Esperanto Pop: Global Music For Global Domination

Soundcheck | Nov 13, 2012

After repeated listens to British pop band One Direction's sophomore album, Take Me Home, Billboard editor and Soundcheck regular Joe Levy adds an entry to the dictionary with a category of music he calls "Esperanto Pop." We hear how a variety of acts from ABBA to PSY to Usher are making music engineered for the biggest pop market possible -- the world.

Esperanto Pop [es-puh-rahn-toh pop] (noun). Esperanto Pop is global pop engineered to work for a worldwide audience. From Elvis to Prince to Kanye, great pop works by crossing boundaries. But Esperanto pop does something different: It erases borders. The result might be the same, but the feeling isn't. Crossing boundaries is daring; erasing borders is diplomatic. (Joe Levy)

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