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Concert or boombox? The way we consume music has also changed
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Lyrics of rock, rap, country, pop and R&B songs have become simpler and more understandable over time, but also more emotional and personal. This is the result of an analysis of more than 12,000 English-language songs from 1980 to 2020.
For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, a European research team examined which feelings are expressed in the song lyrics, how many different and complicated words are used and how often they are repeated.
The researchers found that the texts had primarily lost their complexity. “Across all genres, the texts had a tendency to become simpler and repetitive,” says study author Eva Zangerle from the University of Innsbruck.
According to Zangerle, one reason why songs with repetitive lyrics have apparently become more and more popular is that people today tend to listen to music in the background. The number of repeated lines increased the most in rap. However, rap songs also have more lines than others.
Increasingly self-centered
The study also showed that the texts are becoming more personal, with the words “I” and “my” being used more frequently. At the same time, positive, joyful lyrics increasingly gave way to lines about anger, disgust and sadness. Again, rap songs showed the highest increase in negative emotions, while country lyrics showed the lowest.
"What we have experienced over the last 40 years is a drastic change in the music landscape - from the way music is sold to the way music is produced," says the study. Music is a “mirror of society” and expresses how cultural values, feelings and concerns change over time.
sak/AFP