A Little Behind

This past Sunday, I attended the European Music Awards' free concert that was held at the Puerta de Alcalá. Me and some ten thousand other Madrileños were there to enjoy the night's festivities. However, my friends and I were very surprised by some of the reactions that audience members had; to the music, and to the bands themselves. The lineup for the night was as follows:


1. 30 Seconds to Mars: a band whose name I've only heard uttered once or twice in my lifetime. I thought these guys would be little more than an opener for the night's big stars.


2. Katy Perry: one of the biggest chart-topping stars in the states as of now. All of her singles have been in the top 10, and she keeps on knocking them out of the park. She was the reason we all came to the free concert.


3. Linkin Park: this was a band that was famous when we were all in middle school (a.k.a. 8 years ago). We thought they had disbanded, but really more than anything we were completely overwhelmed by how many more Linkin Park fans there were in contrast with Katy Perry fans.

Linkin Park's Performance

When 30 Seconds to Mars hit the stage, we were all completely flabbergasted by how many fans there were in the audience. None of us had ever heard of this band before in our lives. Why would MTV even bring them here? Well, apparently they're incredibly famous in Spain. Who knew?

Another part of the night that blew our minds was when KANYE WEST made a surprise cameo! He literally rapped for only 55 seconds, but for us it was the best part of the night. Kanye is a god in the United States. After we were finished being completely taken aback by his appearance, we noticed that no one around us cared at all or had any idea who he was. So, I took it upon myself to ask around. "¿Conoces Kanye West? ¿Él es popular aquí o no?" Everyone shook their heads at me; no one had any idea who he was at all.

Kanye's Quick Performance

We also noticed that during the breaks between artists, MTV would play American songs. The only thing was that we had never heard of any of them... yet! I took it upon myself to check the iTunes Top 10 purchased as well as the MTV (US) top Music Videos list and this is what I found:

All of these songs, above and below, are completely new to me. If I were in the US right now instead of in Spain, I would be listening to all of this current music (whether I like it or not) on radio stations, on television, in commercials, and advertised all over the place. They have yet to make it over the big pond.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make here is that even in terms of mainstream music, the taste here in Spain is much different than that of the United States. At least it is a lot more different than I had assumed. In addition to that, just like in terms of US cinema, Spain has to wait a little bit longer to get the chart-topping songs that have already hit North America, which is why we didn't recognize any of the in-between songs that were playing at the free concert.


It's definitely going to be very interesting to go home and hear what the US has playing on the radio...!