Trends in Positive, Negative, and Neutral Themes of Popular Music From 1998 to 2018: Observational Study

Abstract

Background Across the United States, the incidence of adolescent depression and suicide cases has risen in the past 10 years. Despite the risk factors and causes being multifactorial, the influence of popular culture on society and adolescents in this media-driven generation cannot be mitigated. Although the impact of social media and its effect on shaping self-identity in adolescents have been observed, the impact of music and its potential for subliminal negative messages to adolescents remains unclear. Objective This study analyzes the lyrics and music videos of the most popular music of multiple genres to quantify the frequencies of varying music theme trends. Methods The frequencies of themes of 1052 total American and Latin songs were collected from the Nielsen Music and Billboard’s top 100 chart performance from 1998 to 2018 for hip hop/rhythm and blues (R&B), pop, Latin, country, and rock/metal genres. Themes from songs were identified, quantified, and categorized with a rubric into negative, neutral, and positive themes by 3 different reviewers. Analysis was performed using 2-tailed t tests and a generalized linear model. Results Popular songs were reviewed for positive, negative, and neutral themes in the following 3-year intervals for ease of analysis purposes: 1998 to 2000 (n=148), 2001 to 2003 (n=150), 2004 to 2006 (n=148), 2007 to 2009 (n=156), 2010 to 2012 (n= 150), 2013 to 2015 (n=150), and 2016 to 2018 (n=150). There was a significant 180% increase in the percentage of songs with negative themes between all the interval years and across all genres (P<.001), while there was no significant difference in the frequency of songs with positive (P=.54) or neutral (P=.26) themes by year. There were significant differences in the number of negative themes found across genres (P<.001), with hip hop/R&B having the highest frequency of 130 out of 208 (62.5%) of the negative themes when compared to each of the individual genres (P<.001). Conclusions This study shows there is an increase in the frequency of negative themes over the span of 20 years across all genres, with hip hop/R&B having the highest frequency among the genres. These findings point to the potential impact that music may have in popular culture and on society. Furthermore, these results can help shape discussions between caregivers and their adolescent dependents and between primary care providers and their adolescent patients.

We Don’t Need No Education: A Textual Analysis of Anglo-American Popular Music Lyrics about School

“…Several related bodies of social research rest their arguments on similar principles. Their work focuses on the "influencing" dimension of music, highlighting artists and their lyrics as sources of negativity with the power to adversely affect the listener [21,22,25,26]. Importantly, this inquiry engages with the idea that pop music both reflects and shapes societal perceptions of the thematic phenomena that their lyrics touch upon.…”

Sosyal Medya İçerı̇k Üretı̇mı̇nde Müzı̇ğı̇n Etkı̇sı̇

“…At the individual level, social media platforms offer occasions for people to interact with music, illustrate their identities and manage their emotions (Fink et al, 2021). At the societal level, the presence of music in social media promotes the diversification of music presentation and the development of music culture (Kwon et al, 2021). Moreover, the potential impact of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of music in social media can be far-reaching, encompassing numerous fields such as psychology, business, education and communication.…”

“I may look fake but I’m real where it counts”: Positivity and authenticity in the songs of Dolly Parton.

“…As such, they can serve as a reflection of the mood, values, and psychological state of both the songwriter and the culture (DeWall et al, 2011). Although thematic analyses of music can reveal themes commonly expressed by a specific artist, in a specific time period, or within a particular genre (e.g., Holmes & Harde, 2013; Kwon et al, 2021), it has been argued that a more nuanced understanding can be obtained by examining the underlying linguistic style of the lyrics, with a focus on the words used rather than the general theme or message (Newman et al, 2003; Pennebaker & King, 1999; Pennebaker et al, 2003). As Newman et al (2003) stated, “words that reflect how people are expressing themselves can often be more informative than what they are expressing” (p. 666).…”