Song lyrics have become less emotional

A new study published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts reveals that popular music has increasingly become less emotionally explicit and less socially focused over time. Researchers analyzed 38,467 songs by 230 artists from 1947 to 2024, finding that song lyrics have become less emotionally charged and less centered around relationships and family across generations of artists.

Lead author Logan Gibson, a research associate at Michigan State University, explains that the findings contradict the common expectation that people become more emotionally regulated and focus more on meaningful relationships as they age. Rather, positive emotions and social references actually declined in song lyrics over time.

The study also found that certain genres, such as classic soul and early rock, tended to have more positive emotion and social references in their lyrics, while countercultural genres like Nine Inch Nails and Sex Pistols often had the least. Within artists' careers, both positive and negative words declined, as did mentions of family and friends.

Researchers were surprised to discover that lyrics do not align neatly with typical patterns of psychological aging, suggesting that song lyrics are strongly influenced by artistic, cultural, and industry-level factors. Coauthor William Chopik, a former associate professor in psychology at MSU, notes that music serves important functions for individuals, such as regulating emotions, understanding oneself, developing identity, and feeling connected to others.

The researchers hope this study demonstrates how large-scale collections of everyday cultural products like songs, books, social media, and films can be used to investigate changes in emotional expression and relationships over time. As the findings suggest, the way people express feelings and relationships in music may be evolving beyond just being a form of entertainment.