It’s not your imagination. Pop music is getting meaner
Pop music is supposed to be fun, carefree, and designed to put you in a good mood. That, however, is not the case anymore.
A new study from Scientific Reports analyzed hundreds of thousands of songs (all English-speaking) from two eras: 1960 to 2010 and another of the Billboard charts to 2023 looking at how “the moral character of popular music has changed” over time.
“Moral character?” Think vice: Cheating, breaking the rules, causing someone harm, “degredation,” and “subversion.” Also analyzed were “virtues” such as loyalty, care, love, and purity.
What do the lyrics of pop songs tell us about society? Well, we’re definitely more pissed off, angry, and anxious. This is a trend that has been on an upswing for a couple of decades now. Since the 1960s:
- Cheating rose by 71%
- Degredation up 62%
- Subversion up 50%
Meanwhile, lyrics that express care/empathy/concern have dropped by 24%.
If you want to go deeper into this study, go here.
