Liberation inLyrics

Music is an outlet for self-expression, but do lyrics ever go too far?

BY GRACE KOENNECKE | DESIGN BY ABBY BURNS

In today’s music industry, sex is a common theme across the board. Top 40 Radio listeners may recognize songs such as Doja Cat’s “Need to Know” or Lady Gaga’s “LoveGame” for their sexual innuendos or explicit lyrics. While these types of songs are fan favorites, some listeners condemn artists for their explicit content.

According to Rock NYC, this criticism stems from the rise of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, particularly when singer Elvis Presley started including double entendres in his music to be paired with sensual dance moves while performing for audiences. The publication says Presley allowed “American teens to be sexual, or rather, to admit to, cotton on to, embrace their sexuality.” While his central audience of teenage girls had absolutely no problems with his music or dancing, the generations who came before Presley’s audience did, especially at a time where conservatism was highly prevalent in the United States.

Yet, without artists such as Presley, sex in music would not have been explored, nor would it even be discussed. Now, many artists from all identities and backgrounds have begun treating their music almost as if the lyrics were diary entries, giving their listeners details into their sex lives and experiences with their sexuality.

Students today say they see more freedom in different music genres when it comes to talking about sexual topics. “I think there’s a lot more freedom in folk music. Folk-pop music, where I reside, usually is [freer].” Shelby Merchant, a junior studying musical theater and playwriting, says. “I think there’s a lot of freedom to talk about things that are seen as taboo in that genre because of the use of metaphor.”

Merchant says Phoebe Bridgers is an artist who is open about her sex life and sexual experiences; Merchant admires Bridgers’ openness within her music backdrop | Spring 2023

“[Phoebe Bridgers has] been very open about not only her sex life, but her abortion story and her views on things,” Merchant says. “I think as an artist, especially an artist with a platform of that size, if you’re not talking about things that matter, then what are you good for? Her openness is something I look up to a lot.”

Similarly, William Troyer, a junior studying media social change, says that music creates an outlet for artists to be honest and vulnerable about their experiences and can even provide therapy for them as well.

“Music is often a form of expression for artists,” Troyer says. “It’s a form for them to talk about what’s been going up in their mental, but also express their views on certain topics. They take these stories, and they take these things that have happened to them in their lives, and they use music as an outlet to talk about that.”

Troyer enjoys listening to Omar Apollo, an openly gay singer who is known for talking in depth about his sex life within his work, especially on his most recent album, Ivory.

“[He] raps in both English and Spanish, but also is open in his music and his lyrics as well about being gay and having gay intercourse,” Troyer said. “He talks about that in Ivory in depth, just like Troye Sivan has [with Bloom].”

Many of these artists must work with censorship, especially as streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music make musicians release a clean version, along with the explicit, of their albums or songs. Additionally, radio stations also often cut out any profanity by an artist, warping the original versions of their work.

Troyer does not get the point of music censorship as he believes most artists would not want to censor their emotions and stories.

“I feel like music is a way of expression and because it is a method of expression, no person is perfect,” Troyer says. “When someone is expressing themselves, I believe that there’s always going to be times where they swear about something because no person is going to talk cleanly about their trauma.” However, some do not view music censorship as something that harms artists and believe keeping a particular audience, such as children, in mind is respectful to do.

“I do see the necessity of [music censorship] because I think music should be enjoyed by everyone,” Merchant says. “I understand that parents aren’t going to want their kids to hear necessarily explicit lyrics all the time.”

Merchant also says that music censorship can provide more opportunities for artists to be creative with their lyrics.

“I think if you write a song and there’s an explicit lyric, that’s how you want it to be heard, so I think that there’s good things on both sides,” Merchant says.“Often, the censored versions give you an opportunity to create new interesting lyrics, too.

Taylor Swift does that a lot where she does a censored version and it’s just completely different. There’s a song where she says, ‘contrarian s---’ and instead of that, she says, ‘contrarian wit’ in the censored version, and I think that’s really cool.”

An open dialogue about sex in the music world will always be an issue up for heavy debate, especially as musicians continue to experiment with their sound and push boundaries within their music. Despite what society might think about explicit music, the decision to push the envelope remains with the artists themselves. b