Playlist #5: Hey, Google—is my English not American enough for you?
You think you're good at communicating? Try talking to a smart speaker that's not made for accents like yours.
I got a smart speaker.
I wasn’t planning on getting one. I mean, when the Bluetooth speaker I’ve been using for seven years stopped charging, I considered getting one, but ultimately I wanted something I could bring to places, so I got a Bose one instead. But, I ended up also getting a smart speaker. My dad won it at a golf tournament or something, and they were too lazy to set it up at home, so they gave it to me instead. I’m the techie one, they argued.
I did set it up easily, never mind that it’s a Google Nest Mini and I couldn’t really maximize it since I’m mostly in the Apple universe (apart from a Mac, but that’s a different conversation). Great. Another way for me to listen to the radio—only it’s not really as easy as asking it to play [radio station].
The past month saw me in a jazzy mood, perhaps because I’ve been on Radio 2 a lot lately and, while I enjoyed the company, my ears wanted a break. The French are good at this; their radio stations have this keen sense of knowing what else can work with the vibe you’re going for. Readers of the old music blog would know how much I relied on FIP to discover songs I wouldn’t otherwise find (like Evergreen, who were on last month’s playlist). But then, you can’t just tell my smart speaker to “play FIP”. You’ll have to be geekier than that, and know what FM frequency it’s on in which city.
“Hey, Google—play 105.1 Paris.”
If I’m in the mood for something to the left of FIP’s music policy, I go for Radio Nova.
“Hey, Google—play 101.5 Paris.”
If I’m in the mood for something to its right, I go for TSF Jazz.
“Hey, Google—play 89.9 Paris.”
I’ve been listening a lot to a Dutch radio station named Sublime, though. Not exactly jazz, but more of soul and what’s in between—pretty much the stuff I grew up with. But I can’t just ask my smart speaker to “play Sublime” because it will instead fire up a Spotify playlist featuring 90s ska band Sublime. I have to ask it to specifically “play Sublime on TuneIn”.
It took me a few days to figure things out, but by then my Spotify account already thinks I’m into Sublime, and Shawn Mendes, and Twice’s “TT” (which it somehow played instead of my go-to Aussie station, Double J). It even now assumes I like listening to “sex music”, because I asked for it to play 6 Music. It’s annoying, to be honest.
Is it because I’m hard to understand? I speak good English (and write good English—I mean, I’ve been doing this for decades) but I don’t speak with a neutral accent. I suppose it’s not really a problem: I communicate well with foreign nationals at work, and if I really needed to “speak better” I can undergo training, like most call center agents in the Philippines do. But when it comes to working with the smart speaker, I feel it doesn’t understand me unless I speak like I’m talking to an American.
Apparently, I do sound different if I’m speaking to foreign nationals. The ex pointed this out years ago: I speak faster, even faster than I already do, and I slur my words a little bit more. Again, I didn’t really think much of it. There was a time when a boss thought I studied in the United States, which amused me. But now, whenever I talk to, say, my colleagues in Hong Kong, I become more conscious about it.
Should how my spoken English sound really matter? I’ve been thinking about how, in the Philippines, it’s become an indicator of how “good” your background is, education-wise or class-wise. (Both, really.) I think of, say, how the radio stations here that play Western pop tend to be fronted by DJs with “better” English than most, as if sneering at the other (arguably better) radio stations that cater to a more mainstream audience and speak in Filipino. But then, I always say that being able to get your point across matters more than how you sound. Our more prosperous neighbors in Asia get that.
Still, if your smart speaker does not understand things, it can get really annoying. I have a better grasp of the commands now, but Google still doesn’t understand everything all the time. Like, once I wanted to listen to a German radio station, the Hamburg-based NDR Blue. It somehow believes I wanted to listen to “NPR Blue”, which doesn’t exist. Cue the next thing I have to learn: speak slowly.
“Hey, Google—play N… D… R… Blue on TuneIn.”
“Sorry, I don’t understand.”
I only really have my cat and the smart speaker for company these days, so that’s not good enough. Now I mostly use the latter as a Bluetooth speaker.
Hey, Google—what’s on Niko’s playlist this month?
I’m kicking off the playlist with that Yoasobi track, which means I should talk about Oshi No Ko, one of the buzziest anime this quarter. Netflix pushed it hard on me—the algorithm knows I have been watching Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid again—and I was hooked by the arresting set-up and the way it implemented the twists you kinda see coming. Yes, I recommend you watch it, especially if you’re a Korean drama fan. (Patrick St. Michel has a good summary of why it’s great and what the series attempts to say about the Japanese entertainment industry.)
“Idol” does a lot of heavy lifting. I’ve said before that anisong carries a heavier responsibility in presenting J-pop to the world, if only because the Japanese still insist on keeping everything to themselves. The song does just that—painting a different nuance to J-pop that one who’s not always into the cool stuff would find easily—but, coupled with the brilliant opening titles, exposes Oshi No Ko’s sinister undertones, the stuff that it can’t help but expose even in the lighter moments.
Right, I mentioned I was entering a jazzy phase. A lot of the stuff this month have that jazzy, almost-retro feel. I picked up Emmaline’s “Retro Kind of Love” and the Teskey Brothers’ new release “Take My Heart” from all that listening to Sublime. The latter also reminded me of Grace Potter’s cover of Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind”. Good vibe, yes?
I’m not sure if it’s evident in my previous playlists, but I tend to lean towards vintage-sounding stuff. I stumbled upon CMAT’s “Mayday” a few weeks back and liked how it’s a cross between 70s country and the beat-ful sensibilities of Noisettes. You extrapolate that vibe and it explains other songs on the playlist. Villagers’ “The First Day” passed me by when it was released a couple of years ago, but the jubilant sound got me, even if, again, I’ve been flipping the lyrics to their sad conclusions. Also as jubilant: Richard Hawley’s classic “Tonight The Street Are Ours”.
On the other end of the spectrum is a cut from Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler’s brilliant record For All Our Days That Tear The Heart. I should play it again on Spotify, just so it knows what I really listen to. And then, there’s the one-two punch of Daughter’s “Be Your Own Way”, from their new Stereo Mind Game record, and Angel Olsen’s “Nothing’s Free”, from her new Forever Means EP. The records dropped around the same time, and the impact of those two tracks on my fragile mindset is, well, stark.
And if it gets too sad, I can always rely on Lee Chae-yeon to pick me up. If you saw her from Produce 48 you’d know how reliable she is; you’d also know how the show pretty much made her cry to make her inclusion among the winners more dramatic (and give us a moment—video one, video two—between her and her best friend from the show, Miyawaki Sakura, now of Le Sserafim fame). She’s released two solo singles and they’re really strong… but I suppose talking about her doesn’t generate the clicks, so most media outlets don’t care. Okay, then.
The next playlist will be live and in your inbox on—let me check my calendar—19 June. I don’t have an idea what’s in store, but I hope you’ll be around for that and whatever else pops up here. And, as always, email me at nicksyoncemonthly@gmail.com for song recommendations.
Photo credits!
My sister-in-law Tin took this photo. I’m hidden somewhere here. I know it has nothing to do with what the essay ended up being about, but a photo of the smart speaker is boring AF—and I know, I used one for the social media flyers! Also, this does not imply a commercial relationship with Pickup Coffee. I just really like the photo. (And I also like their coffee, but I haven’t had it for months since, really, why would I have just one glass of iced coffee delivered to me? It was easier to do when I… you know, back then.) I suppose this means I need a new phone… no, MacBook first.
On the playlist
Yoasobi—「アイドル」 (Idol)
single release (2023)Lee Chae-yeon—“Knock”
Over the Moon (2023)CMAT—“Mayday”
single release (2023)Emmaline—“Retro Kind of Love”
Retro Kind of Love (2023)The Teskey Brothers—“Take My Heart”
The Winding Way (2023)Grace Potter—“I’d Rather Go Blind”
Muscle Shoals: Small Town, Big Sound (2018)Spandau Ballet—“Communication”
True (1983)IU—“Eight” (featuring Suga)
single release (2020)Agust D—“사람 Pt.2” (People Pt.2) (featuring IU)
D-Day (2023)Frances Quinlan—“Your Reply”
Likewise (2020)Stacey Ryan—“Fall In Love Alone”
I Don’t Know What Love Is (2023)Richard Hawley—“Tonight The Streets Are Ours”
Lady’s Bridge (2007)Villagers—“The First Day”
Fever Dreams (2021)Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler—“Footnotes On The Map”
For All Our Days That Tear The Heart (2022)Daughter—“Be On Your Way”
Stereo Mind Game (2023)Angel Olsen—“Nothing’s Free”
Forever Means (2023)