Status Markers in Popular Music Across Six Countries: A Content Analysis of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Genre, and Capital in Music Lyrics

Abstract

Music artists can be powerful sources of representation about what it means to have a high status. Previous literature has shown that artists display their high status by singing about economic factors, such as driving expensive cars. Yet, we do not know whether artists also showcase a high status in their lyrics by identifying with a particular social group and showing power via sexual objectification and subjectification. Considering the gender and ethnicity of the artists, this study analyzed 4117 popular lyrics on Spotify between 2016 and 2019 in six Western countries (US, UK, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada). A manual analysis of the lyrics showed that almost half (46%) of the songs depicted status in terms of economic capital (e.g., wearing jewels), 26% through social capital (e.g., knowing famous people), 16% through cultural capital (e.g., drinking champagne), and 6% through sexual objectification and subjectification (e.g., showing naked bodies on expensive cars). Most of these status representations were present in rap lyrics and among Black and Brown male artists. These findings offer new evidence and theoretical insights on the diffusion of neoliberal ideals of materialism, utilitarianism, hegemonic masculinity, and objectification in music lyrics and their potential reinforcement of racial-ethnic and gender hierarchies.