最近,娛樂、體育與票據部落格SeatSmart的員工Andrew Powell-Morse釋出了新的研究報告,把10年來的流行音樂歌詞全部列出比對,結論十分驚人。
![Andrew Powell-Morse, a staffer at entertainment, sports, and ticket data blog SeatSmart, just compiled information on pop music lyrics over the past 10 years, and the results are pretty interesting.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-18920-1432058026-11.jpg)
Afp / Getty Images
他發現,大部分的流行歌歌詞內容都形同於小三的閱讀程度。
![He found that most of the lyrics from popular songs over the last decade average at around a third-grade reading level.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-26651-1432058567-12.jpg)
Anirav / Getty Images
Andrew把225首歌分成4種音樂類別,再用福列希金卡學級指數(Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level) 來測試這些歌詞到底有多難理解閱讀。
![Powell-Morse analyzed 225 songs in four different music genres using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test, which is used to determine how difficult a passage is to read and understand.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-6837-1432059085-32.jpg)
Frederic J. Brown / Getty Images
福列希金卡學級指數運作的方法,基本上是把一段文章送進系統中,結果的數字就代表年級數。像是如果一首歌的評比是4.2,就是小四生可理解的程度。而Andrew目前測試的,只有美國告示牌排行榜Billboard蟬聯3週第一名的歌曲。歌曲類別則以流行、鄉村、搖滾與R&B/嘻哈4種為主。幫這些歌曲上完標點符號後,就送去分析囉!
結果出爐:鄉村音樂是所有音樂類別中程度最高的,竟只有3.3分。什麼?!我們平常大人在聽的,隔壁家的小三屁孩就聽得懂了?!
![Country music had the highest reading level of the genres, at 3.3 — which means your average third-grader can read and understand the lyrics.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-11712-1432059563-14.jpg)
Robyn Beck / Getty Images
Andrew當然承認自己的實驗有個漏洞,畢竟每個曲風的特色,常以字詞多寡長度作為一大區別點!鄉村音樂基本上是唯一會避免”Oh”或”Yeah”等字眼連續重複個20幾次的音樂類別。不好意思啊,只要有唱到就算是歌詞的一部份,不算是歌手自己的語助詞喔!不過,鄉村音樂之所以會勝出也是因為歌詞中「音節」的多寡。鄉村音樂常出現多音節的字眼,再加上常出現複雜地名,當然就大勝啦!
其他像是流行或搖滾都只有2.9,R&B與嘻哈更只有2.6,全都比小三的素質還要低。
![The other genres' reading level average was 2.9 for pop and rock, and 2.6 for R&B and hip-hop, all lower than a third-grade reading level.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-10186-1432063799-27.jpg)
seatsmart.com
這項研究甚至還把不同性別歌手創作出的歌詞區別開來比對。
![](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/grid-cell-7092-1432081582-4.jpg)
Kevin Winter / Getty Images
![](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/grid-cell-7092-1432081583-7.jpg)
Valery Hache/ AFP
結果顯示:平均來說,男性歌手唱出的歌詞較多,但是女性歌手的字字句句卻富有比較高深的意義,因此女歌手整體上的數據就比較高。
![It showed that on average male artists say more words, but female artists had smarter things to say, with a higher reading level average.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-10088-1432063860-40.jpg)
seatsmart.com
接著,Andrew還把最熱門的歌手拿來大比拼,看到嘻哈組的結果,碧昂絲的粉絲都哭慘、罵翻了!
![](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-14559-1432065352-28.jpg)
seatsmart.com
Andrew則解釋:我挑了前7個熱門歌手都是根據排行榜上熱門歌曲的數量與待在冠軍寶座的時間長短來挑選。大家也應該看清,這只是數據,如果有碧昂絲 (Beyonce) 的粉絲不滿結果,就該質問這個指數的準確度。我們結果就是這樣,7個R&B與嘻哈歌手中,碧昂絲的歌詞平均字數是第二少的,歌詞也是最沒營養的。而饒舌歌手阿姆 (Eminem) 則程度最高,似乎反應出人生黑暗面比較厲害喔!
至於流行音樂這一塊,瑪麗亞·凱莉 (Mariah Carey) 則稱霸群雄,凱莎 (Kesha) 則死得很慘,連小一都畢不了業,無法升上小二!
![For pop, Mariah Carey slayed the competition, while Kesha barely made it out of first grade.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-30867-1432065593-14.jpg)
seatsmart.com
單曲部分,過去10年來程度最高的是布雷克·雪爾頓 (Blake Shelton) 的歌曲 “All About Tonight”,竟高達5.9的數據。寬限三天樂團 (Three Days Grace) 的歌曲 “The Good Life” 則是只有0.8的實力,讓人不禁懷疑到底都在寫些什麼啊?!
![In terms of singles, the top song of the past 10 years was Blake Shelton's "All About Tonight," with a reading level of 5.9, and the least intelligent lyrics were from "The Good Life" by Three Days Grace, with a score of 0.8.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/edit-15309-1432061005-19.jpg)
Larry Busacca / Getty Images
其他被列為「蠢」歌曲的還有魔力紅樂團的 “Moves Like Jagger” 與 凱莎的 “Tik Tok”。
整體來說,10年來全部歌曲的素質也越來越差…
![Overall, he found lyrical intelligence has been declining over the past 10 years.](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/enhanced-16882-1432063968-24.jpg)
seatsmart.com
不過,這樣有錯了嗎?歌就是要朗朗上口才好啊,不是嗎?
![A Study Found That The Lyrics Of Many No. 1 Songs Are At A Third-Grade Reading Level](http://teepr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/anigif_optimized-30289-1432061561-3.gif)
Big Machine
來源:Consequence of Sound
看完許多人應該會搖搖頭,覺得人類好像開始倒退發展了。然而到頭來,誰還管那麼多呢?好聽就好,對吧?
(往下還有更多精彩文章!)