Adam Levine speaks Afrikaans on stage at a Maroon 5 concert
Adam Levine delivered a special line in Afrikaans for the local audience at the Maroon 5 concert in Cape Town, and it’s not the line you’re thinking of:
Cape Town, South Africa (2 February 2024)— Maroon 5’s mission to South Africa has been the talk of many locals this week as the concert gets closer and closer. From little fans like 6-year-old Jagger (yes, as in “Moves Like Jagger”) to online fandom, the Calabash concert was shrouded in anticipation.
But what many didn’t expect was that lead singer Adam Levine used the local language to address the audience!
As a guitar droned in the background, Mr. Levine prepared for his version of a prepared speech. Any non-native speaker who has ever had to stand up and speak Afrikaans in front of an audience can probably feel a secondary anxiety from now on. But the singer gathered his courage and moved on.
After explaining that Afrikaans is “a very difficult language,” he went on to explain that he asked his wife (the iconic Behati Prinsloo, a Namibian) to help her with what to say.
While many were looking forward to some of our edgy Afrikaans phrases that start with “jou ma se…”, Adam kept it clean and instead opted for a sweeter phrase – “Julle Lyk Baie Mooi”.
The host added that “jy lyk baie mooi” is what he says to his wife and it inspired him to share his love with the viewers.
@c_yan_duh_ he actually did a pretty good job😂 #calabasutafrica #maroon5 #adamlevine #concert #capetown ♬ original sound — c_yan_duh_
Many South Africans praised the effort, with some joking that “Charlize won’t believe it” and others adding that her pronunciation was better than theirs at school.
Some have preferred to say that he might have said “hulle weet nie wat ons weet nie”, but locals know that phrase has been doing the rounds more than enough thanks to Dricus du Plesis’s recent historic victory.