Analyzing 40 years of hit song lyrics. The changes of the times that can be seen. Music reflects the world.
【Female artists have begun to use masculine first-person expressions, a “gender shift” that was discovered by analyzing 4,100 hit songs over a 40-year period.】
https://president.jp/articles/-/62768?page=1
・As the saying goes, “As the song goes, so goes the world,” and hit songs are a very interesting subject for analysis, as they strongly reflect the state of the world.
・Analysis of words that appear in high frequency in approximately 4,100 hit songs from the 1980s to the 2020s
・In the 1980s and 1990s, the nouns “love,” “eyes,” “night,” “summer,” “man,” and “woman” appeared more frequently than in other periods (the economic boom around the time of the bubble economy was also a background for songs about men and women fretting over love at night and in summer).
・In the late 1990s and 2000s, the words “sky” and “tomorrow” increased (due in part to the prolonged recession, people sang about looking up at the sky and searching for tomorrow).
・In the 2010s and ’20s, words such as “myself,” “my hands,” “future,” and “the world” increased. (With the economy improving somewhat and the emergence of an environment where individuals can directly communicate with the world through social networking services, there was a lot of positive sentiment about opening up the future and the world with one’s own hands.)
・Words that evoke straight love and sex have been disappearing since the 2000s.
・In terms of gender first person trends, standard first and second person were the most used until the 1980s and early 1990s, but in the late 1990s,
masculine first and second person took the top spot, symbolized by Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada’s use of masculine first and second person in the late 1990s and 2000s. The frequency of authoritative and masculine first and second person has been on a steady decline ever since its peak in the 1980s. Has the recent wave of genderlessness been reflected in the lyrics as well?
The above is a quote from the article
After all, music reflects the state of the world.
Interesting analysis.
【The changing times as seen in the lyrics of hit songs! What is the most used word now?】
https://www.at-s.com/life/article/ats/1050904.html
1980’s and 1990’s
Men and women ruefully fall in love at night and in summer (love, eyes, night, man, woman, summer)
Late 19910s and 2000s
Looking up at the sky and seeking tomorrow (tomorrow, sky)
2010s and 2020s
Pioneering the future and the world with my own hands (me, hands, future, world)
Ranking of frequently appearing words by age
age 80s , 90s , 00s , 10s , 20s
No.1 Heart, Dream, Now, Now, Now
No.2 Love, Now, Dream, Hand
No.3 Dreams, Heart, Heart, Heart
No.4 Longing, Love, Sky, Love
No.5 Tears,Night, Love, Hand, World
No.6 Chest, Chest, Hand, Future, Eyes
No.7 Now, Tears, Chest, Chest, Future
No.8 Night, When, Tears, Myself, Myself
No.9 Wind, Longing, Tomorrow, World, Words
No.10 Human, Wind, When, Sky, When
The above is a quote from the article
I believe that music is basically an expression of feelings and emotions. Therefore, if we listen to the music of that era, we can understand what kind of thoughts and feelings many people had. Since the above analysis is an analysis of hit songs, I think it can be said that we can understand what kind of feelings and emotions many people of that era shared.
As in the data above, my personal impression is that there were many pure love songs in the past, but not so many direct love songs now.
It could be said, perhaps, that love is less of a priority today than it used to be, or that people do not have the time or leisure to be in love.
Also, I personally noticed that in the ranking of frequently occurring words, “love” is not ranked in the 20’s, even though it was ranked until the 10’s.
For my part, I hope they will always and forever sing about love.
Perhaps this is just because, as noted above, they no longer express “love” in a direct way. Are they singing about love in different forms and expressions? I hope so.^^
I don’t always compose hit songs, but I am also a musician on the fringe, so once again, it makes me think. I wonder if the music (lyrics) I am making now is also a reflection of the world of today. I wonder.
Anyway,
There is even a book titled “You can understand world history by listening to Beethoven,” so from a historical and sociological point of view, music must still reflect the world and the times in a very strong way. (Beethoven has no lyrics, so I’m curious how it reflects them.)
I tend to stop listening to current hit songs as I get older,
but,
It may be a good idea to listen to a hit song once in a while to capture the current state of the world.
Just being aware of what they are singing about when it comes on the radio or TV can make quite a difference.
A little awareness in daily life can make a big difference. (Like awareness.)
See you then.
【Announcement of Music Release】
some days ago、YUKI 20th Anniversary Coupling+Remix Collection 2002-2020『Ode to JOY』,It has been released for distribution. It also includes a remix version of “Nrihibikukagiri” which I composed. Please listen to it if you like.
As artists age, their musicality, lyrics, and the instruments they use change. I had thought that these changes were due to changes in human nature and musicality due to age, but it could also be seen as a change due to the influence of the world and the times.
