Songs to Practice and Improve your Spanish
After doing some research on other fellow teachers’ websites, I found that most of them are recommending the same songs, with some variations, but in general, there seems to be a backbone that most of them stick to. I think that is great, but over time, that knowledge needs to be updated. New songs come out every day, and we, as teachers, need to stay updated. That’s why this list is always in progress.
One thing I like from other pages like this that recommend different songs is that they explain what every song is useful for: Specific grammar topics, tenses, verbal modes, slang, and so on. Even though I do the same here, I recommend my students to first listen to the songs (from this list or not) and engage with them, making them their favorites, part of their playlists, and a part of their lives. Along with repetition and enjoying them, the learning process and acquisition come along. So, please, enjoy this iterative list.
Pa' Olvidarte - Chocquibtown
This song is from one of my favorite bands from Colombia. Even though they’re not together anymore, I still enjoy their music regularly.
Topics to practice here: Past, present, and conditional tense. Contractions (Pa’), and formal addressing (Usted).
Hasta la Raíz - Natalia Lafourcade
I like the tempo and catchiness of this song, light, easy to listen to, and understand.
Topics to practice here: Present continuous (gerund), future tense, and subjunctive mood.
Eres para Mi - Julieta Venegas
Another catchy song, also easy to listen to, some cadence and diphthong combinations add rhythm and challenge to understand the words.
Topics to practice here: diphthongs, past and present tense, and a bit of slang.
Bolero Falaz - Aterciopelados
A short and entertaining story about a not-so-fun topic told gracefully. Great cadence for repetition, in my opinion, a bit harder to memorize, but once you have it, it’s going to be very useful.
Topics to practice here: Conditional tense, present tense, and a bit of slang.
Solamente Amigos - Ana Gabriel
What I really like from this song is the lyrics; they have some good examples of widely used expressions in everyday Spanish: “día a día”, “no hay nada que decir”, “quien sabe”, “cuanto daría”
Topics to practice here: Conditional tense, present tense, vocabulary in general.
La Bamba - Los Lobos
This is a classic and a piece of cake! This catchy song is great for practicing basic sentences and understanding some basic Mexican-American pronunciation.
Topics to practice here: Diphthongs, contractions, present and future tense.
Ahora Quién - Marc Anthony
If you like to dance, this is another way of practicing: Besides listening and reading the lyrics, dancing. What I find useful with this song is how it goes back and forth between the future and present tense. All of that while feeling the intensity of Latinoamerica’s love.
Topics to practice here: A strong future tense built lyrics. Some diphthongs are also present.
Shock - Ana Tijoux
Ana Tijoux. She’s a singer who also writes her own lyrics; she’s a great reference for understanding resistance movements in South America, particularly in Chile, but her message is relevant and important globally. She kind of raps in this song, but her voice and intonation are very understandable.
Topics to practice here: Present and future tenses. A wide variety of vocabulary, and some slang.
Con Otra - Cazzu
Some daily usage phrases, and a great song to deduce a story and the context behind it. There’s also some background on the gossip surrounding Cazzu’s romantic life in Mexico.
Topics to practice here: Present, past, future, and hypothetical tenses. A few colloquial phrases for your vocabulary.
El Amar y el Querer - José José
I really like this song to share with my students about a cultural thing we have in Mexican Spanish. Here we have two different words to express love, and even though they could be used sometimes interchangeably, this is not always the case. It’s about intensity and the way we feel.
Topics to practice here: Cultural and contextual information.
Siempre te Busqué - Monocordio
This is a cool and easy story to listen to. Easy to understand and not a lot of rhythm changes. It switches back and forth from past to future tense, passing by the present tense as well.
Topics to practice here: Usage of three tenses to tell a story.
Puntos Cardinales - Café Tacuba
This song is good for practicing a little faster tempo. The rhythm is very predictable and constant, while keeping it exclusively in the present tense.
Topics to practice here: Listening and pronunciation.
El Gran Varón - Willie Colón
Sadly, this singer’s politics became a bit shameful, especially because this song talks about a trans woman. Yet he became an active conservative voice against human rights. This song is so ubiquitous and is full of emotions.
Topics to practice here: A good amount of vocabulary and storytelling.