Written evidence submitted by Mx E. A. Lincoln-Hyde (MiM0032)
Author Credentials
I am a practising musician, musicologist and ethnomusicologist. I have been working in the industry for 20 years internationally, and in the UK for the past 3 years. I have worked as a performer, teacher, composer, festival and concert organiser, music director and administrator across the music industry including in musical theatre, opera, classical music, church choirs, pop music, and folk festivals. I have personally experienced misogynistic behaviours at all levels and areas of the broad field of music creation, performance and production. I hold a Bachelor of performance and an Honours in Music (UniMelb), and two Masters in music history (UniMelb and PKU). I am currently completing a PhD on the history of classical music (SOAS University of London) and its adverse effects through the mechanisms of colonialism. I have previously been invited to speak about my research on music and violence at the University of Oxford, and Heidelberg University, among others. In this submission I shall be writing specifically about the most theoretical aspect of the submission aims, the correlation between misogynistic lyrics and violence towards women and girls. If the committee would like further comment on any area of its intended aims, I am qualified and willing to render my professional assistance.
Summary of Submission
This submission shall briefly analyse a selection of UK pop chart number 1 hits of the last ten years. It is intended that this analysis give a ‘snap shot’ of lyrical content streamed and aired in the UK. The UK charts are a combination of streaming and radio ratings as informed by individuals (not algorithms) affecting the collected data. Each piece selected has had two or more weeks at the number 1 position in the UK. This submission demonstrates the mix of blatant, nuanced, and covert misogynistic sentiments expressed in a revealing sample of lyrics played in domestic, public and commercial venues over the last decade.
When We Collide, Mark Cardle (2010)
Cardle’s ballad is a subtle ode to normalising violence within relationships. Within this work there are several instances of blatant and unnerving suggestions that violence is normal and optimal for an adult relationship. For instance:
When we collide we come together,
If we don't, we'll always be apart.
I'll take a bruise I know you're worth it.
When you hit me, hit me hard.
The singer, male, is assumed to be in a heteronormative relationship; this is typical of songs of the 2010s and early 2020s unless the singer specifically signals in lyrical or music video content that the relationship is otherwise. The male voice is asking the female to hit him, suggesting that he can ‘take it’ because he is a man – though statistically males are stronger than women. It is a test of his masculine strength to resist abuse, and of the woman to test him. Upon listening it suggests that the weak man will give in and strike back, however, the lyrics later seek the woman to forgive him and ‘collide again’.
'Cause you said hello,
It's where the going gets hard,
Our future is far,
Many of horror
Our future's far,
Many of horror
Our future is far,
Many of horror
I still believe,
It's you and me
till the end of time.
In this excerpt the male singer suggest several unnerving actions in sequence: 1) that the relationship is doomed to violence from the start ‘you said hello/it’s where the going gets hard’, 2) that the future is ‘many of horror…many of horror…many of horror’, and 3) that the singer believes that a toxic relationship like this between a man and woman is ‘till the end of time’. It suggests that one must give in to a violent relationship, and that this is no escape. A favourable interpretation may suggest that this is an individual circumstance and not representative of a general statement. However, like most pop songs, the lyrics remain unrooted in physical facts (no location, time frame or further context is given to the inner narrative) and this is specifically done to make the piece ‘universally appealing’. The content of this piece encourages a glorified interpretation of violence in heteronormative relationships. When streamed and sung unregulated from young children’s radio sets and personal devices, to public radio in cars and shopping centres, like many of the works in this analysis, this piece gives a background and daily aural approval of these sentiments in public life.
Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO (2011)
This dance tune was created as an uplifting and universally appealing song. Its lyrics initially appear to be innocuous, but this is a slightly more subtle nod to the objectification of women in club environments. In the maelstrom of lyrics sung by male voices, the listener is encouraged to ‘lose your mind’ to just ‘have a good time’ calling to every listener to be ‘party rocker’. However, the lyrics suggest that the singer and the audience are predominantly male, and calling on men in the ‘party’ to let go and abandon themselves to the ‘fun’ – this includes the objectification and possession of women. The lead singer boasts ‘Looking for your girl? She on my jock’ – calling to the other men (the audience) to witness the ownership of a woman – a prize won in the moment of partying. The next line follows ‘Booty moving like she on the block’. The male gaze of the male-audience is called to the sexual attributes of a woman in this party anthem meant for venues and events with high drug and alcohol consumption. Moreover, this blatant sexualisation in a party environment is complicated with notes of racism – ‘on the block’ being a slang suggestion that the female is Black or moving like a fetishized version of a Black woman. It is not only the lyrical content but the context of the piece and the environment that this piece is designed to be played in that creates an uneasy sense of lack of autonomy and safety for the women in this imagined environment; it normalises the objectification and possession of women.
Somebody that I Used to Know, Gotye feat. Kimbra (2012)
In this indie number one hit the artist Gotye (male) speaks as if to a former partner, describing a situation in which his ex refuses all contact as a form of unreasonable action:
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger, and that feels so rough
No, you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
The listener is motivated to take the side of the protagonist – they are unreasonable for denying the relationship, for treating them ‘like a stranger’, for sending friends to collect the ex’s belongings and for changing their number so as to be uncontactable. The refrain ‘Now you’re just somebody that I used to know’ suggests no blame for the singer. In the final verse of this song a female voice, sung by Kimbra, shows a different angle to the story. The verse is placed in such a way that the male and female singer as assumed to be in the same relationship:
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
The female voice tells a different story – that the male singer ‘screwed her over’ and then gaslighted her. It is suggested that she left because she ‘didn’t want to live that way/reading into every word you say’, indicating a manipulative relationship. The woman then reveals that the male singer said he that he could ‘let it go’ but, as previously explained by the male, he has not. Reading between the lines this suggests a manipulative and toxic relationship, in which the man is seeking sympathy for being ‘done over’ though his behaviour has escalated to being blocked; there is also an undertone of potential XXXharassment even stalking by the man. Were the male and female voices equally weighted in the song length, or more information given to the woman’s point of view this may be a demonstration of a toxic relationship as viewed by the outsider. However, significant weight is given the man’s opinion of the version of events and his version of the refrain becomes the dominant melody. This is a point where the cultural significance of the expected melodic and harmonic elements of western music theory come to affect the lyrical content. Though it is not the aim of the committee to demonstrate unsocial or violent behaviour in the granular detail of music creation, it is important to note that what one expects to hear in a song melodically informs one’s interpretation of the content. The man’s melody is accentuated. His harassing behaviour wins the melody and lyrical content and is thus normalised.
Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke (2013)
This is perhaps one of the most blatant and obvious examples of the glorification and normalisation of sexual violence from men towards women. Much has been written about this piece, and doubtless the committee is already aware of it. In summary the following facts should be revisited in this work. The piece is titled ‘blurred lines’ which explicitly suggests that the boundaries of sexual consent are negotiable, or not obvious. The singer is male and is speaking about women.
I know you want it (Hey)
I know you want it
You're a good girl
Can't let it get past me (Hey)
The singer suggests that he knows what the woman wants more than she does, ‘I know you want it’. It is particularly disturbing that the original performer, Robin Thicke, when asked in an interview if the song exacerbated rape culture said that the song was about his wife and that ‘the kids’ (the target audience of his song) would know that the piece is about a relationship in which kink and consent are made clear. Thicke also stated that Blurred Lines was not about sex but about being ‘rejected’. I argue this is not clear, and that the target audience is not at an age when the nuance of adult consenting relationships are obvious or openly explained and modelled in UK society. The piece, furthermore, uses extensive derogatory language towards women and does not clarify the relationship between the man and the object of his gaze – a voiceless woman; these include ‘Had a bitch, but she ain't bad as you’, and calls towards violent sex play with no consent made from the woman:
Nothin' like your last guy, he too square for you
He don't smack that ass and pull your hair like that
…
Do it like it hurt, like it hurt
What, you don't like work?
…
Baby, can you breathe?
I got this from Jamaica
It always works for me
The music video of this clip exacerbates the anonymity of the women in this piece – with faceless women and a very clear and explicit calls to male dominance. It is therefore also important to remember that the video content of pop songs informs the reading and understanding of lyrics and neither can be taken in isolation.
Ghost, Ella Henderson (2014)
Henderson’s tragic ballad normalises a state of violence and manipulation toward women in heteronormative relationships. The female singer is explicit in the psychological violence suffered:
My friends had you figured out
Yeah they saw what's inside of you
You tried hiding another you
But your evil was coming through
These eyes sitting on the wall
They watch every move I make
Bright light living in the shade
Your cold heart makes my spirit shake
It is suggested that the protagonist is deeply depressed and forced into a detrimental mental state by the ex-partner. Again, given the context of the time, it is likely that the intended antagonist is male. It is chilling that Henderson calls this violence ‘true love’:
Each time that I think you go
I turn around and you're creeping in
And I let you under my skin
'Cause I love living innocent
Oh, you never told me
True love was gonna hurt
True pain I don't deserve
Truth is that I never learned
The victim of violence is made to normalise violence. It suggests to the female listener that such pain and agony is expected and celebrated as a normal part of an adult relationship, and suggests to the younger listener that this is not a situation to be a avoided but to be emulated.
Sweet but Pyscho, Ava Max (2018)
This piece exacerbates the notion of women being unreasonable and unstable in sexual relationships. It normalises the derogatory and ableist language (psycho) with regards to women, and suggests that the (again, presumed male) protagonist is but a helpless victim to the ‘hysterical’ whims of a sexual woman:
Oh, she's sweet but a psycho
A little bit psycho
At night she's screamin', "I'm-ma-ma-ma out my mind."
Oh, she's hot but a psycho
So left but she's right though
At night she's screamin', "I'm-ma-ma-ma out my mind."
She'll make you curse, but she a blessing
She'll rip your shirt within a second
You'll be coming back, back for seconds
With your plate, you just can't help it
To resolve the violence it is implied that a sexual woman is exhibiting, the audience is asked to ‘Grab a cop gun’ – a literal incitement to kill a woman because of her behaviour.
Conclusion – context and next steps
It is vital to bear in mind that lyrical content, unlike prose or poetry, is deeply affected by the musical culture and context of the performance or recording. In pop music, it is also important to remember that lyrical content is supplemented with visuals which ‘fill in’ or suggest the intent of the piece. In the last half century pop songs have dramatically shifted in the manner of their misogyny. The normalised group-singing of femicide such as Tom Jones’ Delilah (1968), harassing language such as Duran Duran’s Hungry like the Woolf (1982), or normalisation of stalking such as the Police’s I’ll be Watching You (1983) is not as obvious today. But the popular culture and globalised nature of the industry has increased, with content that is unregulated and unscreened beamed directly into the ears and minds of impressionable children and adolescents, and provided as a background track to our everyday lives in situations across daily life. It is also important to remember that misogyny intersects with racism and ableism particularly in popular music. Incitement to violence, normalisation or aggressive and harmful behaviours, and resignation to the violence of men is fed into our daily lives and is both detrimental to women and girls, but also the psychology and mental health men and boys. Should you wish to receive a more detailed analysis of lyrical misogyny within UK popular music (or other music) industries, please contact me.
July 2022