Ranko is a girl who has an ukulele. And crayons.
What she does may be described as Folk Music, or simply as cute, funny, friendly, unpretentious songs about love and everyday stuff, current issues included. Also various covers. Many of the songs are accompanied by chibi animations with the lyrics and a bunch of characters, some recurring (spot the Christmas Dinosaur!)
Ranko also sings in English, if you're interested.
Here's her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyZgdW0q-DN78XA1_CycZrA
Ranko sings about these:
- Cannot Spit It Out: "W tramwaju" ("In the Streetcar") is about a lady in love with a guy she sees every day in the streetcar, but it's just not proper for her to make the first move. So she sticks to fantasies about marrying him. But he's simply Blind Without Them and physically can't notice her.
- First-World Problems: "Całe życie pod górkę" (an idiom meaning "nothing ever goes my way"), a tragic song about lack of snacks and muddy shoes.
- From Bad to Worse: "Biedronki ludojady" ("Man-eating ladybugs"):Więc nawet gdy już gorzej być nie może - So even when it can't be worse
O, jednak jest gorzej! - Oh, but it is worse! - Food Songs Are Funny: Usually just mentions of food, often sweet food, but "Lodówka" ("Fridge") is an entire Funny Food Song. Also "Kluska" ("Noodle").
- Hidden Depths: "Jesieniara" ("Autumn Girl", yes, Polish doesn't really have a word for an autumn guy, though it could be easily coined, we don't know either) is about a guy who loves autumn along with all the stereotypically "autumn girl" things (cocoa, ginger, pumpkin spice latte, walks, woolen clothes and snuggles), but hides it.
- Nobody Loves the Bassist: In "Żaklin"czy kogoś to obchodzi - does anyone care
że Twój chłopak jest alpaką, gorzej jakby był rasistą - that your boyfriend is an alpaca, it'd be worse if he were a racist
lub czymś gorszym, recydywistą lub basistą - or even worse, a criminal or a bassist - Magic Realism: Christmas dinosaurs, Santa, alpacas (who date people) and evil ladybugs coexist peacefully with streetcars, people in love, people arguing and making up, and the plague of COVID. Anthropomorphised.
- Melancholy Musical Number: "Przegryw" ("Loser") is about, basically, feeling depressed. "Smuteczek" ("A Tiny Sadness") is a little less sad, but features Heartbreak and Ice Cream.
- Money Song: "Nic mi się nie chce" ("I Don't Feel Like Doing a Thing"), a bit, because the singer wants to earn money to buy herself things, but can't. Because she doesn't feel like it.
- Le Film Artistique: Żaklin is as difficult to understand as a French movie, apparently.
- Signature Headgear: An entire collection of classic Warsaw flat caps. Ranko's doodle incarnation wears one with a cute flowery pattern. In the live videos for "Jesieniara", "Motylkiem" and "W tramwaju" she wears either a blue one or a beige one with blue piping.
- Silly Love Songs: Not particularly serious love songs, but love is a constant subject nonetheless.
- Spiders Are Scary: Not, you know, very, since in Ranko's world nothing is.
- Stylistic Suck: The video for "Nic mi się nie chce" is made in a rather lazy way, because it's a song about being lazy and dismotivated.
- Three Chords and the Truth: You can find the chords underneath the video.
- Unholy Matrimony: They never get married in the song, but... "Pan Demia i Pani Kara" (pretty much untranslatable, it's about Anthropomorphic Personifications of the COVID pandemic and panic, respectively):chciał się w sumie już ewakuować - he actually wanted to evacuate
ze związku z Panią Karą wydostać się spróbować - get out of that relationship with Pani Kara note
lecz ona nie jest łatwą do rzucenia osobą - but she's not that easy to dump
i powtarza: nic nie znaczysz, gdy nie jestem z tobą - she says "you're nothing without me"
