My Afterglow Moment: When Music Spoke to Me

My Afterglow Moment is a series where staff writers and editors share their favorite music-related memories.

Written by Celeste Wen

Photo courtesy of TopStarNews

People often ask me why I became a linguistics major — it’s always the second question after “Oh, so do you just learn languages or something?” Whenever I take a moment to ponder the question, I never fail to be in awe of the profound influence that language, through music, has had on me over the past few years. And although it’s been a slow-rolling journey filled with countless memories, the moment that started it all continues to stand out to me the most.
On October 30th, 2014, a festival called Music Bank took place in Mexico. A regular event hosted by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), Music Bank brings various Korean pop stars together to perform their hit songs around the world. When I heard that EXO-K, a subunit of my favorite group EXO, would be attending, I anticipated watching their performance on broadcast.

At the time, I was what I’d consider a baby fan. I’d only discovered EXO about a month prior, giving me my first taste of the world of Korean-pop. Before I knew it, I was suddenly thrust into this new realm of music filled with foreign lyrics, none of which I understood. But it didn’t matter to me, because good music was good music, regardless of whether I knew the words or not. Their songs made me happy, and that was all I needed.

A few days before the festival, news broke out that certain artists, including EXO, were going to cover famous Spanish songs. Now, being fairly certain that they didn’t know any Spanish, I was perplexed. My first thought was, ‘No way, how will they learn songs in a language they don’t speak?’ Oh, how naive I was.
The festival passed in the blink of an eye, and I found myself eagerly scrolling through the subsequent YouTube videos of the broadcast. As expected, EXO-K’s cover of “Sabor a Mí” was among one of the many performances. Originally sung by Los Panchos in the 60s but popularized by Mexican icon Luis Miguel decades later, many in Mexico today hold the song close to their hearts. Seeing that they were covering a song of such cultural magnitude, I didn’t know what to expect, but what I saw and heard made my jaw drop. Literally.

From their pronunciation, to the beautiful cadences they employed, to the way the acoustic guitar resonated through the arena, everything was absolutely stellar. I was surprised, amazed, and overjoyed at the same time. My mouth hung open during the entire performance. And most startlingly of all, I began to cry.
Spanish is a language I’ve spoken since I was a toddler; I practically grew up with it. Many of my childhood memories are rooted in speaking Spanish with my friends. Whether we were scooping Duvalín at recess, writing stories about nuestra familia de sacapuntas, or making tiny fiesta shoebox floats para el desfile, Spanish is a language that means a lot to me.

When I heard the EXO members singing in Spanish, something opened within me. For the first time, I could understand 100 percent of the words coming out of their mouths. Before, I hadn’t realized that that would mean anything to me, but sitting there in the moment, I felt it. I had previously become accustomed to considering K-pop as foreign, but now something I had deemed so distant had just hit so close to home. Just like the lyrics said: “Nuestras almas se acercaron,” it felt like our souls were growing closer by the minute.

After watching that performance, I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t process my feelings, but I knew I had to do something about it. I began studying Korean as a starting point and soon opened myself up to other languages. Listening to EXO’s multilingual discography, one that spans across East Asian languages with dashes of English, inspired me to create my own list of languages I one day wanted to conquer.

Over the past few years, what started as casual listening to Korean music grew into a passion for international music. I became a linguistics major so that I could study the way people acquire language, how they use it, and how it impacts the communities that do so everyday. My focus on linguistic anthropology allows me to look at how language and music touch people’s lives — just like how EXO’s cover touched me so many years ago.
What seems like every few months, the cover goes viral again on social media. It still makes me emotional to this day.

And I’m reminded, time after time, of how music made me choose language.