Language practices and language ideologies in the popular music TV show The Voice Russia

This paper examines the diverse communicative practices of the popular TV show The Voice Russia and highlights the role and function of language ideologies in Russian popular music. We argue that language choice in songs is guided by two sets of ideas-the ideologies of pop music professionals, who have a strong English bias, and the popular beliefs held by the audience, who support the integrity of the Russian language and culture. Analysis of multilingual songs which combine lyrics and music from different countries (and cultures) reveals the role of language alternation as a resource of meaning making and an instrument for constructing ethnic, local, and glocal (transnational-but-localized) identities.