pay attention to the lyrics but in a general way I am quite fond of German language music—I think the language can be really lovely when sung
• Peter Staffelbach +1
• SamRobertsND 0 — Unmemorable
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Listless acoustic pop sounds just as uninspired in German
• Edward James 0 — Sorry, found this very boring
• Brad Stalcup 0 — sounds like a german
• shea nowicki -1
• Regina Scime -1 — This one was the least impressionable to me, but it was a difficult downvote:(

• Peter Seeley +1 — Nice
• Edward James +1 — Can't fight that beat
• Regina Scime +1 — BABIES
• Joseph Harvey 0 — There are moments in this that are very nice. Beat out by Japanese jazz fusion
• fionmul 0 — I should have submitted this to the Judd round but here it is now
• SamRobertsND -1 — The only song that I just off out of disgust. Felt like it was 2 hours long.
• ared56 -1
• Claire -1 — I imagine this hits different when you understand the words but my very basic Spanish was not enough to fully follow (and I was trying not to understand the words anyway). That many key changes is really tough to pull off if you’re not Beyonce. And the west side story sample 5 1/2 minutes in was a wild move. It’s not a bad song but just didn’t really do it for me
• Spicey Riche -1 — Too long and there was an English lyric in there

• fionmul +1 — Makes me wanna go to the club in Paree
• SamRobertsND 0 — Forgettable
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Hard to listen to. I assumed this must be in Spanish initially but apparently it’s not
• Claire 0 — This had a fun beat but it did start to feel a bit musically repetitive after a bit
• Brad Stalcup -1 — This woulda done well in 2008-2012 in america. Kinda hated this though. Repetitive and predictable.
• judd.baker -1 — This was a hilarious submission and I almost didn’t downvote it, but since half the lyrics are just the names of French footballers, it was actually the least lost in translation of any song on this list