Avicii’s S.O.S.: A psychobiographical approach and corpus-based discourse analysis on suicidal ideation

Abstract

This study explored the linguistic patterns and discourse on suicide of the Swedish artist Avicii. Focusing on key events in his life, career, and compositions, a triangulation of data sources was employed grounded on psychobiographical research framework and corpus-based discourse analysis. Texts with reference to suicidal risk factors were then evaluated based on the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide to establish linguistic representations of emotional distress and suicidal ideation. The findings suggest that lexical features associated with mental health struggles, that is, high volume of first-person deixis and death-themed linguistic references, were evident in his writing. There were substantial implications of his predisposition to mental stress and his call for help, his S.O.S. This study helps in further understanding the language and discourse of artists like Avicii on the immense dislocation of emotions and the complexities of navigating (inter)personal relationships.

Thanks and Goodbye: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis on Emotional Distress in Bts’ Suga’s K-Pop Compositions

“…Vlasenko, Rogers, & Waugh (2021) also corroborate that putting feelings into words, also known as affect labelling, can reduce the intensity of these highly triggering emotional experiences. How much was said, why, and how can describe a narrative of emotional incidents but still could miss out the most important part of the content (Argaman, 2009), thus single words used most frequently and the context(s) of linguistic patterns, particularly in song lyrics are therefore relevant when analysing discourse and emotions (Philippou & Yeh, 2023;Yeh & Trang, 2022). The following are some of the lexical items that are often used repeatedly in songs.…”

“…was strong linguistic evidence that also highlights the implications for applying linguistic markers for suicide risk as an intervention. Yeh and Trang (2022) also used the corpus psychobiographical approach in examining Avicii's songs and his suicidal ideation. They argue that his lyrics were a call for help, his SOS as he was drowning in his own mental anguish.…”