Time’s passage reveals more than just greying hair; it also exposes a transformation in songwriting styles. A recent study, unveiled on Thursday, underscores this shift, demonstrating a marked preference for simpler, more repetitive lyrical structures.
Additionally, the study uncovered a surge in anger and self-centeredness within lyrics over the past four decades, echoing the sentiments of disgruntled veteran music enthusiasts worldwide.
A consortium of European academics conducted an exhaustive examination of the vocabulary used in over 12,000 English-language songs representing diverse genres such as rap, country, pop, R&B, and rock from the period spanning 1980 to 2020.
The classifications of rap, country-western, mainstream music, rhythm and blues, and rock from 1980 to 2020. Before elaborating on the trend towards simpler lyrics, the study made a significant observation regarding the accolades bestowed upon renowned American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who emerged as a cultural icon during the 1960s and later received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Senior study author Eva Zangerle, an expert on recommendation systems at Austria’s University of Innsbruck, declined to single out an individual newer artist for having simple lyrics.
But she emphasised that lyrics can be a “mirror of society” which reflect how a culture’s values, emotions and preoccupations change over time.
“What we have also been witnessing in the last 40 years is a drastic change in the music landscape — from how music is sold to how music is produced,” Zangerle said.
Over the 40 years studied, there was repeated upheaval in how people listened to music. The vinyl records and cassette tapes of the 1980s gave way to the CDs of the 90s, then the arrival of the internet led to the algorithm-driven streaming platforms of today.
For the study in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers looked at the emotions expressed in lyrics, how many different and complicated words were used, and how often they were repeated.
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“Across all genres, lyrics had a tendency to become more simple and more repetitive,” Zangerle summarised.
The results also confirmed previous research which had shown a decrease in positive, joyful lyrics over time and a rise in those that express anger, disgust or sadness.
Lyrics have also become much more self-obsessed, with words such as “me” or “mine” becoming much more popular.
The number of repeated lines rose most in rap over the decades, Zangerle said — adding that it obviously had the most lines to begin with.
“Rap music has become more angry than the other genres,” she added.
The researchers also investigated which songs the fans of different genres looked up on the lyric website Genius. Unlike other genres, rock fans most often looked up lyrics from older songs, rather than new ones.
Rock has tumbled down the charts in recent decades, and this could suggest fans are increasingly looking back to the genre’s heyday, rather than its present.
Another way that music has changed is that “the first 10-15 seconds are highly decisive for whether we skip the song or not,” Zangerle said.
She elaborated on previous research findings, indicating a prevailing trend of music serving as background accompaniment in recent times. In essence, it seems that songs with repetitive choruses and uncomplicated lyrics are resonating more with listeners.
“Lyrics should stick easier nowadays, simply because they are easier to memorise,” Zangerle said.
“This is also something that I experience when I listen to the radio.”