Negative Figurative Language Hidden Within Modern Songs

Did you know that the release of the music video for the song “WAP” got over 26.5 million views within the first day of its release on YouTube? Or that the song spent 6 whole weeks on top of Billboard’s 100 Top Hits list without moving down a spot?  But why have this song and others very similar to it climbed so high to the top of the lists and broken so many records? It’s because in the recent music industry, popular artists have begun over-sexulizing themselves and others to appeal to popular trends. But when did this start and how is it a negative influence? In this essay top hit songs such as “S&M”, “34+35”, and more are shown to answer this question. Recently over the last 11 years, women in the music industry have begun over-sexualizing themselves in their lyrics, which gives young listeners unrealistic standards of how they should act, appear, and what they should think within a relationship. 

Rihanna's song, “S&M” was released in 2011. This song uses implied metaphor and understatement to convince listeners that women only want meaningless hookups rather than a loving relationship. In the lyrics, “Love is great, love is fine / Out the box, outta line / The affliction of the feeling leaves me wanting more” the girl is looking for numerous relationships (Dean 14-16). This uses implied metaphor to compare Rihanna working to get “out of the box” as to try to say that she wants to get out of her comfort zone and try new things in her relationships. On the contrary understatement is utilized when she compares a healthy affair to ‘fine’ implying she is bored with being content and wants more excitement. This song also includes implied metaphor in the lyrics, “Oh, I love the feeling you bring to me / Oh, you turn me on / It’s exactly what I’ve been yearning for” this shows that once she has entered a relationship she only views it as a way to get sex (Dean 52-54). No one can literally turn someone on so in these lines the metaphor with feelings as the tenor and a light switch as the vehicle, spreads the false statement that a person can change someone's feelings as quickly as they can turn a light on. 

Similar to the last, Ariana Grande’s song, “34+35” from 2020 tells listeners that romance is only acceptable when it’s convenient for a woman. Looking at the lyrics, “So what you doin’ tonight? / Better say “Doin’ you right” / Watching movies but we ain’t seen a thing tonight”, the figurative language juxtaposition and pun are being utilized (Brown 5-7). Juxtaposition is used when Ariana says they were watching movies, but they hadn’t seen a thing tonight. These two things contradict each other because it’s not possible to watch something but at the same time not see anything. The other figurative language seen is pun. The word that shows up is “doin’” and its shown being used in two different ways. One way doin’ is used is referring to intimacy and the second way is actually referencing going and doing something. In later lyrics it’s revealed that it is actually talking about the first definition of pun, which gives young listeners the mindset that all your partner wants to do if they ask to hang out is be intimate with you. Another way this song uses pun is in the lines, “I don’t wanna keep you up. / But show me, can you keep it up? / ‘Cause then I’ll have to keep you up” (Brown 8-10). Again there are two different definitions, this time of the word up. It means both being awake and being intimate. This gives the false impression that a woman gets to decide everything in a relationship, even if it doesn’t positively affect both people. In a relationship both partners need to be seen as equals otherwise that is not healthy.

Next, in Doja Cat’s song, “Woman” from 2021 uses Implied metaphor to over-feminize a woman for the male gaze. Doja describes herself to be “So feminine with grace / I touch your soul when you hear me say, “Boy” / Let me be your woman” (Aynziliz 20-22). Implied metaphor is shown when she says she touches her boyfriend's soul when in reality it’s not possible to touch someone’s soul. The vehicle of the metaphor is touching your soul and the tenor is to make known. Two other implied metaphors in the song show up in the lines, “I got delicious taste, you need a woman's touch in your place / Just protect her and keep her safe / Baby, worship my hips and waist” (Ayziliz 17-19). The first metaphor shows in the words “I got delicious taste” which implies that Doja has a nice body and the second metaphor says “worship my hips in waist” which implies that everyone should respect her body. This song gives two very different messages on how women should act when they have an attractive appearance which can be confusing to young listeners. Overall this song promotes both good and bad ways a woman should view herself.

Nicki Minaj’s song “Anaconda” from 2014 uses literal language to state that a man only wants a woman for her body, and as a female she is not offended by this, rather she finds it to be funny. Nicki says the line, “Yeah, he love this fat a** / hahahahahaha!” which can lower a girl’s confidence and make her insecure (Clark 64). Nicki laughing at this statement promotes to young women that they should lower their self-worth to the point where they are only wanted by a man because of their body. On the contrary in the lines, “F*** those skinny b******, **** those skinny ******* in the club / I wanna see all the big fat-*** *******, in the mother-******’ club” there is an oxymoron being used. Skinny and Fat are being put against each other in these lines and these two words are direct opposites. This is included because throughout the media we see the romanticization of being a very small size and Nicki wants to break the stereotype of only having one size in the media. The problem with these lines is not the breaking that Nicki wants to do, it’s the way she presents it. The way she uses swear words promotes that listeners should be openly rude to smaller girls and if you want to promote body positivity that includes all body types. Once again this breaks young girl’s confidence and gives them unrealistic expectations of how they should look. This is not good and should not be promoted in the media.

On a different path, Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion’s song, “Sweetest Pie” from 2022 encourages girls to do bad things and states that if they are attractive it is ok to do those bad things. The line this is seen in the most is, “Ain’t the only one tryna be my one and only” where Megan encourages young girls to have more than one boyfriend (Charles 20). In this line, we also see a pun on the word “one”. The two different definitions for this word are one referring to the number and one referring to a person. Knowing this information, looking back at line 20 and seeing that she was implying a girl should have many guys. This creates a bad stereotype of attractive girls by implying all pretty girls want more than one guy. Another topic discussed in this song is figures. Megan refers to her body as, “[That body lookin’ nice] / I got cake and I know he want a slice” (Charles 23-24). This line uses implied metaphor to refer to a woman's body as a slice of cake. Similar to a song previously mentioned, “Anaconda” sees the encouragement of men using women only for their bodies. Once again this shouldn’t be promoted in the media and it only promotes girls to stay in shape for men.

Lastly the final song, “WAP”, a song by Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion from 2020 uses vulgar descriptions of how a woman should act in a relationship. In this song, Cardi is once again encouraging girls to do bad things if they are attractive. The line, “I said (hold up) certified freak / 7 days a week” shows that we are promoting young girls to act poorly within their relationships (Almanzar 2-3). This line uses implied metaphor to refer to a woman as a (certified) freak. A woman can’t literally be a freak so we see the writer comparing his woman to something that I don’t think any woman would want to be called. Another line, “If he f**** me and asks “whose is it?” / When I ride the d*** I’ma spell my name” uses implied metaphor to compare having relations with riding in a car (Almanzar 69-70). Clearly, this can’t really happen but looking deeper into this it’s shown that the metaphor really meant that a girl wants to be noticed within a relationship and not just used. 

Throughout the past decade, females in the music industry have begun romanticizing vulgar language, which gives young listeners an unacceptable standard of how they should act and how they should present themselves. Through the 6 songs analyzed there has been a variety of awful things; women being used for their bodies, used for their money, used for sexual relations, and used as a thing to crawl back to when a man is bored. There were songs from Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and other women in the music industry. Something that wasn’t mentioned in the essay is how songs like these can also be used to empower women. But how? Over-sexualized songs allow a woman to be able to express herself and her desires and this can give women a sense of confidence they’ve never known before. So is it possible to listen to songs like this while still disagreeing with the negative meanings hidden within the songs? Well, there are many ways to like a song without liking its lyrics! For example singing other lyrics when unnecessarily negative words show up, or listening to a version of the song without any lyrics. So next time a song plays and the message is not agreeable, think of the things that could be done to stop the spread of these harmful messages so that we don’t promote an unhealthy standard for the next coming generations.