Pop Music Sounds Just As Violent As Hip Hop Music

Moms.com

Pop Songs Lyrics Contain Just As Many References To Violence As Hip-Hop Music

By Allison Cooper

Published Mar 10, 2019

A study conducted shows that there isn't much better in terms of messaging in pop music than in hip hop.

Credit: iStock / Deagreez

We can recall so many times during our childhood where our parents were super strict about us not listening to hip-hop music. We would, of course, sneak it whenever they weren't around because a child wants to do everything their parents tell them not to. Why? Because the things that the rappers were rapping about were too violent for us to be listening to. It's almost like every parent was on the same page about this and turned it off as soon as it played on the car radio.

However, a new study finds that the alternative isn't much better.

Done through an analysis of a decade of music, researchers at the University of Missouri found that pop music lyrics have the same amount of violent content as rap and hip-hop.

They did this by analyzing the lyrics of more than 400 top Billboard songs released between the years of 2006 to 2016. They specifically listened for themes of violence, profanity, misogyny and gender-role references. Hip-hop has always been known to be the leader when it came to these things, but they found that pop music promotes violence at a similar level. And, nearly one-third of the popular songs had references that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

And if you're wondering, country had the least amount of violent and misogynistic content.

The scary thing is that with pop music being one of the most popular genres among young teens and adults, these lyrics definitely impact them. The study researchers suggest that parents can look at these situations as learning moments to have open discussions about what they hear in their favorite songs.

Some of those songs in question are "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna, "Wake Up Call" by Maroon 5, and "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani.

Now, don't you wish you could go back in time with this information to your parents? We guess this means taking more time to pay attention to what our kids are listening to now than ever before. A parent's job is never done.