Content analysis of the lyrics of contemporary British pop music (based on the lyrics of popular British singer Ed Sheeran)

Zinina Yuliya Mikhailovna PhD in Philology Docent, the department of Foreign Languages and Teaching Technique, Academy of Social Management; Docent, the department of Foreign Languages, Moscow Region State University 141006, Russia, Moskovskaya oblast', g. Mytishchi, ul. Industrial'naya, 13 jzinina@mail.ru Other publications by this author

It is known that content analysis (from the English content - content), as a method of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the content of documents to identify and measure various facts and trends reflected in them, is a translation into quantitative indicators of mass information (text, audiovisual, digital) with subsequent statistical processing. The specificity of the content analysis of the text lies in the fact that its procedure involves counting the frequency and volume of mentions of certain semantic units of the text under study.

Content analysis helps to determine not only the characteristics of documentary sources, but also the features of the entire communication process: social orientations and attitudes (hidden motives) of the communicator (creator of the text), values and norms replicated in texts ^{[20, p. 14]}. It allows you to get a picture of the vision that is created in society through the media, helps to identify patterns in the use of propaganda stereotypes, on the basis of which trends in certain social movements are predicted.

With the help of content analysis, stereotypes of consciousness of various social groups, religious symbols, popular songs and their perception in various audiences were studied, a measure of the effectiveness of advertisements, political slogans (slogans used in election campaigns) was established. The method of analysis was borrowed by lawyers, economists, historians, cultural scientists, art historians, librarians, political scientists, journalists, psychologists, social workers, teachers, linguists, literary critics, etc. ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28]}.

Content analysis differs from other ways of studying text documents in that it allows you to "fit" its content into a social context, to comprehend it both as a manifestation and as an assessment of social life. The purpose of content analysis is to comprehend a deeper extra-textual reality, which is understood as social (or intellectual) reality in all its diversity.

In one of the aspects that make up this diversity – in modern (mass) culture intended for a large audience – music occupies a special and undoubtedly important place. Music tends to emotional resonance, is able to create a mood, accompanies us, entertains. It participates in the self-identification of a person, in the formation of a humanI. "Consumers" of musical products are individuals and legal entities to whom the music market brings musical products of various musical genres, styles and directions.

Despite the crisis in the economy of many countries, the "consumption" of music is growing every year around the world at an explosive pace. Today, people listen to music everywhere: on the street, on public transport, in the car, at work, at home – it is embedded in everyday life like never before. For example, according to the Nielsen research company, 91% of the population in the USA listens to music ^[43], in Canada – 93% ^[44], in India – 94% ^[38]. In Russia, according to the Levada Center, every second adult resident of Russia listens to music daily (51%), and among respondents aged 18 to 24, this share is 75% ^[17]. It should be noted that end consumers (listeners directly), as well as organizations (enterprises)-consumers can act as consumers in the music market.

A 2014 study involving 2,096 Americans aged "13+" who kept a 24-hour, seven-day audio diary measuring music "consumption" found that Americans listened to music for an average of four hours a day ^[50].

According to a 2017 report by the American research company Nielsen, on average, Americans listened to music for more than 32 hours a week, which is 8.6 hours more than in 2015 and 5.5 hours more than in 2016; while 43.5% of them – on a smartphone, 36.6% – on a computer or laptop, 20% – on television, 11% – on radio ^{[42; 48]}.

In a musical composition, the most vivid communicative function is played directly by the text. For the most part, modern pop music is devoid of any deep subtext, it is superficial and reflects only the external manifestations of everyday life, covers and highlights what all people have in common. The texts are usually about personal feelings.

The importance of the semantic content of songs is undeniable: often a song gives a reason to think about something or helps to solve a problem that previously seemed unsolvable. Having identified the semantic content of modern songs that young people listen to, it is possible to characterize the values and moods of young people. The loss of the meaning of a song means the loss of its main "meaningful core".

It should be noted that new trends in the world of modern music show a decrease in the semantic load in songs. Their content is devalued. The theme of the songs, as a rule, is explained in the context of the formation of the music industry and the "transformation of music into a commodity". More and more often there are performers, composers, for whom the main criterion of a good song is its marketability.

Since the mid-twentieth century, the theme of love and romance has been central for musicians working with popular music. The predominant words are "freedom", "faith", "hope", "love", "relationships". The least popular are "patriotism", "homeland", "alcohol", "death", "violence". In the tops of music services, a large number of requests for song music with meaningless or vulgar content are found.

The text of the song, like any language text, performs all the functions of the language. The most important of them, along with informative and influencing, is the cumulative function, which consists in the fact that the language acts as a repository of the collective experience and culture of the people.

But the peculiarity of the song to reflect reality in it is not only in the functions of its text. The song is able to convey the emotions and feelings of a person and have a strong impact on the listener. The effect of the impact is achieved due to the fact that the song is a creolized text (i.e. it combines melodic and verbal components). The melody evokes certain emotions and feelings, emotional experiences in a person, "while the text plays the role of concretization of the emotional-sensory component, telling a story or reporting on the opinions and judgments of the author" ^{[21, p. 5]}.

Studies have shown that the interaction with music has changed from exposure through music videos and MTV, to downloading, streaming and watching music videos on the Internet ^[29]. Advances in technology have made music more accessible, and nowadays geographical distance no longer matters for its distribution.

Musical means can be creative and fascinating, but they can also serve as a means of spreading malicious messages about sex and perverted relationships ^[40]. At the same time, the influence of pop music idols on young people with an unformed worldview can be negative.

The musical compositions mention not only loyalty and honor, but also sexual interests, romantic desires, love, passion.  Many popular music texts and video clips have become sexualized, and in the lyrics of songs in 2009, sexual content is already three times more often found than in the lyrics of songs in 1959, that is, songs from fifty years ago.

Researchers who have studied sexual content in various types of media in the United States of America reported that music is the most saturated with it, compared to other types of media ^[46]. Studies have shown that the frankness and frequency of sexualized content in popular music has increased, and most popular music artists include sexuality in their image, image, brand, lyrics and videos, due to the obvious and prevailing demand. In accordance with this fact, the potential negative impact of certain sexual content in music on people's behavior, on their beliefs, on a variety of social judgments related to gender, tends to increase. The existing efforts of the music industry itself and the government to reduce the impact of potentially harmful content, unfortunately, do not reduce this permissible harm.

Therefore, media literacy in the field of popular music is the most effective method of raising awareness and promoting best practices of a thoughtful attitude to the "consumption" of musical products of show business.

Based on the relevance of the above, the aim of this study was to carry out a content analysis of the texts of the most frequently listened to songs by the popular British singer Ed Sheeran (EdSheeran) to identify the hidden elements of their content and determine the image they create, which, presumably, can be called the novelty of the study.

English singer-songwriter, producer, musician and actor, Knight of the Order of the British Empire, Edward Christopher Sheeran (Edward Christopher Sheeran) was born on February 17, 1991. Ed Sheeran's debut album "+" ("Plus"), released in September 2011, contained his first hit single "The A Team", and topped the UK Albums Chart (United Kingdom Albums Chart).

Spotify (a Swedish Internet music service that allows you to legally listen to music compositions, audiobooks and podcasts for free and for free, without downloading them to your device) named Ed Sheeran the second most popular artist of the decade ^[45]. His tour “? Tour” from March 2017 to August 2019 became the most profitable according toThe list of the highest-grossing concert tours ^[41]. According to Forbes magazine, in 2019 Sheeran became one of the highest paid musicians, taking third place in it. The amount he earned was $110 million ^[32]. Based on the annual register published by the British newspaperThe Sunday Times, Ed Sheeran, being the largest taxpayer, paid taxes in the amount of 28.2 million pounds (~2.8 billion rubles) ^[49].

Ed Sheeran's charitable work is impressive. He supports at least twenty-one charitable foundations ^[37].

The singer mostly wears hoodies or plaid shirts and often donates his clothes to charity shops in Suffolk (a county in the east of England). On November 15, 2014, Sheeran, along with other British and Irish pop artists, joined the Band Aid 30 supergroup to raise money to fight the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa to participate in charity activities.

In November 2015, Sheeran supported the No Cold Homes campaign of the British charity Turn2us and was one of almost thirty participants in the action – celebrities, including Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and Hugh Laurie – who donated items of winter clothing. The funds received went to help people trying to keep their homes warm in winter ^[31].

In December 2019 , Ed Sheeran founded his own music foundation(Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation – ESSMF Ed Sheeran Music Foundation). In a statement, he noted that "with small, but hopefully useful grants, it will help artists under the age of 18" ^[35].

In May 2020, Sheeran donated 170,000 pounds (~17 million rubles) to the schoolThomas Mills High School in Framlingham (Suffolk, East Anglia), where he studied.

In June 2020, Sheeran, against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, transferred more than 1 million pounds (~100 million rubles) to local charities in Suffolk, including the children's hospital department ^{[30, 34]}. Later that month, Sheeran supported football player Marcus Rashford's campaign to provide free school meals and opened his ownThe breakfast Club at its Bertie Blossom restaurant in Notting Hill. On Instagram he wrote that Bertie Blossom provides hot breakfasts "to everyone eligible for free school meals so that they do not starve during the holidays, and to those who are experiencing difficulties in these "strange" times" ^[36].

On October 23, 2020, Ed Sheeran's parents organized an auction of Ed Sheeran Made in Suffolk Legacy, which ran until November 8. There were 220 lots at the auction, including items donated by other celebrities such as David Beckham, Kylie Minogue and Usain Bolt. Sheeran donated some of his personal belongings, as well as the handwritten lyrics of his song “Perfect”, LEGO bricks that he played with as a child, and more. The auction was held to raise money for Suffolk charities supporting children and young people in the district; it also included the reconstruction of a playground for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Ipswich (Ipswich is a city and port in East Anglia).

On December 3, 2021, a music video for Ed Sheeran and Elton John's joint Christmas single “Merry Christmas” was released for charity. The proceeds from the sales of the holiday single will go to the Ed Sheeran Music Foundation, which helps young performers, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation ^[33].

In December 2017, Prince Charles presented Ed Sheeran with the Order of the British Empire for his services to music and charity. The singer received the title of Knight of the Order. Ed dedicated his award to his grandfather Bill Sheeran, who was a big fan of the royal family ^[27]. In an interview with OK! magazineEd Sheeran said: "There is more to life than money and possessions. I don't attach much importance to money. I value my friends, family and their well-being more. As soon as the money arrives, I immediately give it back. The bulk of my income goes to charity or to children's hospitals near where I live" ^[37].

Ed Sheeran is the author of more than forty singles. His first commercial success came in June 2011 thanks to the single "The A Team", which took third place in the UK chart. The song is based on a true story he heard during a performance at a homeless shelter, about a girl named Angel. In an interview with the magazine “Q” Ed Sheeran noted: "After the song hit the charts, I received a lot of messages from parents saying that something similar had happened to their daughters. When I wrote this song, I didn't think it would resonate with such a huge number of people. It's great that this happened."^[52] In the comments to the video clip for the song "The A Team", you can find the following story of a man, in the past with a pernicious addiction, with the nickname bay bear: "This song gave me strength and saved my life. Now I work in a pharmacy and have not used anything for three and a half years. Life is getting better. I have a loving family and everyone in the family is very attentive to me." The comment received 246 responses in 11 months from the date of publication, mostly with words of support for its author.

The song "Thinking Out Loud" ("Thinking out Loud") It was released on September 24, 2014 as the third single of Ed Sheeran's second studio album and was nominated for Grammy Awards as "Record of the Year", "Song of the Year" and "Best Solo Pop Performance" ^[53]. Later, in 2017, she topped the list of the most popular wedding songs in America, compiled on the basis of users' wedding playlists on the Spotify platform. “Thinking Out Loud” tells about a long romantic love that can withstand any test of time, lovers will make their own mistakes, but the main thing for them is to survive everything and become stronger in their affection for each other ^{[54; 55]}.

On the video clip created for this song, you can read the following stories: "My husband and I are 66 and 67 years old, and we really like this song! When we sing the first verse, we change 70 years to 93 years, because now we are almost 70"; "My wife and I have been together since we were 17, in July 2019 we will have 32 years of our life together. I had a stroke in 2016, and another one 9 months later. It breaks my heart because I can't dance with her like before. I'm sorry, dear! I love you!".

The single "Beautiful People" was released on June 28, 2019. He encourages listeners to fight the temptation to become one of those whose lives are centered around material goods. The adjective "beautiful" is used in the text in an ironic form. Here, "beautiful people" represent the rich and famous in society. Judging by the chorus, they live an enviable life, but in fact they are not as happy as others believe. Behind the beauty that they project into the world, there is a lot of ugliness and sadness. In reality, these "beautiful people" are lonely and sad ^[51]. In the reviews of the video clip for the single, you can read: "I start crying every time I watch this video. I am in a situation where my family and people around me live a "beautiful" life, including me. I got everything I ever wanted, but I still feel empty. I can't explain it the way it's shown in the clip... it's perfectly made, and I like it."

In this article, the singles Bad Habits ("Bad habits"), Perfect ("Perfection") were selected for content analysis,Shape of You ("Your image"), Photograph ("Photograph"), Thinking Out Loud ("Thoughts out Loud"), Afterglow ("Bright Memory"), I Don't Care (with Justin Bieber) ("I don't care"),Happier ("Happier"), Beautiful People (feat. Khalid) ("Beautiful people"), Galway Girl ("Galway Girl"), included in the top ten most popular, according to the Internet music service Spotify. Note that the singleShape of You ("Your image") has become the most popular on the resource – it has been listened to three billion times ^[39].

The analysis was carried out using a continuous sampling method, as well as using Istio online services, Miratext and softwareTropes. The total number of words in the texts was 3724.

As a result of the work carried out, the following data were obtained.

According to statistics provided by the Istio online service, the most frequent words are love (love), baby (baby), body (body), girl (girl), eyes (eyes), kiss (kiss), nights (nights) in such combinations as: in love with the shape of you(in love with your figure), inlovewith your body (in love with your body), fell in love (fell in love), found a love (found love), be my baby (be my baby), be my girl (be my girl), put that body on me (press your body against me), kiss in the backseat (kiss in the backseat of a car), kiss her on the neck (kiss on her neck), late nights (late nights), etc. Statistical data of the Isti o online service will be entered in Table 1.

Table 1

According to statistics provided by the Miratext online service, the frequency words I (I), my (my, my), you (you), we (we), she (she) were additionally identified,feel (feel), loving (loving), in such combinations as: I will hold on tighter (I will hold on tighter), I will be loving you (I will love you), I fall in love with you (I'm falling in love with you), I won't ever let you go (I'll never let you go), nexttoyourheartbeat I should be (I should be next to your beating heart), I will lose control (I will lose control), I am dancing in the dark (I'm dancing in the dark), my pretty girl (my beauty), my love (my love), my breath (my breath), my dreams (my dreams), you and I (you and I), you between my arms (you're in my arms), we are losing track of time (we are losing track of time), we talk slow (we talk slow), we start to dance (we start to dance), we push and pull (we are attracted and repelled), she kissed me (she kissed me), she shares my dreams (she shares my dreams), she looks perfect (she looks perfect), feel alive (feel alive), feel paradise (feel paradise), loving arms (loving hands), in love with man (in love with a man), etc. Additional data will be entered in Table 2.

Table 2

Statistics provided by the text analysis programTropes, made it possible to detect additional to the following frequently occurring words identified by the Istio and Miratext online services: h eart (heart), p arty (party), m an (man), - in such combinations as: my/your beating heart (my/your beating heart), leave (this) party (leave (this) party), your man (your man), etc. We will enter additional data in Table 3.

Table 3

Thus, in the lyrics of Ed Sheeran's popular songs according to statistics provided by the online service Isti o, the online service Miratext and the program for text analysisTropes, the frequency words are – I (I), my (my, my), you (you), love (love), we (we), baby (baby), body (body), she(she), girl (girl), eyes(eyes), kiss (kiss),feel (feel), nights (nights), heart (heart), loving(loving), party (party), man (man). In summary table 4, we will fix their frequency in descending order.

Table 4

Text analysis softwareTropes distributes words into semantic groups indicating the frequency of their use in the group. According to the program analysis, the following semantic groups are identified in the studied texts: health, life & accidents (health, life and losses),behaviors & feelings (behavior and feelings), properties& characteristics (properties and characteristics), people & persons (people and persons), other concepts (other concepts), numbers, time & dates (numbers, times and dates), arts & culture (art and culture), countries & locations (countries and locations), things & substances (things and substances), environment (environment). Program dataThe tropes are illustrated in Table 5.

Table 5

Table 5 shows that the following can be considered the largest semantic groups reflecting the content of the analyzed texts of Ed Sheeran's ten singles: health, life and losses (Health, life & accidents), behavior and feelings (Behaviors & feelings), properties and characteristics (Properties & characteristics), people and persons (People & persons), other concepts (Other concepts), Numbers, time and dates (Numbers, time & dates).

The continuous sampling method revealed the relevance of the concept of "love" in the lyrics of Ed Sheeran's songs selected for the study, phrases and sentences related to the manifestation of feelings and the translation of a certain pattern of behavior, identified several varieties of love – this is love for another person, romantic love, kindred, friendly, love-passion, and also identified the most relevant gender-labeled layers of the concept "love":

· the external attractiveness of the object of love (including sexual): I'm in love with the shape of you – I'm in love with your image; I found a girl, beautiful and sweet – I found a girl, beautiful and sweet;

· inexplicability and irresistibility of feelings: ... people fall in love in mysterious ways – ... people fall in love in a mysterious way; My eyes are caught in your gaze all over again – And I again become a hostage of your gaze;

· lack of self-control, insanity:I may be crazy, don't mind me – I may be crazy, don't mind me; Every time you come around, Youknow I can't say no – Every time you come, You know I can't say no; Every time the sungoes down, I let you take control – Every time the sun goes down, I let you take control; ... we're losing track of time... – we lose track of time;

· the feeling (desire) of possession: Take me into your loving arms – Take me into your loving arms; ... darling, just kiss me slow – ... darling, just kiss me slowly; ... we'll burn so bright'til the darkness softly clears – ... we'll burn so bright until the darkness softly clears dissipate; I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms – I'm dancing in the dark in my arms with you;

· awareness of the exclusivity of the object of love: You make it better like that – And you just improve everything around;

· considering the object of love also as a friend, a person capable of supporting: Well I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know – I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know; It is the only thing that makes us feel alive – This feeling alone will help us feel real; When I'm with my baby, All the bad things disappear– When I'm with my baby Then all the bad things disappear;

· the desire to connect life with the object of love (marriage, family):Oh, Ineverknewyouwerethe someone waiting for me– I never thought that you are the one who is destined for me; I see my future in your eyes – I see my future in your eyes;

· attributing to the object of love the ability to see the subject of love as he is, or to see only the best in him, his potential: When my hands don't play the strings the same way, Iknow you will still love me the same – When my hands can't pick the strings like before, I know you'll still love me.

Thus, as a result of the analysis of the texts of the ten most popular songs by British singer Ed Sheeran, it was revealed that the hidden meaning of their content is "happy love", "close relationships", "philosophy of life". Despite the fact that, like many pop performers of music show business, the lyrics contain lightness, semantic unobtrusiveness, playful ambiguity, declarations of love in various free expressions, singing of the beloved person and his own feelings, Ed Sheeran still tries to write songs that "mean something", as urged by Max Martin Sandberg, Swedish music producer: "When pop culture can influence things, when a song becomes something more than just a song, that's the best thing that can happen."^[47] Examples of this we see in the responses of listeners to Ed Sheeran's singles "The A Team", "Thinking Out Loud", "Beautiful People" ("Beautiful people"), etc., not only forcing attention to such acute social problems as drug use, material and moral depravity, but also calling for a healthy and addiction-free life, a positive attitude towards yourself, your personality, to build long and trusting family relationships. Such qualities of Ed Sheeran as kindness, the desire to help people in difficult life situations, create an image of a person worthy of respect, which attracts a huge number of fans.