Researchers at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have found that lyrics of English-language songs have become simpler and more repetitive. This was studied analysing 12,000 songs released between 1980 and 2020, reported PTI.

It was found that in general, lyrics have become simpler and easier to understand over time and the number of different words being used in the songs has fallen, especially those belonging to the rap and rock genres.

The report suggested that the increasingly repetitive lyrics of songs across multiple genres have made them simpler overall.

The team analysed 2,400 songs each from rap, country, pop, R&B and rock genres, PTI added.

It has also been speculated that the trend of simpler lyrics could reflect changes in how music is being consumed, such as being mostly listened to in the background.

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

About the study

The researchers characterised the song lyrics based on style — words, complexity, structure and rhyme — and emotions.

Employing statistical tools, the team conducted two analyses — one to investigate how lyrics style and emotions have evolved over time and the other to investigate their interplay with regards to the release year and lyrics view count.

The researchers also found that lyrics have become more emotional and personal over time.

The team found that while emotional words in rap — both positive and negative — have increased, for R&B, pop and country songs, emotionally negative lyrics have increased.

The team also observed an increasing use of anger-related words in the lyrics of songs across all genres.