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Love songs are in decline – but at least Pharrell's Happy Love songs are in decline – but at least Pharrell's Happy
(5 months later)
Kids today: they’re inspired, desperate and in pain.Kids today: they’re inspired, desperate and in pain.
Or at least they were in 00s, according to an analysis of US Or at least they were in 00s, according to an analysis of US chart hits. More specifically, the study All You Need is Love? Communication Insights from Pop Music’s Number-One Hits, a paper that’s appearing in the Journal of Advertising Research this month.
chart hits. More specifically, the study All You Need is Love? Communication Now, keep in mind that the purpose of the study – according to the paper’s lead author Dr David Henard, was to help advertisers identify what themes were most resonant with consumers, to allow advertisers to “cut through the clutter”. The idea was that the themes that make people buy records should give clues to how companies should craft their ad campaigns in order to sell stuff.
Insights from Pop Music’s Number-One Hits, a paper that’s appearing in the So they took assigned common words and themes – love, heart, good, baby, night and so on – and assigned them to 12 different categories: loss, desire, aspiration, breakup, pain, inspiration, nostalgia, rebellion, jaded, desperation, escapism and confusion.
Journal of Advertising Research this month.
Now, keep in mind that the purpose of the study – according
to the paper’s lead author Dr David Henard, was to help advertisers identify
what themes were most resonant with consumers, to allow advertisers to “cut
through the clutter”. The idea was that the themes that make people buy records
should give clues to how companies should craft their ad campaigns in order to sell
stuff.
So they took assigned common words and themes – love, heart, good, baby, night and so on – and
assigned them to 12 different categories: loss, desire, aspiration,
breakup, pain, inspiration, nostalgia, rebellion, jaded, desperation, escapism
and confusion.
And what did they find?And what did they find?
First up, if you want to write a huge million-selling hit, First up, if you want to write a huge million-selling hit, your safest bet is to make it about a breakup. That’s been the most consistent theme, fluctuating barely at all since the 50s.
your safest bet is to make it about a breakup. That’s been the most consistent theme, Secondly, that love’s less important now than its ever been: after being the number one most influential word of the first three decades studied, it slipped to third in the 90s and to ninth in the 00s, beneath “time”, “good” and (ahem) “nigga”. In those two decades the two most influential words were “quantity” (presumably a theme: “lots” and “all” and “many” rather than “Oh girl, gonna give you my quantity”) and “baby”. So presumably your breakup song should also be about a whole lot of babies, but not necessarily how much you love them.
fluctuating barely at all since the 50s. And it’s possible to create a just-so story based around these findings, if you fancy putting together a neat pop-music-as-cultural-mirror narrative.
Secondly, that love’s less important now than its ever been: In the 60s our songs were all about nostalgia, pain and rebellion: themes most perfectly summed up in the seeming dozens of cautionary tales about motorcycle accidents: Leader of the Pack, Terry, Condition Red … on this evidence, universal helmet laws could have changed the entire cultural shape of a decade.
after being the number one most influential word of the first three decades In the 70s the vibe was nostalgia (perhaps for the far superior 60s?), rebellion, and being jaded. One the one hand, this was a period when punk was on the rise. On the other, one of the most consistently successful acts of the decade was Abba. Then again, no band better summed up the impotent fury and pervasive hopelessness of the era: timeless protest songs like Waterloo, Fernando and Dancing Queen still have a visceral power that has barely diminished over the decades.
studied, it slipped to third in the 90s and to ninth in the 00s, beneath In the 80s, it was all about loss, confusion and aspiration. It was, after all, the decade of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and U2. The 90s were about loss, inspiration and escapism (and Mariah Carey, and Celine Dion) – and then, presumably, we discovered we couldn’t actually escape since the 00s were all about inspiration, pain and desperation – which makes sense when you realise that Eminem was the biggest artist of the era.
“time”, “good” and (ahem) “nigga”. In those two decades the two most influential So what lessons can we take from this? Well, maybe we can take heart from Pharrell Williams’ Happy looking like being the biggest single of 2014. Maybe everything’s going to be fine after all!
words were “quantity” (presumably a theme: “lots” and “all” and “many” rather than “Oh girl, gonna give you my quantity”) and “baby”. So presumably your breakup song should also Then again, that song is in F minor, which is a pretty miserable key – but that’s another study altogether.
be about a whole lot of babies, but not necessarily how much you love them.
And it’s possible to create a just-so story based around
these findings, if you fancy putting together a neat
pop-music-as-cultural-mirror narrative.
In the 60s our songs were all about nostalgia, pain and
rebellion: themes most perfectly summed
up in the seeming dozens of cautionary tales about motorcycle accidents: Leader
of the Pack, Terry, Condition Red … on this evidence, universal helmet laws
could have changed the entire cultural shape of a decade.
In the 70s the vibe was nostalgia (perhaps for the far
superior 60s?), rebellion, and being jaded. One the one hand,
this was a period when punk was on the rise. On the other, one of the most
consistently successful acts of the decade was Abba. Then again, no band better
summed up the impotent fury and pervasive hopelessness of the era: timeless
protest songs like Waterloo, Fernando and Dancing Queen still have a
visceral power that has barely diminished over the decades.
In the 80s, it was all about loss, confusion and aspiration.
It was, after all, the decade of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen
and U2. The 90s were about loss, inspiration and escapism (and Mariah Carey,
and Celine Dion) – and then, presumably, we discovered we couldn’t actually
escape since the 00s were all about inspiration, pain and desperation – which
makes sense when you realise that Eminem was the biggest artist of the era.
So what lessons can we take from this? Well,
maybe we can take heart from Pharrell Williams’ Happy looking like being the
biggest single of 2014. Maybe everything’s going to be fine after all!
Then again, that song is in F minor, which is a pretty
miserable key – but that’s another study altogether.