Music for the kiddies

Every month now I put up a handful of song recommendations on the English board in the English classroom at my work.  Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, One Direction, Carly Rae Jepson, and a few others are quite popular among my middle schoolers, but I really want to try to expose them to more music than just that.  I also want to try Kpop with them, ha ha, but that's probably an already hard-to-justify endeavor.

Anyways, I spend some of my down time at work browsing the UK's and US's top 40's charts and other music sites to keep up with what's popular and screen options for my recommendations.  There's a lot of music that becomes popular with the kiddies, but omg, some of that music is soooo inappropro for young teeny boppers.



Now, I know...if I were their age, I'd be listening to this stuff too, but I'd actually have more of a sense of all the sexual and drug consumption implications and allusions.  But that's besides the point.  As a teacher, now I've definitely gotta think about those things because even if the kids may not understand the inappropriate language, I know I should be responsible and try to pick more G-rated and PG-rated music (and music videos!).  And omg, it's difficult!  Many of Justin Bieber's songs would be considered too mature, I think, and I know some of my students like Nicki Minaj and Beyonce, but O.O ... I can't sit here and put up a printed screenshot of one of their songs from YouTube knowing full well that although they are excellent female role models (yes, I definitely think so!!!), some of the words and visuals are not something I could defend as appropriate to a parent if a kid ever did get asked by their parent who told them to look up those videos.

But at the same time, watching a bunch of music videos and looking up and reading song lyrics at work is pretty fun and helps the time pass by on less busy days, and I end up trying out a bunch of new music!  And soooo......  here's a list of the songs I decided to put up, and I genuinely like them!  That's the other thing, I won't recommend a song I don't like because that's like false endorsement or whatever.  I wouldn't be able to convincingly tell students why they should take time out of their day and step out of their music comfort zone to listen to a song in English if I hated it.

This song is so playful and light.

I know.  I know.  This already blew up in the States, but it's a fun jam.

I just love Ellie Goulding, and this video is fun and shows a diverse group of people.

That's good for kids who think places like the UK and US are either celebrities or all white people.

Interesting and awesome cinematic video and a chill jam.

The lyrics are pretty relatable, and I enjoy these trikes and the appearance of capri suns.

I recently heard a ONE OK ROCK song in a convenience store by my apartment and realized it was in English.  I took the time to research them a bit and realized I liked their sound and the fact that they're Japanese artists who sing in both languages.  I can appreciate that.

I wanna own all these songs!  I hope this was an interesting sampling, hee hee.