British MCs are increasingly making bilingual tracks with their European peers – and, they explain, it’s not just to attract new audiences

The British are notoriously bad at bothering to learn other languages – and even listening to them. Across Europe, music fans are used to enjoying tracks even if they can’t understand the lyrics, but this has rarely been the case in the UK, where we do not often deviate from English-language pop. Even Bad Bunny, who was the most streamed artist on Spotify globally between 2020 and 2022, has never really been embraced by the British.

But while British listeners are mostly ignoring multilingual music, British rappers aren’t. Central Cee, currently the UK scene’s biggest name, has been seizing on bilingual collaborations as he courts a global market: back in 2022 he put out Eurovision, a posse track featuring seven rappers from across the EU – including frequent Italian collaborator Rondodasosa – and last year he featured on Eurostar by French MC Ninho which reached No 1 in France. In the past few weeks he’s put out two more tracks: Bolide Noir with Parisian JRK 19, and Moi with British singer Raye, who delivers most of her hook in French.