Yeah, that’s a fair point. After my post I thought A minha casinha or Não sou o único would also be good choices.

(Grândola is well-known amongst at least some niche circles in Spain, where it was first released/sung during the dictatorship).

That’s true, from what I can tell, it’s pretty popular in Galiza.

Portugal: Grândola, Vila Morena - Zeca Afonso. Probably not a hit when it came out, as it was banned by the dictatorial regime at the time but it became the anthem of our 1974 revolution, pretty much because it was the song that the revolutionary group chose to be played on the radio station (they took control of) to mobilize their forces.

Zeca Afonso has a bunch of other well-known (and really good) songs, all sung in Portuguese but this is the one most people know by heart. It helps that it gets played every year on the anniversary of the revolution and whenever there’s a protest.

Portuguese here. This is anecdotal evidence but, as far as I can tell, a lot of our proficiency comes, essentially, to constant exposure to the English language since the early to mid-90s. We don’t dub English-speaking media (apart from movies and tv shows more aimed at kids, but even then, Cartoon Network didn’t even have subs when I was a kid and I still watched it religiously), the video games we played when we were kids also didn’t have a Portuguese language option so we were basically forced to learn English.

And now that the Internet has become widespread throughout the country, the younger generation consume a lot of English-speaking content, so they have little trouble with speaking and writing in it.

This results in a good % of the population having decent to good English, not just the kids but a lot of people in their 30s (and some in their 40s) too.

I guess, haha. Not like we care all that much, though, if it’s good music, that’s all that matters. When I listened to the song you posted, I was reminded of YUKI, although they’re quite a bit different. YUKI has more arrangements and incorporates more instruments into her songs. Also, her voice is a bit weird, being very nasal, but I really love it, makes her have a very unique tone.

Kenji Kawai is such an amazing composer. I didn’t know about that particular composition you linked to (and thank you for sharing, it’s great!) but I know he made soundtracks for both Ghost in the Shell animated movies, which are so, so good. Here’s what I think is a medley of the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack played live. It opens with Making of a Cyborg, one of the most iconic pieces of the first movie.

I also really liked the 2nd song! I’m not sure but is her name Hako Yamasaki? Just so I can look for more of her stuff.

Aside from Mad World by Gary Jules and *Everything’s alright" by Laura Shigihara, which have already been mentioned, I have a few off the top of my head:

• Keiichi Okabe - Weight of the World/English Version. Going with this one just because I’ve heard most recently. Every version is great, though.
• Nobuo Uematsu - Aerith’s Theme. Orchestral version for maximum feels.
• Nobuo Uematsu - Tifa’s Theme. I always liked the Advent Children version best.

Not much of a country music listener but I’ve really liked Townes van Zandt, namely because of a tribute album made by various members of sludge/post-metal bands like Scott Kelly, Steve von Til and John Baizley. It’s more on the introspective and melancholic side but I think it’s also a bit different from a lot of other recommended artists/bands on this thread.