As a teenager, you probably learned a lot of English through music, without even meaning to. Singing along to your favourite songs on the radio, or reading about your favourite bands, you probably read lots of song lyrics and interviews - and absorbed new words and phrases at the same time. David Hasselhoff not only welcomed the fall of the Berlin Wall with his hit "Looking for Freedom" - he also helped a generation of Germans to use the present perfect continuous.
Now that you're older and wiser (and have put away your Bravo mags and your stonewashed jeans), hopefully, music still plays a part in your life - and it can still play a part in your English learning, too.
Here, we present a few fun ideas for how to practise your English with songs.
Start with your favourites
Don't choose artists or genres you don't like - obviously! Choose the kinds of songs that you'd happily listen to anyway. In fact, the best place to start is with your favourite songs. Do you know all of the words to every verse, or do you usually just mumble or "la la la" to bits of it? Or perhaps you've been mishearing certain words without realizing? Now's the time to take a look at the lyrics online and check any tricky words.
Find a playlist
Lots of helpful people have made playlists on Spotify and Apple Music for the best songs to help you to learn English. Just search for "songs for learning English". Once you've found a few songs that have helped you to practise, why not make your own playlist? You can keep it just for yourself, or share it with other users.
You'll find our own Spotlight Spotify playlist with all the songs featured in this article at www.spotlight-online.de/playlist
Slow and clear
Slower songs with clear words are easier to understand and to sing, and also songs that have a simple message or story. These are often love songs, but not always - and love songs don't have to be cheesy! If you're in danger of overdosing on sincere love songs, try the last tip on the list here, the comedy song "How to Write a Love Song":
Madness, "It Must Be Love" (easy)
Celine Dion, "My Heart Will Go On" (easy)
James Blunt, "You're Beautiful" (easy)
Ed Sheeran, "Shape of You" (medium)
Taylor Swift, "You Belong with Me" (advanced)
The Axis of Awesome, "How to Write a Love Song" (advanced)
Kitchen karaoke
Home alone? Then fill your lungs and belt out a tune in the privacy of your home! It's a guaranteed mood lifter - and a good way to practise your English. You can find sing-along versions of lots of songs with the words there on-screen for you - search on YouTube for the song title plus "lyrics", "sing along" or "karaoke". A "karaoke" version should have only the music with the words written on-screen, but not the singer's voice, so you can be the star! You don't have to use a wooden spoon as a microphone, or dance and prance about like Freddie Mercury - but then, why not?
Here are a few strong, uplifting songs that you can sing your heart out to:
Paloma Faith, "Make Your Own Kind of Music" (easy)
Jennifer Lopez, "Let's Get Loud" (easy)
Gloria Gaynor, "I Am What I Am" (medium)
Keala Settle, "This Is Me" (medium)
Idina Menzel, "Let It Go" (medium)
Queen, "Don't Stop Me Now" (advanced)
Songs for friends
If you're not a big fan of love songs, how about a song about friendship? A song to support and encourage a friend, or to tell them what they mean to you. These songs can be a good way to discover new examples of supportive phrases to use in real life. The songs listed below are easy to sing along to - or to sing to a friend?
Randy Newman, "You've Got a Friend in Me" (easy)
Bruno Mars, "Count on Me" (easy)
Coldplay, "Fix You" (easy)
Peter Gabriel, "Don't Give Up" (medium)
Keith Urban, "Break on Me" (medium)
Jason Mraz, "Song for a Friend" (advanced)
Clever comedy songs
If you enjoy clever wordplay - and this is for advanced learners only - have a listen to some of these comedy songs:
Tim Minchin, "Prejudice" (a surprising song about a taboo)
Flight of the Conchords, "Carol Brown" (a list of failed relationships)
Fascinating Aida, "Cheap Flights" (about the perils of taking a cheap flight)
Bo Burnham, "Welcome to the Internet" (about what we find online)
Garfunkel and Oates, "29/31" (about life for women as they turn 30)
LadBaby, "We Built This City" (a hymn to a British snack, the sausage roll)
Grammar songs
Here are a few songs to practise different tenses:
Present simple: The Beatles, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
Present continuous: Taylor Swift, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"
Present perfect simple: Charlene, "I've Never Been to Me"
Present perfect continuous: David Hasselhoff, "Looking for Freedom"
Past simple and continuous: The Human League, "Don't You Want Me"
Going-to-future: Rick Astley, "Never Gonna Give You Up"
Future simple (will-future): Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You"
Tongue-twister challenge
The "Alphabet Aerobics" rap takes you on a tongue-twisting ride from "A" to "Z", getting faster and faster with every letter. Even with the lyrics in front of you, it's hard to keep up with the original recording by Blackalicious. You can watch actor Daniel Radcliffe attempting the rap on a US TV show on YouTube. We should warn you that Blackalicious, an African-American duo, use the "N-word" in the song - you, like Daniel Radcliffe, can just leave that word out.