If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about the UK and Europe in general, is that the music taste can be really similar to ours in the US, however just shifted over to the side a tiny bit. What I mean by that is that we often get exposed to a lot of the same music artists, however there are some that are a bigger deal in the UK than they are in the US and vice versa. For example, europop (Vengaboys, Aqua, etc), and techno seem to pop up a lot more than I ever noticed it did in America, and even girl groups like the Spice Girls and Little Mix, still get HUGE amounts of attention here whereas in the US, we don’t take notice of them as much anymore. In fact, last week when I was in Berlin, I went to a spice girls tribute show the same night as another friend of mine went to one in London, and I even am seeing posters for another Spice Girls tribute show later next month at a venue near where I live. Even ABBA, which obviously tons of people love in the US, seems to be a bigger phenomenon in Europe than in the US. When I attended Munich Pride two years ago, the headlining performer was an ABBA COVER BAND; not even the real band, but people performing covers of their songs. People sure do love ABBA here.
Speaking of ABBA, something I’m pretty excited for this year is the Eurovision song contest (ABBA is a former winner). If you’re unaware of what that is, it’s basically a giant singing competition where each country sends one artist to compete for votes to win the contest. I’m not sure exactly what they win, but I know the country that wins becomes the host for the following year’s show. It’s kind of a big deal here and when I lived here two years ago, I had a bunch of friends who had viewing parties, not too much unlike a superbowl party. The entire show is super fun, super campy, super dramatic, and an all around good time. I can’t wait!
