Your first Lao songs to discover more

I've recently compiled a list of Lao songs, from modern pop to traditional music. Whether you want to expand your musical horizons or groove to some catchy tunes, this is a great introduction to different genres of Lao music.

Why learn Lao from songs?

You choose what you listen to: music naturally draws you in. Whether it's the rhythm, the melody or the lyrics, you'll happily play a song on repeat, and of course, without even realising it, you're reinforcing vocabulary and pronunciation each time.
Cultural immersion: songs really do give you an insight into Lao culture, and they show you just how closely the language and the culture are linked. It makes your learning that bit deeper and richer.
Natural language: listening to Lao songs will introduce you to a whole range of vocabulary that you simply won't find in a textbook, not to mention slang, colloquialisms and regional dialects.
It's fun: learning doesn't have to be limited to structured lessons alone. Adding something you genuinely enjoy makes the whole journey so much easier to stick with.

How to learn Lao from songs?

Listen actively: pay close attention to the pronunciation and the rhythm. Try to pick out the words you already know, and look up the ones you don't.
Read the lyrics: find the lyrics and read along whilst you listen. This will help you connect the sounds to the written words.
Sing along: once you know the song a little, start singing along. It's great practice for your pronunciation, and honestly, nobody has to hear it.
Translate: try translating the lyrics into your own language. It really helps with understanding the context, and you'll pick up a lot of new vocabulary along the way.
Talk about it: share the songs with fellow learners or native speakers. Ask questions, swap favourites, and see what other people picked up that you might have missed.
Use it in your daily life: from your notes, try using the words and phrases you've learnt in real conversations and surprise them.

List of Lao songs

While English subtitles for Lao songs are still limited, more are becoming available. Many recent popular songs now include them, and if you're up for a challenge, you can always try translating your favourites yourself.

Most song lyrics can be found in the video descriptions, typically in Lao or Thai script for modern songs. Traditional songs often have an advantage where they usually display both Lao script and transliteration directly in the video.

My top 3 of all time

Modern Songs (from upbeat to low key)

Laosongs

Upbeat

Traditional Beat

Laosongs

Lowkey

Traditional Songs (from upbeat to low key)

Laosongs

Upbeat

Lowkey

Pro tip: You'll find a much larger selection of Lao songs on YouTube compared to Spotify.

Lao playlist

Laosongs

Looking for a curated playlist? Here are some songs picked by members of our LES community.

Got a Lao song you love but can't fully understand? Ask me in the LES community and I'll translate it for you. There's already a fair collection in there from other members' requests.

Translated Lao songs

I recommend following @la10906 on Instagram and TikTok. She has also created a Spotify playlist with +388 songs. She translates many Lao songs (including ones listed above) as her hobby and is super lovely.

Final thoughts

Music is a universal language that connects people across cultures, backgrounds and generations. And of course, songs can teach us new words and so much about the culture too, all whilst you're simply enjoying yourself. It really can be a great learning tool.

That said, songs do work best once you have a bit of foundation behind you. Lyrics move quite fast, they're full of slang, and singers take all sorts of shortcuts that don't quite follow the rules.

Without the basics, a song is just nice sounds. With them, you'll suddenly start hearing whole phrases you recognise, and that moment is what keeps people going. If you're not quite there yet, my Speak Lao course is a good place to start.

So put a playlist on, sing along badly, and look up the words you don't know. Every lyric sung is a word learned.

Happy listening!

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Your first Lao songs to discover more

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