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Song lyrics are getting more repetitive, angrier

An analysis of 50 years of popular music lyrics reveals a number of trends.

After analyzing 12,000 English-language pop, rock, rap, R&B, and country songs released between 1970 and 2020, researcher Eva Zangerle of Innsbruck University and her team have found that lyrics have been getting simpler and more repetitive over time. Results for the first analysis showed that certain characteristics are most important across genres, including repeated lines, choruses, and emotional language. The study didn’t look into what events and societal changes might have influenced this trend, but the researchers still had some sociological insights.

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