A recent study found that pop song lyrics in the United States have grown more self-focused over the last five decades. Researchers analyzed the Top 10 most popular songs in the US, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong for each year from 1970 to 2019 and discovered that the use of first-person singular pronouns, such as ‘I’ and ‘me,’ has increased significantly in the US and Germany.
Study Findings
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, used software to extract the linguistic content of each song and applied a statistical method to analyze changes in pronoun usage over time. The researchers found that self-focused language rose significantly between 1970 and 2019 in the US and Germany, but remained relatively stable in Japan and Hong Kong.
According to the study’s lead author, Marius Golubickis, ‘Popular songs act like cultural time capsules. Across five decades of hit music, we found that self-focused language increased in the United States and Germany, but not in Japan or Hong Kong.’ Golubickis cited the song ‘Call Me’ by Blondie as an example of a popular song with high levels of personal pronoun usage.
The study’s findings suggest that increases in self-centrism, as indicated by pronoun use in song lyrics, may not be universal and may vary depending on societal contexts. The researchers hope to examine more countries and additional psychological themes, including social connectedness, in future studies.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
