Full Text 01

Gender norms expressed in love songs; a tribute to
the third wave of feminism or the results of a male

dominated industry?
- A sociolinguistic study
Maria Estlind
Maria Estlind
Vt 2020
Examensarbete för kandidatexamen, 15 hp
Engelska
Abstract
This study is a critical sociolinguistic analysis of gender norms expressed in love songs. The purpose
of this study was to investigate whether the gender of the artists and/or songwriters influence gender
norms and the depictions of love. For this research, the work of four songwriters and 24 lyrics were
analyzed by using a coding scheme to investigate the sociolinguistic variables of ‘register’ and ‘style’.
The results showed that there exist certain gender norms within songwriting, regardless of the gender
of the writer. These norms are usually demonstrated by female verses male stereotypes where the
female is more likely to avoid traditional gender norms while the male version supports it. When
reading this study, it is important to consider the individuals´ past experiences and the impact it has on
lyrics composed by songwriters and artists. In addition, the small sample used in this study may affect
the outcomes and results.
Keywords: lyrics, love, pop song lyrics, gender norms, stereotypes, sociolinguistics.
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 4
2.0 Aim and research questions ............................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Aim of study ................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Research questions ........................................................................................................................ 5
2.3 Hypothesis ..................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3.1 Hypothesis – creative control .............................................................................................. 5
2.3.2 Alternative hypothesis – gender based narratives ............................................................. 5
3.0 Theoretical framework and previous research................................................................................... 6
3.1 Gender norms and popular music ................................................................................................. 6
3.2 The pop music industry.................................................................................................................. 7
3.3 Love relationship ........................................................................................................................... 8
3.4 Linguistic features ......................................................................................................................... 8
3.5 Previous research on the topic ...................................................................................................... 9
4.0 Material and method ........................................................................................................................ 10
4.1 The quantitative research ............................................................................................................ 10
4.2 The qualitative research .............................................................................................................. 10
5.0 Analysis and Results ....................................................................................................................... 11
5.1 Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 11
5.2 Field and Tenor ........................................................................................................................... 11
5.2.1 Female songwriters and female artists. ............................................................................ 11
5.2.2 Female songwriters and male artists ................................................................................ 12
5.2.3 Male songwriters and female artists ................................................................................. 14
5.2.4 Male songwriters and male artists .................................................................................... 15
5.3 Mode ............................................................................................................................................ 17
5.3.1 Julia Michaels ..................................................................................................................... 17
5.3.2 Tayla Parx ........................................................................................................................... 17
5.3.3 Justin Tranter ..................................................................................................................... 18
5.3.4 Joel Little ............................................................................................................................. 19
5.4 Style ............................................................................................................................................. 19
5.4.1 Dramatic and psychopathic style ...................................................................................... 20
5.4.2 Depressed style .................................................................................................................... 20
5.4.3 Confident style .................................................................................................................... 20
5.4.4 Passionate style ................................................................................................................... 21
5.5 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 21
6.0 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 23
6.1 Style ............................................................................................................................................. 23
6.2 The pop music industry´s contribution to gender norms ............................................................. 24
7.0 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 25
List of References.................................................................................................................................. 27
Appendix 1 - List of songwriters, artists and lyrics............................................................................... 30
Appendix 2 - Coding Schemes .............................................................................................................. 31
2.1 Julia Michaels - Selena Gomez - Lose you to love me ............................................................... 31
2.2 Julia Michaels - Julia Michaels - Issues ..................................................................................... 32
2.3 Julia Michaels - Gwen Stefani - Used to love you ..................................................................... 33
2.4 Julia Michaels - Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo - Close ........................................................................ 34
2.5 Julia Michaels - Maroon 5 ft. Julia Michaels - Help Me Out..................................................... 35
2.6 Julia Michaels - 5 Seconds of Summer - Lie to Me ................................................................... 36
2.7 Tayla Parx - Ariana Grande - Thank You Next .......................................................................... 37
2.8 Tayla Parx - Julia Michaels - Heaven ........................................................................................ 38
2.9 Tayla Parx - Jojo - Fuck Apologies ............................................................................................ 39
2.10 Tayla Parx - Guy Sebastian - Set in Stone ............................................................................... 40
2.11 Tayla Parx - Prince Royce - Paris on a Sunny Day ................................................................. 41
2.12 Tayla Parx - Chris Lane - All the Time .................................................................................... 42
2.13 Justin Tranter - Bebe Rexha - I´m a Mess .............................................................................. 43
2.14 Justin Tranter - Halsey - Bad at Love ..................................................................................... 44
2.15 Justin Tranter - Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself ...................................................................... 45
2.16 Justin Tranter - Justin Bieber - Sorry...................................................................................... 46
2.17 Justin Tranter - Bloodpop feat. Justin Bieber - Friends ......................................................... 47
2.18 Justin Tranter - Maroon 5 - Cold ............................................................................................ 48
2.19 Joel Little - Tove Lo - Mistaken ............................................................................................... 49
2.20 Joel Little - Tailor Swift - Me ................................................................................................... 50
2.21 Joel Little - Amy Shark - Never Coming Back ......................................................................... 51
2.22 Joel Little - James Bay - Peer Pressure ................................................................................... 52
2.23 Joel Little - Jarryd James - Do You Remember ........................................................................ 53
2.24 Joel Little - Noah Kahan - Hurt Somebody .............................................................................. 54
1.0 Introduction
“Fuck it. It’s worth it for the song to come out”
– Tayla Parx, songwriter (Musoni, 2019).
Gender and norms have been highly discussed throughout media during the last few years.
Reese Witherspoon, a famous actress, once articulated the idea that power is linked to the
perpetuation of stereotypes when she discussed how tired she was of reading manuscript
written by men where female roles are created to appear as if they are in “need of a man”
(McShane, 2015). Witherspoon´s pronouncement lead to the question and first thesis of this
research: if the gender of writers, particularly in male dominated fields, impact the
perpetuation of traditional gender norms?
The purpose of this study is to explore whether this “old fashioned” norm of love is being
perpetuated through songwriting too, as it has been noted to be in the film industry as the
music industry is also dominated by men (Samuelson, 2019). Another goal of this research
was to investigate whether male and female songwriters write their lyrics differently
depending on the artist´s gender. This was used to explore if the gender of writers, particularly
in male dominated fields, impacts the perpetuation of traditional gender norms. Ultimately,
when analyzing the 24 lyrics for this study, written by four songwriters, equally divided and
performed by both genders, it was also recognized that there existed certain stereotypes within
songwriting which will be discussed throughout this research.
This study contributes to critical thinking about how gender norms are perpetuated through
language through a medium often consumed by young people who are still forming they ideas
about what they can expect in romantic relationships.
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2.0 Aim and research questions
2.1 Aim of study
The aim of this study is to explore if pop songs written about love and relationships are
expressed differently, in terms of tenor, field, mode and style, depending on the artist’s
gender, or not.
2.2 Research questions

1. Who (songwriter or artist) is responsible for the creation and spreading of gender
norms and expectations in the pop music industry?
2. Is there a disparity between genders´ registers and style, and use for expressions
related to love and relationships?
3. Does creative control impact the perpetuation of traditional gender norms in pop song
lyrics and is the gender of the singer, or genre of the song, influencing the perpetuation
of gendered stereotypes?
4. Are the gender norms expressed in love songs a tribute to the third wave of feminism
or the results of a male dominated industry?
2.3 Hypothesis
2.3.1 Hypothesis – creative control
"A songwriter's gender will affect how norms of gender and sex are expressed in pop songs
that deal with love and relationships".
2.3.2 Alternative hypothesis – gender based narratives

“In pop songs that deal with love and relationships; gender norms are perpetuated to different
extents depending on the singer´s gender”.
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3.0 Theoretical framework and previous research
To study gender in a predominately male business as the pop music industry is, made it
necessary to include some theoretical background about gender, feminist research, popular
music and its industry as well as songwriting. This is not only for the study itself, but also for
the researcher to remain neutral when analyzing data. The theoretical framework includes the
linguistic variables, ‘register’ and ‘style’, which was later used when analyzing the data
(lyrics). As this study investigates gender norms presented in pop lyrics, the theoretical
framework needed for this research was quite broad as there are many factors to consider
when analyzing gender norms in songs that reach a large public.
3.1 Gender norms and popular music

The word ‘gender’ was historically used with the substitute ´sex´ (male or female) and/or to
categorize people by their race, sex etc. (Posey, 2016). Today, gender is defined as “socially
constructed norms and ideologies which determine the behavior and actions of men and
women” (International Bank for Reconstruction Development, 2012) or as “the state of being
male or female in relation to the social and cultural roles that are considered appropriate for
men and women” (Collins Dictionary, 2020a).
Contemporary gender research started in the 1970´s by feminist researchers with an aim to
distinguish the biological sex aspect to focus on the social characteristics of feminine and
masculine behaviors (Björck, 2011). The feminist view of gender is neutral, and behavior and
acts should be considered equal despite sex (Trier-Bieniek & Leavy, 2014, p. 3). As gender
norms are created by social culture and ideologies, of how a person should act according to
their sex, gender studies usually examine how these ideologies are created and maintained
within a society (p. 2).
Traditional gender norms include the idea that women´s main role is to take care of others,
while men are allowed to primarily focus on themselves until they are ready for marriage
(Hentschel, Heilman & Peus, 2019). These gender norms, made and maintained by society,
create certain biases based on what appears to be “accepted” or not when it comes to dating
and romantic relationships (Hentschel, Heilman & Peus, 2019). This is because the gender
norms within the society express that it is allowed for men to spend several years as a
bachelor whilst focusing on themselves and their careers, while women who spend several
years of dating appear to be norm breaking as the norm for females is to settle down early, get
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married and focus on their family (Hentschel, Heilman & Peus, 2019). However, during the
last decades, gender researches has inspired a creation of several waves of feminism where
the “third wave of feminism” is to present females as independent and strong women who
does not depend on anyone, especially not a man, which has been recognized in music
performed by female artists (Trier-Bieniek & Leavy, 2014, p. 87-88).
Popular music and gender have much in common as gender tells us how we should act, and
popular music can present the ideal way of acting (according to gender norms) (Storey, 2011,
p. 125). In a broader spectrum, popular culture is described as something that ‘ordinary
people’ enjoy consuming (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020a), whereas popular music can be
defined as “the kind of music with words and a strong rhythm that many young people enjoy
listening and dancing to” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020b) or “music having wide appeal,
especially characterized by lightly romantic or sentimental melodies (Collins Dictionary,
2020b)”. In other words, pop music has a large audience which usually consists of youth and
involves songs that people easily can relate and sing along to. Pop music has its own genre
and, in comparison to other genres, it is commercially driven which may affect the gender
norms expressed in the lyrics (Rojek, 2011, p. 1).
3.2 The pop music industry

Young individuals are the greatest audience of the pop music genre; pop lyrics usually
express themes/feelings associated with youth culture such as love relationships, bad
romances and independence (Gentile, 2003, p. 303). As the average American teenager
spends approximately three hours daily listening to pop music, one may ask how this
consumption affects a young person´s ideas of gender norms (p. 303). Trier-Bieniek & Leavy
(2014) argue that media plays a significant role in creating and spreading norms and values of
a society (p. 13). In a commercially driven industry it is therefore interesting to examine who
is responsible for creating these gender norms that are found in pop lyrics that deal with love
relationships as these norms illustrate “what a culture´s expectations are for each gender”
(Trier-Bieniek & Leavy, 2014, p. 83).
Few artists within the contemporary pop music industry create their own music and lyrics
entirely by themselves; usually it is fully created by songwriter(s) or co-written with that artist
(Ingham, 2019). Therefore, it is critical to investigate whether or not gender norms are
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diversely expressed in pop songs and if this diversity depends on the artist´s or song writer´s
gender or both.
3.3 Love relationship

This research investigates how ‘love’ is being expressed and presented in pop songs by both
gender of artists and songwriters. As love is a feeling that can be defined differently
depending on situation and in relation with whom, it is essential to clarify what type of love
this paper includes. This research will focus on the idea of romantic love in a relationship.
Romantic love can be defined as “love characterized by romance and involving sexual
attraction” (Collins Dictionary, 2020c) or “deep connection in a relationship, including
intense feelings for another person, and physical and emotional intimacy” (Sussman, 2010, p.
31).
Relationships include the idea of partnership; a connection between two people working as a
pair (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020c). To summarize, this study investigates that kind of love
relationship where two people have (or used to have) strong romantic feelings towards each
other and are/were partners. Analyzing love relationship in songwriting will include dealing
with various states of emotions depending on what context the situation is in. Because of this,
the sociolinguistic technique of a coding scheme was used when analyzing the lyrics, to keep
this study within its focus on ‘register’ and ‘style’.
3.4 Linguistic features

This is a linguistic study focused on the sociolinguistic variables ‘register and style’ and
particularly in relation to ‘social identity’ and ‘contextual’ linguistic variables. A person´s
register (vocabulary) is unique and usually depends on social factors such as origin, social
background profession and lifestyle (Stockwell, 2017, p. 9). There are three dimensions used
when identifying a register: field tells the purpose and social situation (of the dialogue), tenor
explains the relationship (between the participants) and mode refers to how (written, spoken
etc.) the conversation takes place (p. 9). When analyzing the lyrics, it was particularly
significant to investigate the field and tenor to understand the context within the song as the
lyrics were the mode. For example, in Bebe Rexha song I´m a Mess, she exhibits field by
stating “I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed, I don't trust no one around us, I'm a mess for your
love, it ain't new” (Rexha, L. 42-44). This explains the social situation as she expresses how
she feels when around her significant other. In addition, tenor was displayed in the song
Friends by Bloodpop “So I´m wondering, can we still be friends” (Bloodpop, L. 9).
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Moreover, Ariana Grande´s Thank You, Next, presents mode as a past tense lyric when
explaining her past relationships.
Furthermore, ’style’ can be defined as “the result of choice from the appropriate range of
linguistic means to deliver a particular message effectively” (Znamenskaya, 2004, p. 124).
This means that a register illustrates a person´s use of their vocabulary when style shows how
the message is carried out and the effect of it. The linguistic variables show how the register
and style may change due to various factors such as context (social and power distance,
cultural concept, politeness etc.) and social identity variables such as age, gender, social class
etc. (Stockwell, 2017, p. 3). When analyzing the lyrics, it will be necessary to investigate if
the songwriters´ register and style tend to change, depending on if the singer is male, female
or non-binary when singing about the same theme (love relationship), and if so; when and
how this occur.
3.5 Previous research on the topic

A study made by Mr. Alberto Acerbi and Dr. Charlotte Brand examined whether pop songs
have become less positive over the last 50 years (Acerbi & Brand, 2020). This was done by
using a sentiment analysis and two datasets (Billboard top 100 lists and Musixmatch) which
resulted in an analysis of over 150.000 lyrics in English. In addition, their study focused on
the sociolinguistic register and style shown in the lyrics regardless of gender, as well as
expressions shown in positive or negative terms. However, Acerbi and Brand´s study does not
analyze a specific theme nor gender as will be found in this research. The results of their
findings displayed that contemporary music is less joyful than it used to be.
Furthermore, a study made by Samuel Lindsay and Antonia C. Lyons (2018) analyzed how
femininity and masculinity are presented by stereotypes in pop music videos. They utilized a
critical multimodal discourse analysis to examine various behavior of a sample of pop music
videos, and came up with two types of behaviors related to the artist´s gender. Similarly, the
stereotypes found in their study, were also shown within the analysis of this research.
Moreover, their study discusses gender normative differences within the same genre (popular
music), yet in a diverse perspective as their study focuses on the direct image shown (in the
music videos), whereas this study investigates similar patterns hidden within the lyrics.
Lindsay and Lyon´s study (2018) showed that pop music videos share an image of the
“contemporary cultural values” which is spread by using different personas to demonstrate
this (p. 624). This correlates to what this study aims to investigate as the creation of certain
stereotypes also exists within songwriting.
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4.0 Material and method
The analysis was conducted by first collecting data from the lyrics which was followed by
using mixed methods of research. This was done by analyzing the data by counting the
number of norm breaking occurrences (quantitative) in lyrics and by qualitatively analyzing
the language used within the songs.
4.1 The quantitative research

The quantitative research method was used to count the proportion of songs that included
each component at least once. For example, this was done to show the results and findings
(shown in Table 1) of the number of songs that broke gender norms.
4.2 The qualitative research

The qualitative research method was to collect data which included: interviews with
songwriters and artists, as well as the lyrics which were carefully selected. The sample of pop
songs were somehow randomly collected, due to its difficulties of finding two males and two
female songwriters´ love lyrics to artists of both gender within the last 5 years on the US
Billboard list. The gender norms this study focused on included entailments such as the idea
that women need men and vice versa, the idea of marriage and a “happily ever after”, and the
idea of being lonely when not “belonging” to someone. In order to do this, a coding scheme
was used to carry out a systematic analysis (see Appendix 2).
The method used while collecting lyric samples for this research consisted of:
1. Researching influential current pop songwriters.
2. Compiling a list of songs written by these artists from the official US Billboard list from
the last 5 years, recorded along with song, singer, gender of singer, and year of release.
3. Selecting a subset of song writers to be used in the analysis by selecting only those that had
popular songs for both male and female vocalists within the relevant time period.
4. Creating a list of two male and two female songwriters. For each songwriter; six current
love pop songs were selected (equally divided by both gender). A total of 4 songwriters and
24 lyrics (see Appendix 1).
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5.0 Analysis and Results
5.1 Analysis
In order to investigate possible gender norm dissimilarity presented in lyrics, the work of two
male and female songwriters were investigated. The songwriters who was used in this study
were Julia Michaels, Tayla Parx, Justin Tranter and Joel Little. These songwriters are
appropriate examples of the pop music industry because they are well-known and create
music that is presented on the US Billboard list on a regular basis.
Six lyrics were investigated by each songwriter, divided to three songs for female vocalists
and three songs for male vocalists for each songwriter. Furthermore, a coding scheme was
used when analyzing the lyrics, to help clarify a lyric´s field, tenor and mode in order to
identify a songs register and style (see Appendix 2).
What became noticeable when analyzing the lyrics, was that a lyric usually is created along
with the artist and other co-writers as well. This was shown in 100% of both male and female
written songs. The obstacle with this was that it was somehow difficult to discover if gender
norms occurred due to the gender of the songwriter or the artist. In order to analyze the
amount of norm breaking behaviors within the lyrics, it was important to analyze the field,
tenor and mode for each songwriter.
5.2 Field and Tenor

5.2.1 Female songwriters and female artists.
The field (purpose and social situation) within the songwriter Julia Michaels´ songs presents
love relationship from a complicated or broken love perspective. This is displayed in the
songs analyzed for the three female artists Selena Gomez, Julia Michaels and Gwen Stefani.
Examples include the lines: “In two months, you replaced us, like it was easy” (Gomez, L. 25-
28), “Push you out, pull you back in” (Michaels, L. 29), “Cause I got issues, but you got 'em
too” (Michaels, L. 11-12) and “I don't know why I cry, but I think it's 'cause I remembered for
the first time, Since I hated you, that I used to love you” (Stefani, L. 11-14). The purpose and
the social situation of these three lyrics does not just express love relationship as something
difficult to achieve, but also norm breaking behavior of female and men. Furthermore, in the
lines: “I could love you just like that, and I could leave you just this fast” (Michaels, L. 5-6)
and “I needed to hate you to love me” (Gomez, L. 16), the songwriter tries to demonstrate the
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idea of females not being “in need of a man” as well as presenting women as a stereotype
with great self-confidence.
The tenor of Michaels´ songs either expresses unsettled emotions relating present or ex-love
relationships, often in forms of female self-confidence: “You know I was the best thing that
ever happened to you, oh, now look at what you lost” (Stefani, L. 46-47). These examples
show gender norm breaking behavior because it supports the idea that a female is not
dependent on the male counterpart.
When analyzing Tayla Parx´s songs written together with the female artists Ariana Grande,
Jojo and Julia Michaels, no pattern of similarities of how to deal with love relationship was
shown. As Parx said in an interview, the creation of love songs depends on what the artist
wants to convey which is also shown in these lyrics (Musoni, 2019). In Jojo´s song, the social
situation (field), demonstrates feminist independent attitude (“I would say I'm sorry if I really
meant it” (Jojo, L. 10)) as in Ariana Grande´s Thank You Next as the sings “One taught me
love, one taught me patience, and one taught me pain, now, I'm so amazing” (Grande, L. 9-
12). Similar to Jojo´s song, this also gives an impression of a strong female individual who
views previous love relationships as something that made her stronger. However, in Julia
Michaels´ Heaven the social situation communicates broken love, as she sings “You don't
realize the power they have, until they leave you and you want them back” (L. 15-16), yet still
according to traditional gender norms as the artist expresses that she misses her love and does
not show any sort of avoidance of gender norms as the other two female artists do.
In Parx´s lyrics written to female artists, the tenor shows that the song is for an ex (“saw it in
your eyes, when you said goodbye, you didn´t even try, so this time I don´t care (Jojo, L. 3-
4)). A similar independent character is presented in Ariana Grande´s song where the tenor
(“Thank you, next, I'm so fuckin' grateful for my ex” (Grande, L. 20-21)) In Julia Michael´s
song however, the tenor (“Love's my religion but he was my faith, something so sacred so
hard to replace” (Michaels, L .1-2)) demonstrates old-fashion gender norms where the two
parties are dependent on each other.
5.2.2 Female songwriters and male artists

The field in two of Julia Michaels male artist´s songs expresses unhappy love, where the
female partner is presented as cold and uncaring: “It feels like I don't know you anymore, I
don't understand why you're so cold to me” (Maroon 5, L. 19-20) and “Now I wish we'd never
met, 'Cause you're too hard to forget” (5 Seconds of Summer, L. 8-9). These examples deal
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with love from a broken angle, where the male is uncertain of what happened in the
relationship and at times regrets trusting the person that they once were in love with. In the
third example however, the male artist is trying to build a relationship demonstrated by this
line “'Cause if I want you, and I want you, babe, ain't going backwards, won't ask for space”
(Nick Jonas, L. 11-12). What is interesting here, is that it does not seem that the male artist
gets any response from his love partner. This shows that the female part in all male songs is
either presented as uninterested or having difficulties with having a love relationship which is
rather norm breaking. When looking into the songs written for the male artists (Nick Jonas,
Maroon 5 and 5 Seconds of Summer), it is noticeable that songwriter still expresses “love
drama” in their lyrics, yet not as intense as it is presented in Michaels´ female lyrics (Barlow,
2018).
The tenor in these songs supports the fact of women being displayed as hard to reach out to
(“I want proof of what you're feeling” (Nick Jonas, L. 32)) or uninterested of having a love
relationship (“Never thought that you were like this, I took the tag off, and made you
priceless” (Maroon 5, L. 53-54)). The later example does not just present the female partner
as being fake, but also demonstrates norm breaking behavior that is more likely to be found in
this songwriter´s lyrics written to female artists. This shows a similarity of the songwriter´s
way of avoiding gender norms in her writing. In addition, it was more likely to find traditional
gender norms in lyrics written to male artists. These artists communicated love relationships
from an old-fashioned angle, where love was displayed in long terms.
When analyzing Tayla Parx´s songs written with the male artists, the field of these songs all
communicated traditional love relationship from the male perspective. Some examples of this
is: “So girl I try to hurry, right back to your love, that's all I want” (Prince Royce, L. 13-14),
“Anywhere with my love's my favorite place” (Prince Royce, L. 45), “I'm not lying,
sometimes I do get lonely, but I'm only missing you” (Sebastian, L. 15-16) and “Your love is
engraved on my heart” (Sebastian, L. 8). However, in Chris Lanes song All the Time, the male
singer supports traditional gender norms in love relationship, yet the female side represents
norm breaking behavior: “I give my love and she just takes it, no, she don't even need to ask”
(Lane, L. 15-16) and “She only wants me on the weekend, why do I want it all the time?”
(Lane, L. 1-2). This shows that norm breaking behavior is mostly represented by females in
songs written by Parx.
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5.2.3 Male songwriters and female artists
When analyzing Justin Tranter´s lyrics written to female artists (Bebe Rexha, Halsey and
Hailee Steinfeld) all lyrics dealt with love relationship in a similar way where the females
show norm breaking attitudes of self-centered characters with trust issues in some sort of
“psychological” way. The social situation of Bebe Rexha´s lyric I´m a Mess clearly
communicates that she has serious trust issues (“I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed, I don't trust
no one around us, I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new” (L. 42-44). Furthermore, it appears
that all Tranter´s female lyrics in this study expresses similar norm breaking ideas of
untraditional and independent woman being in a relationship. Examples of this are in Halsey´s
Bad at Love (“I´m bad at love, but you can´t blame me for trying“ (L. 16-17)) and in Hailee
Steinfeld´s Love Myself where she sings: “I´ll take it nice and slow, feeling good on my own
without you” (L. 18-19). This shows that the female lyrics present a female stereotype who is
norm breaking in that they do not seem interested in being in a relationship at all. Besides,
these norm breaking ideas that these songs express also demonstrate females being dramatic
and arrogant when it comes to dealing with romance.
The tenor of the Bebe Rexha´s I´m a Mess shows that she has no real interest of a love
relationship as she sings “I love myself anyway” (L. 30) also. Furthermore, Halsey sings: “I'm
bad at love, but you can't blame me for tryin' (Halsey, L. 16-17) and “you know I'd be lyin'
sayin', you were the one” (Halsey, L. 18-19) which supports the same idea of a female not
being “in need” of a love relationship. The same ideas are presented in Hailee Steinfeld´s
Love Myself where the situation shows independence and lack of interest in a love
relationship: “Feeling good on my own without you” (Steinfeld, L. 18-19) and “Gonna love
myself, no, I don't need anybody else” (Steinfeld, L. 10). Furthermore, in Amy Shark´s song
which may not be as norm avoiding as the others, yet it indicates the image of a difficult
woman: “Now I'm never coming back, I think you should just leave me here” (Shark, L. 11-
12). This also supports the idea that there exists a female stereotype, shown as independent
and with no interest of a love relationship.
Furthermore, in Joel Little´s lyrics written to female artists, the love relationship appears to be
difficult to achieve, since the female singer does not trust her partner: “Man, you know I
never want a reason to doubt you, damn, I wish I didn't ask the questions I do” (Tove Lo, L.
19-20). This shows that the female does not believe in trust, and is therefore having problems
to commit to a love relationship which is rather norm breaking, especially since the lyrics do
not communicate the male never giving a reason for jealousy. In Amy Sharks´ Never Coming
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Back “I'm never coming home, even though I will miss you babe” (Shark, L. 31-32). This
example is interesting because once again: the female character appears as the dark stereotype
found in other songs as the males remains innocent. If this has something to do with the
female artist or gender of songwriter, remains to be discussed .
The relationship between the participants (male and female) in Taylor Swift´s song Me plays
around with gender norm breaking attitudes from the female perspective: “I know that I'm a
handful, baby, uh, I know I never think before I jump, and you're the kind of guy the ladies
want” (Swift, L. 2-4). This way of presenting girl power when it comes to love relationships
shows that the same idea can be presented in a less dramatic, yet playful way shows which is
very common in most of Swift´s songs.
5.2.4 Male songwriters and male artists

In Justin Tranter´s lyrics written to male artists (Justin Bieber, Bloodpop and Maroon 5), love
relationships are communicated in a traditional way according to gender norms. In Justin
Bieber´s Sorry he expresses traditional gender norms in the way he explains how he misses
his former woman: “is it too late now to say sorry? 'Cause I'm missing more than just your
body” (Bieber, L. 11-12) and “can we both say the words and forget this?” (Bieber, L. 28)
shows that love relationship according to traditional norms is central and that the male artist´s
ego is not more significant than being in a relationship. Furthermore, in Bloodpop´s Friends
the situation of the context is quite similar to Bieber´s where the male also misses his love and
acts according to gender norms: “Wonderin' if you think about me, actually, don't answer
that” (Bloodpop, L. 17-18) and “Know we didn't end this so good, but you know we had
something so good” (Bloodpop, L. 7-8). Yet, in this situation, the ex-girlfriend does not seem
interested of the love relationship that the male artist has to offer. This however, cannot be
linked to avoiding gender norms because her feelings may be linked to reasons why she wants
to move on from this love relationship. Nevertheless, there seems to exist certain norm
breaking behavior of the opposite sex in the last example as he sings: “You know how to fuck
with me, acting like we're not together.” (Maroon 5, L. 10-11) which shows that there are
norm breaking attitudes in the male songs too, even though they often appear as female.
In Justin Tranter´s lyrics, the relationship between the male and female of the song displays
love from a broken angle where the participants are at the very end of the relationship, yet not
completely willing to “give up”. This is demonstrated in Justin Bieber´s Sorry where he sings
“can we both say the words and forget this” (L. 28) as well as in Bloodpop´s Friends: “if it
ends, can we be friends?” (L. 11-12). Moreover, in Maroon 5´s Cold, a female stereotype
15
appears as the significant other who is being displayed as rather cold hearted and norm
breaking as he sings: “It feels like I don't know you anymore, I don't understand why you're
so cold to me” (Maroon 5, L. 2-3). This shows that a certain bias exists of female
characteristics in Tranter´s love songs performed by both genders.
In Joel Little´s songs written together with male artists, men demonstrate to support
traditional gender norms as a higher level than women. The first example of this is in James
Bay´s Peer pressure “I'm under control till you're in front of me, maybe I'm scared, I don't
care, I'm addicted” (Bay, L. 13-14) and “I don't usually give in to peer pressure, but I'll give in
to yours” (Bay, L. 8-9). This supports the idea of an independent woman where the man
appears as a victim of her “power”. Likewise, the idea of love relationship according to
gender norms is not presented, which may be because this song express other type of needs
than what one can offer in a regular love relationship. Furthermore, In Do you remember,
Jarryd James sings that he is hurt due to a former relationship that he was in. He also
demonstrates how he is conflicted when comparing the first verse and the pre-chorus. For
example, he begins stating “When did we lose our way? Easier to let it go” (James, L. 1-2).
Furthermore, in Hurt Somebody, Noah Kahan describes the feeling of being hurt in a
relationship, yet still there for the significate other. This concept aligns with traditional gender
norms of a gentleman in a love relationship. Kahan begins with the lyric “It's gonna leave you
in pieces” (Kahan, L. 5), and continues with “Hold me close and I won't leave” (Kahan, L. 9).
This demonstrates that regardless of being broken, he will not give up which shows that the
male artist is willing to fight for his significant other.
In all of Little´s lyrics, the male artists support traditional love relationships as the main
character in these songs show how they are willing to fight for a long term relationship.
Examples of this is shown in Jarryd James´ Do you remember as he sings “call me when you
made up your mind” (James, L. 17) as well as in Hurt Somebody, when Noah Kahan
expresses love from a difficult angle as he sings: “I´m afraid to be lonely, nobody told me, it´s
harder than I thought to tell the truth, it´s gonna leave you in pieces” (Kahan, L. 5). This
demonstrates that he will continue to fight for true love. This may be norm breaking in a way
that he does not stand up for what he wants, as well as the situation appears to be complicated
for a love relationship.
Similar to what was found when analyzing the other songwriter´s male songs in this study, it
is now a fact that males deal with love relationship according to traditional gender norms.
Especially in the examples given by Little where the lyrics demonstrate men willing to fight
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hard for love as well as the human ability to show vulnerability. As it seems, women are more
likely to express gender norm breaking behavior in love songs as the men are more likely to
be perceived as innocent and the victim to women, regardless if the song is performed or
written by male or female artist/songwriter.
5.3 Mode
5.3.1 Julia Michaels
In an interview in 2018, Julia Michaels claimed that she does not “enjoy” writing songs about
just “anything” and expresses “I really love relationships. I love going home to somebody,
just breathing next to them. As much as it fucking sucks, I love the fight, the drama, the
passion” and continues by saying “I've definitely started a couple fights in a relationship for
inspiration” which is very noticeable in her songwriting as well (Barlow, 2018).
One resemblance between the lyrics is that regardless of the artist´s gender, females are being
displayed as the gender who avoids gender norms, as the males are pictured as softer and
more caring. Examples of this in Michaels’ female songs is in her own song Issues as she
sings: “I could leave you just like that, and I could leave you just this fast (Michaels, L. 5-6)
as well as in Gwen Stefani´s Used to Love You as she sings: “you know I was the best thing
that ever happened to you, oh, now look what you lost” (L. 46-47). This shows that norm
breaking attitudes occur among the female stereotypes in Michaels´ lyrics as they do not seem
too interested of the male counterpart in these songs. Furthermore, in Michaels´ male songs,
the mood is slightly different as the female stereotype appears as a rather norm breaking kind,
uninterested of a love relationship. This is demonstrated in Maroon 5´s Help Me Out where
the line states: “you know how to fuck with me, acting like we´re not together” (L. 10-11) as
well as in 5 Seconds of Summer´s Lie to Me (while I´m cleaning up your mess, I know he´s
taking off your dress (L. 10-11) and “problem was I thought I had this right” (L. 22). This
shows that there are norm breaking behavior among Michaels´s male lyrics as well, what is
interesting is, that this character always appears to be female. There is clearly a higher level of
selfish attitude among women in all Julia Michaels´ lyrics that were analyzed in this study.
5.3.2 Tayla Parx

When analyzing Tayla Parx´s songs written together with the female artists Ariana Grande,
Jojo and Julia Michaels, no pattern of similarities of how to deal with love relationship were
shown. As Parx said in the interview, the creation of love songs depends on what the artist
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wants to convey which is also shown in these lyrics (Musoni, 2019). In an interview, Parx
explained that she prefers writing songs about love relationships rather than talking about
these emotions (Musoni, 2019). Furthermore, Parx usually writes lyrics about love
relationship together with the artist to make sure that the message of the song is correct.
Female pride and self-esteem was clearly demonstrated when analyzing the mode of the songs
by Ariana Grande and Jojo. In Michaels´ song Heaven however, the mode supports traditional
gender norms of love relationships. This diversity may be due to the influence of the artist
when writing about love relationship as well as the main purpose of the song. Parx is well
aware of gender norms in song writing when writing Ariana Grande´s Thank you, Next.
Grande and Parx discussed whether it was worth the criticism of creating a such norm
breaking song or not, and how well it would get received, but came into the decision that
“Fuck it. It’s worth it for the song to come out” (Musoni, 2019). One significant finding in
Parx´s lyrics was that women in both genders´ songs tend to be displayed as the norm
breaking kind, uninterested of a traditional love relationship (in long term). Moreover, it
appears that men are less likely to be demonstrated as “bad guys”, and that men usually are
displayed to act according to traditional gender norms in Parx´s lyrics.
5.3.3 Justin Tranter

In an interview, Justin Tranter explains that his job is to help artists “tell their stories” which
means that whatever is being expressed in a song, can relate to the artist´s lifestyle and ideas
of love relationships (LeDonne, 2017). Furthermore, Tranter explains in an interview that he
can often relate to what is communicated in a love song, especially to those written to women,
since he views himself as being horrible at love relationship and has therefore committed to
“marrying himself” (LeDonne, 2019).
What is interesting with analyzing Tranter´s songs and how the female parties are
demonstrated in the male contra female lyrics discussed, is that the norm breaking character
displayed in Tranter´s songs about love relationships always tend to appear as female and
never male. Furthermore, the female stereotype presented in these lyrics is imaged as a cold-
hearted and careless person with an enormous alter-ego, as the male stereotype in Tranter´s
love songs holds on to the old-fashioned gentleman´s approach of being trustful and loving.
Similar to what was found when analyzing Parx´s male lyrics, it was more common to find
traditional gender norms in Tranter´s lyrics written to men. Still Tranter´s male lyrics differs
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from Parx´s somehow, as his male artists are more dramatic when expressing the females lack
of interest of a love relationship.
5.3.4 Joel Little

In Joel Little´s lyrics co-written with the female artists Tove Lo, Tailor Swift and Amy Shark,
love relationship is communicated in a softer way compared to the other female songs in this
analysis. Similar to the other songwriters in this study; Little co-writes songs together with the
artist, and at times he adds music to the lyrics written by the artist themselves (Kawashima,
2017). Little differs from the other songwriters due to the fact that he does it very discreetly
and prefers to be outside the spotlight.
The first example of this is shown in Tove Lo´s Misstaken where mode displays that the artist
has trust issues: “I can tell myself it doesn't matter, but it's hitting my heart” (Lo, L. 15-16). In
Taylor Swift´s Me, she demonstrates a large amount of girl power confidence when singing:
“I promise that you'll never find another like me” (Swift, L. 1)” which shows a feminist
attitude of self-confidence even if this occurs in a soft way. This example communicates norm
breaking behavior since the artist plays with the idea of love relationship as something that
only can exist when accepting her personality. This sort of feminist independency is rarely
shown in male pop songs, and even if Little´s songs express this very carefully compared to
the other songwriters investigated in this study, it still exists. When analyzing these female
lyrics, it was noticeable that the characteristic of independence and girl power among the
female artists exists when love relationship is being communicated. It was also discovered
that gender norm breaking attitude existed among women artists, even if this was presented in
a discrete and at times “bubbly” way.
5.4 Style
When analyzing the lyrics, it became noticeable that the artists tend to portray diverse styles
when spreading a message. To discuss these findings further, the sociolinguistic ‘style’ was
applied to analyze how these messages of gender norms are being carried out (Znamenskaya,
2004, p. 124). This is because, in a linguistic study such as this, one cannot only consider
what is being expressed without investigating the style in terms of how the message is being
conveyed to the listener. These various styles were categorized into four different groups
(dramatic and psychopathic, depressed, confident and passionate) where the aim was to
discover how gender norms are being expressed in these songs.
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5.4.1 Dramatic and psychopathic style
The dramatic and psychopathic category of style includes lyrics such as Bebe Rexha´s I´m a
mess, Julia Michaels´ Issues and Halsey´s Bad at Love. These songs, all performed by female
artists clearly present a stereotype of a female who is not in control of her actions and does
not seem to care about them either. This makes these songs appear as quite dramatic.
Examples of how this is displayed is in sentences such as: “I could love you just like that, and
I could leave you just this fast” (Michaels, L. 5-6), “I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed, I don't
trust no one around us” (Rexha, L. 42-43) and “So I told him that I never really liked his
friends, now he's gone and he's calling me a bitch again” (Halsey, L. 3-4). These examples, as
discussed in the analysis as well, show gender norm breaking behavior of the female gender.
Still, what makes the style of these songs particularly interesting to consider, is that these
insane characteristics of a female reappears in all songs, regardless of artist and gender of
songwriter. In addition, the rhythm of these songs are slow and benumbed which supports the
idea that the main character (female) may be psychopathic (or drugged) due to its careless
way of dealing with handling emotions.
5.4.2 Depressed style

The depressed style is represented in many of the analyzed songs in this study. For example, it
is illustrated in Tove Lo’s Misstaken, Gwen Stefani’s Used to Love You and Guy Sebastian’s
Set in Stone. This is shown in the lyrics “I can tell myself it doesn't matter, but it's hitting my
heart” (Lo, L. 15-16), I thought you loved me the most” (Stefani, L. 10) and “I'm not lying,
sometimes I do get lonely, but I'm only missing you” (Sebastian, L. 15-16). One can tell that
these songs have a slower and more down mood as the lines represent a form of melancholy
and sad words. However, it is not just the words that help convey to the listener that the artist
is grieving. The lyrics discussed are performed with a hurt and painful tone. It is also
interesting to consider that it seems that the artists are singing through their agony as a form
of coping with the situation they are in. This can be a way for the artist to connect with the
listener if they have had a similar experience through more than just words.
5.4.3 Confident style

The confident style includes lyrics such as Thank You Next by Ariana Grande, Me by Taylor
Swift and Fuck Apologies by Jojo. What these songs have in common is that they all share a
message of self-esteem and girl power where the main character of the song is proud with
great self-awareness. This is shown in sentences such as: “I promise that you'll never find
another like me” (Swift, L. 1), “I'm not perfect, I got pride” (JoJo, L. 13) and “I know they
20
say I move on too fast, but this one gon' last, 'Cause her name is Ari, and I'm so good with
that” (Grande, L. 31-34). Furthermore, the style within these lyrics is certain of one thing: that
these females are not “in need of a man”. Contrary to how the depressed style affects the
listener, the assertiveness style gives the listener a sense of empowerment and "confidence".
This is also presented in the up-beat and powerful rhythm.
5.4.4 Passionate style

The passionate style represents those lyrics where the message of songs shares traditional
norms of love relationship. As shown in the analysis, most of these songs were performed by
male artists where the gender norm consisted of the idea of a love relationship in a long-term
relationship. Examples of this is when Prince Royce sings “So girl I try to hurry, right back to
your love, that's all I want” (Prince Royce, L. 13-14) and Justin Bieber, in his song Sorry “is it
too late now to say sorry?, 'Cause I'm missing more than just your body” (Bieber, L. 11-12).
In addition, a female example is Selena Gomez´s Lose you to Love me “You promised the
world and I fell for it, I put you first and you adored it” (Gomez, L. 1-2), even though this
song expresses love in an unhappy condition as well. The passion of the songs is displayed by
the artist and awakens strong emotions among listeners. The rhythm of these songs are usually
calm to allow focus on the lyrics being sung.
5.5 Results
The hypothesizes of this study was to investigate “whether or not avoidance of gender norms
in pop songs that dealt with love relationships could be linked to the gender of songwriter or
artists?”. The purpose of this analysis was to investigate if, when and how norm breaking
behavior was presented depending on the gender of the songwriter and/or gender of artist. In
the table below, a summary of the findings demonstrates to what extent norm breaking
behavior was found in the lyrics, focusing on the gender of the artist in those songs (see
Appendix 1).
Table 1: Number of Norm Breaking Behavior Found in Lyrics
Songwriter (gender) Female lyrics Male lyrics

Julia Michaels (female) 3/3 0/3
Tayla Parx (female) 2/3 0/3
Justin Tranter (male) 3/3 0/3
Joel Little (male) 3/3 0/3
Summary: 11/12 (92%) 0/12
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As the table shows, norm breaking behavior of the artist occurred in 92% of the female artists´
songs used for this study. In the male lyrics however, no gender norm breaking performances
could be linked to the male gender of the artist, as they all (regardless of the songwriters´
gender) shared traditional norms of love relationship. Yet, it was discovered that a certain
norm breaking stereotype existed in most of the male artists´ songs, where this norm breaking
character was described as a careless, independent female who was not interested of a
traditional love relationship. This was a rather interesting finding because this stereotype was
clearly presented in the female lyrics, the existence of which reappeared in the male lyrics as
well, yet described from another angle. Furthermore, this study showed that the gender of the
songwriter did not affect how gender norms were being expressed in songwriting. Still, as
mentioned, it appeared to be more “acceptable” in all lyrics regardless of gender, to present a
female character as the norm breaking kind, rather than a male in these lyrics used for this
study. This can stem from how society portrays what they expect from each gender.
One underlying factor of this may be due to how the millennial generation has changed the
norms of a love relationship. According to a study made by Jeffrey Arnett, an American
psychologist, millennials search to achieve their individual goals before they wish to commit
to a love relationship as their era allows them to achieve education, careers and success before
committing to marriage (Risman, 2018, p. 52). This may affect how, especially the female
artists, express independent power in their songs, as they wish to spread their ideas of a
gender equal society, which according to Arnett is extremely significant in search for a mate
(p. 52). A similar finding was also mentioned in Professor Naomi Ellemers´ report “Gender
Stereotypes Annual Review of Psychology” (2018). Ellemers explains that “the emotions
expressed by men and women also communicate and reinforce gender stereotypical
expectations. Research suggests that men and women tend to have similar emotional
experiences. However, the way they communicate about their emotions is different”
(Ellemers, 2018, p. 286). This is a possible reason as to why female songwriters are more
norm breaking in their expression of emotions and would like to illustrate to the listener what
they actually feel. On the other hand, it is much more likely for the male artist to suppress his
emotions and communicate them in a different way to the audience.
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6.0 Discussion
After analyzing the secondary data (lyrics), it became clear that certain norm breaking
behavior exists in lyrics regardless of the gender of the artist or songwriter, which usually
took form as a female stereotype. The question is, why does the appearance of gender norm
avoidance only exist in terms of a female character? The pop music industry is dominated by
men which makes one wonder if the innocent and old-fashioned gentlemen´s appearance of
men in these lyrics exists because that is the norm as the industry wish to spread (Samuelson,
2019). In addition, how does this affect the audience of youth and the values of the message
that is being spread? Today, many female artists wish to convey feminism in terms of equality
between men and woman in their music (Trier-Bieniek & Leavy, 2014, p. 87-88), yet it is
arguable if the characteristics of female which are presented in these songs supports this
opinion. To investigate this further, it became necessary to look into how the message, in
terms of the ‘mode´ and ‘style’ of these songs was being carried out.
6.1 Style
Styles provoke the listener in several ways and brings up various emotions among the listener.
Similar to what was found in Acerbi and Brand´s study (2020), which was previously
mentioned, where they identified sociolinguistic register and style in expression due to gender
norms. The tone and rhythm of the song also assist in creating a more affective message of the
lyric as well as how the ‘style’ is being carried out. It is also clear that regardless of gender
multiple styles can be represented. Yet, it was noticed that female characters within these
songs tend to be more accepted within the dramatic style, which contributes to the idea of
gender norms.
As mentioned earlier, the pop music industry is still dominated by men. To explain this in
numbers, a report on this topic showed that between the years of 2012-2018: only 12.3% of
the songwriters and 21.7 % of the artists were female, including all genres of the US top 100
Billboard list (Smith, Choueiti, Pieper et al., 2019). This lack of female representativeness is
also shown in the Grammy nominations where roughly 10 % of the nominees of all categories
were women (Smith, Choueiti, Pieper et al., 2019). This could mean that men are more likely
to control how gender norms are being expressed in song lyrics. Yet, what this study has
shown, is that what is considered as traditional gender norms in a love relationship, is rarely
supported by the female character in the songs analyzed, regardless of the gender of the artist
or songwriter. This makes one wonder why it appears to be more acceptable by female
23
characters to avoid norms in love songs as men give the impression of wanting the “happily
ever after”?
6.2 The pop music industry´s contribution to gender norms

The greatest audience of the pop music industry are young adults, and because the youth era is
when a person gets shaped after what seems to be accepted behavior, stereotyping in this way
may have a bad effect on this generation (Gentile, 2003, p. 303). Especially, since it has been
proven that the pop culture affects the creation and spreading of ideals of gender norms
(Storey, 2011, p. 125). Yet, there are many female activists in the contemporary music
industry who claim to attach to what is considered as the “third wave of feminism” where
female artists and songwriters try to create change by presenting females as independent,
strong persons with great self-value (Trier-Bieniek & Leavy, 2014, p. 87-88). What remains
to be answered if how this female stereotype that was discovered in both genders´ songs is
viewed by the audience. Is this identified stereotype linked to the third wave of feminism and
created to share female independence and self-value, or is this creation made to have someone
to blame, when love relationship does not succeed? This is a rather difficult question to
answer because it depends on how well the listener is aware of the context of the song. In
addition, most songwriters seem to co-write the lyrics with the artists and it seems like they
are well aware how they contribute to sharing gender norms (Ingham, 2019, Musoni, 2019 &
Kawashima, 2017). Yet, when it comes to writing about love relationships, many of the artists
and songwriters used in this study use their own experiences in the creation of these songs
which could mean that gender norms are not created by the pop music industry, rather they
arise from actual events in society (Musoni, 2019, LeDonne, 2017 & Barlow, 2018).
24
7.0 Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not the gender of songwriter and/or
artist contributes to the creation and spreading of gender norms that exists in love songs. By
analyzing the work of four songwriters and 24 lyrics, equally divided by both genders, the
researcher investigated the sociolinguistic ‘register’ and ‘style’ of the artist and songwriter,
with an aim to discover how gender norms are demonstrated in pop songs about love
relationships.
This research has proven that gender norms in pop songs exist, and appear in song lyrics as
certain stereotypes, where the female kind is usually presented as cold-hearted, selfish and not
interested of what is considered to be a “traditional” love relationship. As the content of lyrics
usually arises from the artist´s own experiences of love relationships, the songwriter cannot be
blamed for creating those gender norms that is being expressed by certain stereotypes in the
lyrics used for this study. This female stereotype appears in most of the songs used in this
study, regardless of gender of the artist or songwriter. The male stereotype on the other hand,
usually supports traditional gender norms in relationships. This creation of gender norms
within pop music reaches out to a large audience of youth where the largest target audience is
in a process of growth and development. This means that teens are easily influenced by the
environment and media.
In this study, it was also found that pop songs about love and relationships are expressed
differently depending on the artist’s gender. As mentioned, lyrics are usually co-written
together with the artist, when the formation and dispersal of gender norms occurs in the
process the song, where the parties do not always share the same gender nor background. In
addition, these concepts come from the artists´ experience within society. However,
depending on the gender of the artists, the song can be interpreted differently based of the
artist´s gender due to stereotypes and gender norms.
The obstacle of this study was to provide reliable results within this area due to its limitation
and the small sample of lyrics and songwriters used for this study. For future studies within
this field, a larger sample of lyrics as well as a deeper research of cultural social values would
benefit its outcome.
The thesis of this research was to discover if gender norms in love songs is a tribute to the
third wave of feminism or the results of a male dominated industry. When it comes to gender
norms in love songs, it appears to be more accepted by females to avoid norms associated
25
with relationships, rather than men. If this creation is due to the work of female activists
trying to share an image of women not being “in need of a man” or not, will remain
unanswered. The results of this study show that there is a difference in artists´ registers and
styles when it comes to pop songs about love and relationship. This may be due to the third
wave of feminism which could be viewed as the beginning of new gender norms.
26
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29
Appendix 1 - List of songwriters, artists and lyrics.
Gender Name Gender/Artist – Song (year)
1st male Joel Little M – Jarryd James – Do you remember (2015)
M – Noah Khan – Hurt somebody (2018)
M – James Bay – Peer pressure (2019)
F – Taylor Swift – Me (2019)
F – Amy Shark – Never coming back (2018)
F – Tove Lo – Mistaken (2019)
2nd male Justin Tranter M – Justin Bieber – Sorry (2015)
M – Bloodpop feat. Justin Bieber – Friends (2017)
M –Maroon 5 – Cold (2017)
F – Hailee Steinfeld - Love myself (2015)
F – Halsey – Bad at Love (2017)
F – Bebe Rexha – I´m a Mess (2018)
1st female Tayla Parx M - Chris Lane – All the Time (2016)
M – Prince Royce– Paris on a Sunny Day (2015)
M – Guy Sebastian – Set in Stone (2017)
F – Ariana Grande – Thank you Next (2019)
F – Jojo – Fuck Apologies (2016)
F- Julia Michaels – Heaven (2018)
2nd female Julia Michaels M – Maroon 5 ft. Julia Michaels – Help me out (2017)
M – 5 seconds of summer – Lie to me (2018)
M – Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo – Close (2016)
F – Selena Gomez – Lose you to love me (2019)
F – Julia Michaels – Issues (2017)
F – Gwen Stefani – Used to love you (2015)
30
Appendix 2 - Coding Schemes
2.1 Julia Michaels - Selena Gomez - Lose you to love me
Selected Example/comments (if applicable)
alternative
Gender of songwriter Female
Gender of singer Female

Tense: past or present? (mode) Past
State of mind: happy or Unhappy

unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Broken “I gave my all and they all know it
situation) relationship, Then you tore me down and now it's showing
lack of trust, In two months, you replaced us
regret, irritation. Like it was easy” (L. 25-28)
“I needed to hate you to love me, yeah” (L.
16)
Tenor (the relationship Ex-couple “And now the chapter is closed and done” (L.
between the participants in the 59)
song) “I needed to hate you to love me, yeah” (L.
16)
Main focus: On artist verses On artist
significate other.
Importance of Important “ I saw the signs and I ignored it” (L. 7)
belongingness: being together “I needed to lose you to find me” (L. 14)
or not. “I needed to hate you to love me, yeah” (L.
16)
Love expressed in long or Short
short terms/conditions.
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “You promised the world and I fell for it
others? Anything else? others I put you first and you adored it” (L1-2)
31
2.2 Julia Michaels - Julia Michaels - Issues
alternative

Tense: past or present? (mode) Present
State of mind: Happy or Both, psychic?
unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Clarify that no “'Cause I got issues
situation) one is perfect. But you got 'em too
Equality So give 'em all to me
And I'll give mine to you” (L. 11-14)
“Push you out, pull you back in” (L. 29)
“I could love you just like that
And I could leave you just this fast” L. 5-6)
Tenor (the relationship Depending on “Push you out, pull you back in” (L. 29)
between the participants in the each other “I could love you just like that
song) And I could leave you just this fast” (L. 5-6)
Main focus: On artist verses Both, but mainly
significate other. on artist.
Importance of Not “I could love you just like that
belongingness: being together And I could leave you just this fast” (L. 5-6)
or not.
Normative behavior?
Love expressed in long or Short terms
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Selfish, Ego “But you don't judge me
others? Anything else? 'Cause if you did, baby, I would judge you
too” (L. 7-8)
“I could love you just like that
And I could leave you just this fast” L. 5-6)
32
2.3 Julia Michaels - Gwen Stefani - Used to love you
alternative

Tense: past or present? (mode) Past
State of mind: happy or Unhappy, sad,

unhappy? (mode) disappointed
Field (purpose and social Broken love, “I don't know why I cry
situation) uncertain mixed But I think it's 'cause I remembered for the
feelings, first time
loneliness. Since I hated you
That I used to love you” (L. 11-14)
“You know I was the best thing that ever
happened to you
Oh, now look at what you lost, oh” (L. 46-
47)
Tenor (the relationship “I thought I was the best thing that ever
between the participants in the happened to you
song) I thought you loved me the most” (L. 9-10)
significate other.
Importance of Being together
belongingness: being together
or not.
Love expressed in long or Long condition “I thought I was the best thing that ever
short terms/conditions. happened to you
I thought you loved me the most” (L. 9-10)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Open-minded, “I don't know why I cry
others? Anything else? Independent But I think it's 'cause I remembered for the
first time
Since I hated you
That I used to love you” (L. 11-14)
“You know I was the best thing that ever
happened to you
Oh, now look at what you lost, oh” (L. 46-
47)
33
2.4 Julia Michaels - Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo - Close
alternative
Gender of singer Male

State of mind: happy or Happy

unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Expressing “'Cause if I want you, and I want you, babe
situation) feelings Ain't going backwards, won't ask for space”
(L. 11-12)
Tenor (the relationship Dating “I am like you so I want proof of what you're
between the participants in the feeling” (L. 32)
song)
Main focus: On artist verses On significate
significate other. other
Importance of Being together “'Cause space is just a word made up by
belongingness: being together someone who's afraid to get too
or not. Close, oh” (L. 13-14)
Love expressed in long or Unclear

Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “I am not really known for ever being
others? Anything else? others speechless
But now, but now somehow
My words roll off my tongue right onto your
lips, oh” (L. 22-24)
34
2.5 Julia Michaels - Maroon 5 ft. Julia Michaels - Help Me Out
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Falling apart, “It feels like I don't know you anymore
situation) I don't understand why you're so cold to me”
(L. 19-20)
Tenor (the relationship About to break “Never thought that you were like this
between the participants in the up I took the tag off, and made you priceless”
song) (L. 53-54)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “You know how to fuck with me
significate other. Acting like we're not together
After everything that we've been through”(L.
10-12)
or not.
Love expressed in long or Long
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent, “You ain't been actin' the same
others? Anything else? Open-minded You gotta go, but where your heart used to
be” (L. 62-63)
“Girl, I tried to give you space
Baby, tell me how did you get so
Cold enough to chill my bones
It feels like I don't know you anymore”
(L. 67-70)
35
2.6 Julia Michaels - 5 Seconds of Summer - Lie to Me
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Broken love “Now I wish we'd never met
situation) 'Cause you're too hard to forget” (L. 8-9)
Tenor (the relationship “And I know that you don't

between the participants in the But if I ask you if you love me
song)
I hope you li-li-li-lie
Lie to me” (L. 12-15)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “While I'm cleaning up your mess
significate other. I know he's taking off your dress” (L. 10-11)
Importance of Being together Flashing back to New York City
belongingness: being together Changing flights so you'd stay with me
or not.
Remember thinking that I got this right” (L.
5-7)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “Problem was I thought I had this right” (L.
others? Anything else? others 22)
36
2.7 Tayla Parx - Ariana Grande - Thank You Next
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Expressing “Say I've loved and I've lost
situation) feministic But that's not what I see
independency So, look what I got
Look what you taught me” (L. 13-16)
“Thank you, next
I'm so fuckin' grateful for my ex” (L. 20-21)
Tenor (the relationship Song to her ex “One taught me love
between the participants in the One taught me patience
song) And one taught me pain
Now, I'm so amazing” (L. 9-12)
Main focus: On artist verses On artist “Say I've loved and I've lost
significate other. But that's not what I see
So, look what I got
Look what you taught me” (L. 13-16)
Importance of Not “Thank you, next
belongingness: being together I'm so fuckin' grateful for my ex” (L. 20-21)
or not.
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “Ain't no need for searching” (L. 70)
others? Anything else? “I know they say I move on too fast
But this one gon' last
'Cause her name is Ari
And I'm so good with that (so good with
that)” (L. 31-34)
“Thank you, next
I'm so fuckin' grateful for my ex” (L. 20-21)
37
2.8 Tayla Parx - Julia Michaels - Heaven
alternative

State of mind: happy or Neutral

unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Exes that have “Would have done anything everything for
situation) him
moved on?
And if you ask me I would do it again” (L. 5-
6)
“Love's my religion but he was my faith
Something so sacred so hard to replace” (L.
1-2)
Tenor (the relationship Ex-lovers “You don't realize the power they have
between the participants in the Until they leave you and you want them
song)
back” (L. 15-16)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “Would have done anything everything for
significate other. him” (L. 4)
Importance of Being together “Love's my religion but he was my faith
belongingness: being together Something so sacred so hard to replace” (L.
or not. 1-2)
Love expressed in long or Short term “It's automatic
short terms/conditions. It's just what they do
They say "all good boys go to heaven"
But bad boys bring heaven to you” (L. 11-14)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “I'm not a sinner he wasn't the one
others? Anything else? Had no idea what we would become
There's no regrets I just thought it was fun”
(L. 18-20)
38
2.9 Tayla Parx - Jojo - Fuck Apologies
alternative

State of mind: happy or Anger?

unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Broken love “What you want from me?
situation) I would say I'm sorry if I really meant it” (L.
9-10)
Tenor (the relationship Exes “Saw it in your eyes, when you said goodbye
between the participants in the You didn't even try, so this time I don't care”
song) (L. 3-4)

significate other.
Importance of Not “Saw it in your eyes, when you said goodbye
belongingness: being together You didn't even try, so this time I don't care”
or not. (L. 3-4)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “I can't help that you, feel the way you do
others? Anything else? Try not to get confused, 'cause this time I
don't care” (L. 18-19)
“When I wasn't playing smart now I'm being
wise
Finally I'm moving on and I don't need your
lies” (L. 35-36)
“I'm not perfect, I got pride” (L. 13)
“What you want from me?
I would say I'm sorry if I really meant it” (L.
9-10)
39
2.10 Tayla Parx - Guy Sebastian - Set in Stone
alternative

State of mind: happy or Unhappy “I met a girl last night, had short blonde hair
unhappy? (mode) and hazel eyes
Like you, almost like you” (L. 1-2)
Field (purpose and social Broken love “The one thing that stood out the most is
situation) almost isn't even close to you
There's nothing like you” (L. 5-6)
“Your love is engraved on my heart” (L. 8)
Tenor (the relationship Exes “I'm not lying, sometimes I do get lonely
between the participants in the But I'm only missing you
song)
Temptation comes and quickly goes
When I think of going back home to you” (L.
15-18)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “Your love is engraved on my heart” (L. 8)
significate other. “But I'm only missing you” (L. 16)
Importance of Being together “If I had to choose between the two
belongingness: being together You know my choice is always you” (L. 27-
or not. 28)
Love expressed in long or Long term “Your love is engraved on my heart
short terms/conditions. It's set in stone
Nothing could break us apart” (L. 8-10)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Not “You know my choice is always you” (L. 28)
others? Anything else? “Nothing could break us apart” (L. 10)
40
2.11 Tayla Parx - Prince Royce - Paris on a Sunny Day
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Missing his “So girl I try to hurry
situation) partner, working Right back to your love, that's all I want” (L.
away from 13-14)
home
Tenor (the relationship Distance “Girl, I'm on my way home to see your face
between the participants in the relationship Anywhere with my love's my favorite place”
song) (L. 44-45)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other
significate other.
Importance of Being together “So girl I try to hurry
belongingness: being together Right back to your love, that's all I want” (L.
or not. 13-14)
Love expressed in long or Long term “I don't need to see another view to know (to
short terms/conditions. know)
What I have when I'm there with you” (L. 16-
17)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “Girl, I'm on my way home to see your face
others? Anything else? others Anywhere with my love's my favorite place”
(L. 44-45)
41
2.12 Tayla Parx - Chris Lane - All the Time
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Sorting out “I give my love and she just takes it
situation feelings No, she don't even need to ask
Don't give it back, she don't replace it” (L.
15-17)
Tenor (the relationship Dating “She only wants me on the weekend
between the participants in the Why do I want it all the time?
song) I even see you when I'm sleeping
The only thing that's on my mind” (L. 1-4)
significate other.
or not.
Love expressed in long or Short term “But she only wants me on the weekend” (L.
short terms/conditions. 7)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “I give my love and she just takes it
others? Anything else? others No, she don't even need to ask
Don't give it back, she don't replace it” (L.
15-17)
42
2.13 Justin Tranter - Bebe Rexha - I´m a Mess
alternative
Gender of songwriter Male

State of mind: happy or Unhappy,

unhappy? (mode) psychic?
Field (purpose and social Jealousy, hard to “I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed
situation) move on, misses I don't trust no one around us
him. I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new” (L. 42-
44)
Tenor (the relationship Used to date “Pretty sure he don't wanna be my baby
between the participants in the Oh, he don't love me, he don't love me
song) He don't love me, he don't love me
But that's okay” (L. 2-5)
Main focus: On artist verses On artist “Yeah, I love myself anyway” (L. 30)
significate other.
Importance of Being together “I'm a mess, I'm a loser
belongingness: being together I'm a hater, I'm a user
or not. I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new” (L. 17-
19)
Love expressed in long or Short term

Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “Everything's gonna be alright
others? Anything else? Everything's gonna be okay
It's gonna be a good, good, life
That's what my therapist say” (L. 10-13)
“I'm a mess, I'm a loser

I'm a hater, I'm a user
I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new” (L. 17-
19)
43
2.14 Justin Tranter - Halsey - Bad at Love
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social “I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe
situation) That we're meant to be
But jealousy, jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
Get the best of me” (L.9-12)
“I'm bad at love (ooh-ooh)
But you can't blame me for tryin'” (L. 16-17)
Tenor (the relationship Exes, used to “So I told him that I never really liked his
between the participants in the date friends
song) Now he's gone and he's calling me a bitch
again” (L. 3-4)
“You know I'd be lyin' sayin'
You were the one (ooh-ooh” (L. 18-19)

significate other.
Importance of Not “I'm bad at love (ooh-ooh)
belongingness: being together But you can't blame me for tryin'” (L. 16-17)
or not.
Love expressed in long or Short terms “Look, I don't mean to frustrate, but I
short terms/conditions. Always make the same mistakes,” (L. 13-14)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “I'm bad at love (ooh-ooh)

others? Anything else? But you can't blame me for tryin'
You know I'd be lyin' sayin'
You were the one (ooh-ooh” (L. 16-19)
44
2.15 Justin Tranter - Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself
alternative


unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Explain how “I'll take it nice and slow
situation) well she is doing Feeling good on my own without you, yeah”
without her exes (L. 18-19)
Tenor (the relationship Not talking, “The beautiful, it comes without you, yeah”
between the participants in the angry at her ex? (L. 21)
song) Regrets for “Gonna love myself, no, I don't need
dating him? anybody else” (L. 10)
Main focus: On artist verses On artist “The beautiful, it comes without you, yeah”
significate other. (L. 21)
Importance of Not “Gonna love myself, no, I don't need
belongingness: being together anybody else” (L. 10)
or not.
Love expressed in long or Short terms “I'll take it nice and slow
short terms/conditions. Feeling good on my own without you, yeah”
(L. 18-19)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “I'm gonna put my body first
others? Anything else? And love me so hard 'til it hurts” (L. 22-23
45
2.16 Justin Tranter - Justin Bieber - Sorry
alternative

State of mind: happy or Neutral, sad

unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Asking for a “Yeah, is it too late now to say sorry?
situation) second chance 'Cause I'm missing more than just your body”
(L. 11-12)
Tenor (the relationship Exes – not “Can we both say the words and forget this?”
between the participants in the talking (L. 28)
song)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “You gotta go and get angry at all of my
significate other. honesty
You know I try but I don't do too well with
apologies” (L. 3-4)
Importance of Being together “I'll take every single piece of the blame if
belongingness: being together you want me to
or not. But you know that there is no innocent one in
this game for two” (L. 25-26)
Love expressed in long or Long term “Yeah, is it too late now to say sorry?
short terms/conditions. 'Cause I'm missing more than just your body”
(L. 11-12)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “Yeah, is it too late now to say sorry?” (L.
others? Anything else? others 11)
46
2.17 Justin Tranter - Bloodpop feat. Justin Bieber - Friends
alternative

State of mind: happy or Sad

unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Broken love “Wonderin' if you think about me
situation) Actually, don't answer that” (L. 17-18)
Tenor (the relationship Not talking “Know we didn't end this so good
between the participants in the But you know we had something so good” (L.
song) 7-8)
“So I´m wondering, can we still be friends” (L.
9)
And if it ends, can we be friends?” (L. 11-12)
Main focus: On artist verses Both
significate other.
Importance of Being together And if it ends, can we be friends?” (L. 11-12)
or not.
Love expressed in long or Not applicable
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “I was wonderin' 'bout your mama
others? Anything else? others Did she get that job she wanted?” (L. 1-2)
“And if it ends, can we be friends?” (L. 11-12)
47
2.18 Justin Tranter - Maroon 5 - Cold
alternative

State of mind: happy or Sad “You know how to fuck with me

unhappy? (mode) Acting like we're not together
After everything that we've been through” (L.
10-12)
Field (purpose and social Deciding what “Are we taking time, or a time out?
situation) to do I can't take the in-between” (L. 7-8)
“You know how to fuck with me
Acting like we're not together
After everything that we've been through” (L.
10-12)
Tenor (the relationship “It feels like I don't know you anymore
between the participants in the I don't understand why you're so cold to me”
song) (L. 2-3)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate “It feels like I don't know you anymore
significate other. other I don't understand why you're so cold to me”
(L. 19-20)
Importance of Being together “It feels like I don't know you anymore
belongingness: being together I don't understand why you're so cold to me”
or not. (L. 19-20)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Unsure “Acting like we're not together
others? Anything else? If you don't want this, then what's the use?” (L.
31-32)
48
2.19 Joel Little - Tove Lo - Mistaken
alternative

Tense: past or present? Present
(mode)
State of mind: happy or Unhappy, sad “Man, every little thing means more when you
unhappy? (mode) say it” (L. 1)
Field (purpose and social Unsolved “I can tell myself it doesn't matter
situation) business But it's hitting my heart” (L. 15-16)
Tenor (the relationship Used to date? “I think you like the way she kissed you better
between the participants in the Lack of Maybe I'm mistaken” (L. 11-12)
song) communication, “Man, you know I never want a reason to
control freak doubt you
(artist) Damn, I wish I didn't ask the questions I do
'cause I
I know I get all up in my head about it
But it won't last” (L. 19-22)
Main focus: On artist verses On artist “I blow it way out of proportion, hey
significate other. I know I get all up in my head about it
Importance of Being together “Man, you know I never want a reason to

belongingness: being together doubt you
or not. Damn, I wish I didn't ask the questions I do
'cause I
I know I get all up in my head about it
Love expressed in long or Short term “I know I get all up in my head about it
short terms/conditions. But it won't last” (L. 21-22)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “I hate to lose to my emotions” (L. 26)
others? Anything else? “I can tell myself it doesn't matter
But it's hitting my heart” (L. 15-16)
*Seems a bit controlling
49
2.20 Joel Little - Tailor Swift - Me
alternative

(mode)
State of mind: happy or Happy “And I promise that nobody's gonna love you
unhappy? (mode) like me-e-e” (L. 20)
Field (purpose and social Declaring “I promise that you'll never find another like
situation) feelings me” (L.1)
“I know that I'm a handful, baby, uh
I know I never think before I jump” (L. 3-4)
Tenor (the relationship Dating “I know that I'm a handful, baby, uh

between the participants in I know I never think before I jump
the song) And you're the kind of guy the ladies want” (L.
2-4)
significate other.
Importance of Mixed “I'm the only one of me
belongingness: being Baby, that's the fun of me” (L. 15-16)
together or not. “I promise that you'll never find another like
me” (L. 1)”

Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “I know that I went psycho on the phone
others? Anything else? I never leave well enough alone
And trouble's gonna follow where I go” (L. 6-
8)
“I'm the only one of me
Baby, that's the fun of me” (L. 15-16)
50
2.21 Joel Little - Amy Shark - Never Coming Back
alternative

(mode)
unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Saying goodbye “Now I'm never coming back
situation) I think you should just leave me here” (L. 11-
12)
Tenor (the relationship Falling apart “Told you everyday

between the participants in You would really love it here” (L. 9-10)
the song) “Guess I'm never coming home
Even though I am with you babe” (L. 11-14)
“'Cause I'm never coming home
Even though I will miss you babe” (L. 31-32)
Main focus: On artist verses On artist “'Cause I'm never coming home
significate other. Even though I will miss you babe” (L. 31-32)
Importance of Unclear “Now I'm never coming back
belongingness: being I think you should just leave me here” (L. 11-
together or not. 12)

Attitude: Selfish, caring for Independent “There's no way I
others? Anything else? Will give you what you want” (L. 21-22)
51
2.22 Joel Little - James Bay - Peer Pressure
alternative

(mode)
State of mind: happy or Thrilled “I'm under control till you're in front of me
unhappy? (mode) Maybe I'm scared, I don't care, I'm addicted”
(L. 13-14)
Field (purpose and social Searching “I'm under control till you're in front of me
situation) satisfaction Maybe I'm scared, I don't care, I'm addicted”
(L. 13-14)
Tenor (the relationship Dating, or some “Want your heart beating on me, don't leave
between the participants in sort of sexual me hot and lonely
the song) relationship I don't usually give in to peer pressure
But I'll give in to yours” (L. 7-9)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “Put your hands on my body just like you
significate other. think you know me” (L. 17)
Importance of Not
belongingness: being
together or not.
Love expressed in long or Short terms The girl is playing games with him
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “So I give you my everything and you keep on
others? Anything else? others teasing
With that look in your eyes 'cause you know I
believe it” (L. 21-22)
52
2.23 Joel Little - Jarryd James - Do You Remember
alternative

Tense: past or present? Past
(mode)
State of mind: happy or Unhappy, sad
unhappy? (mode)
Field (purpose and social Explaining his “When did we lose our way?
situation) feelings, asking Easier to let it go” (L. 1-2)
her to call back
“Will you find out that there ain't no other love
No other love for you” (L. 28-29)
Tenor (the relationship Losing each “Call me when you made up your mind
between the participants in other But you won't
the song) Caught up in the way that you played my heart
Only love could ever hit this hard” (L. 5-8)
“Call me when you made up your mind
But you won't” (L. 17-18)

significate other.
Importance of Being together “When did we lose our way?
belongingness: being Easier to let it go” (L. 1-2)
together or not.
Love expressed in long or Short terms
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “Call me when you made up your mind
others? Anything else? others But you won't” (L. 17-18)
53
2.24 Joel Little - Noah Kahan - Hurt Somebody
alternative

(mode)
State of mind: happy or Unsure, regrets? “It's harder than I thought to tell the truth
unhappy? (mode) It's gonna leave you in pieces” (L. 4-5)
Field (purpose and social Some sort of “Hold me close and I won't leave
situation) secrets that the 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody
artist is trying to So much to say but I don't speak
explain. And I hate that I let you stop me
'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody” (L.
9-13)
Tenor (the relationship Couple “I'm afraid to be lonely

between the participants in Nobody told me
the song) It's harder than I thought to tell the truth
It's gonna leave you in pieces” (L. 2-5)
Main focus: On artist verses Significate other “You'll feel the stinging and you think of me
significate other. 'Cause it hurts when you hurt” (L. 29-30)
Importance of Being together “Hey, you got me searching for reasons
belongingness: being To keep me from leaving” (L. 18-19)
together or not.
Love expressed in long or Long terms “And I know that we need this
short terms/conditions. But I've been too afraid to follow through” (L.
7-8)
Attitude: Selfish, caring for Caring for “You'll feel the stinging and you think of me
others? Anything else? others 'Cause it hurts when you hurt” (L. 29-30)
54

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Gender norms expressed in love songs; a tribute to

the third wave of feminism or the results of a male

– Tayla Parx, songwriter (Musoni, 2019).

2.2 Research questions

2.3.2 Alternative hypothesis – gender based narratives

3.1 Gender norms and popular music

3.2 The pop music industry

3.3 Love relationship

3.4 Linguistic features

3.5 Previous research on the topic

4.1 The quantitative research

4.2 The qualitative research

5.2 Field and Tenor

5.2.2 Female songwriters and male artists

5.2.4 Male songwriters and male artists

5.3.2 Tayla Parx

5.3.3 Justin Tranter

5.3.4 Joel Little

5.4.2 Depressed style

5.4.3 Confident style

5.4.4 Passionate style

Table 1: Number of Norm Breaking Behavior Found in Lyrics

Songwriter (gender) Female lyrics Male lyrics

6.2 The pop music industry´s contribution to gender norms

Björck, C. (2011). Freedom, constraint, or both? Readings on popular music and

Cambridge Dictionary. (2020a). Popular culture. Retrieved March 6, 2020 from:

Cambridge Dictionary. (2020b). Popular music. Retrieved March 6, 2020 from:

Cambridge Dictionary. (2020c). Relationship. Retrieved March 22, 2020 from:

Collins Dictionary. (2020a). Definition of ‘Gender’. Retrieved March 3, 2020 from:

Kawashima, D. (2017). Interview with Joel Little, Grammy-Winning Writer/Producer for

LeDonne, R. (2017). Grammy-Nominated Songwriter Justin Tranter Is Truly a Pop

Rojek, C. (2011). Pop Music, Pop Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Female

State of mind: happy or Unhappy

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Female

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Female

State of mind: happy or Unhappy, sad,

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Male

State of mind: happy or Happy

Love expressed in long or Unclear

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Male

State of mind: happy or Unhappy

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Male

State of mind: happy or Unhappy

Tenor (the relationship “And I know that you don't

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Female

State of mind: happy or Happy

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Female

State of mind: happy or Neutral

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Female

State of mind: happy or Anger?

Main focus: On artist verses On artist

Gender of songwriter Female

Gender of singer Male