Lyrical Analysis of Boy Band Songs from the 90s Helps Explain Why They Were So Popular

June 11, 2014 Alan Cross 0 Comments 0 min read

At the 2013 Music Matters conference in Singapore, I saw a fantastic session by Ralph Murphy on songwriting. One of the more interesting things he brought up was “playing the pronoun card,” which means liberal use of the word “you” and “I” in your lyrics. Why? Because those sorts of sentiments play very, very well with audiences.

If you’re a songwriter, you need to buy this book. Now.

I was reminded of Ralph’s talk when I saw this analysis of boy band lyrics from the 1990s at FiveThirtyEight.com. Turns out that the boy band puppeteers knew a lot about the pronoun card.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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