Love and sex. Sex and money. Money and women. Mix these up and you have all of the top songs of the moment in a nutshell…or so I thought. When I decided to write this article I thought it would be a simple criticism of our culture’s obsession with love, sex, and money. Seems to be all the rage, right? Fortunately, I can admit that I was wrong. Or at least, I wasn’t completely right. Our society has a lot more to it. Hope is not lost!
Sure, when you crunch the numbers, 20 out of our top 40 songs are about romantic love. Meaning we concentrate 50 percent of our attention on one other individual and put our relationships with all of the other invaluable people in our lives on the margins. And yes, seven more were about partying, sex, and devaluing both women and the importance of relationships. That’s about 68 percent all together. Of course, we could concentrate on that percentage and wallow in the disappointment we feel in our society for failing us as women who crave more meaning, but there is more to today’s music than meets the eye.
“…Making time for the ones that count. I’ll spend the rest of my time laughing hard with the windows down,” wise words sung by Kelly Clarkson in Catch My Breath, the 35th most popular song of the moment. Every girl knows the importance of valuing the people we love the most. Let’s start this year of on a beautiful step by letting go of unnecessary distractions and concentrating on the family and friends who we can laugh with, with the windows down.
Bruno Mars is really pulling in the fans with “Locked Out of Heaven”, a song essentially about how much he enjoys having sex. Lyrics like “You make me feel like, I’ve been locked out of heaven for too long” are followed by “the sex takes me to paradise.” Reality check: if sex is your top priority and highest aspiration you’re in for an unfortuante life. The highs of hook-ups are short-lived and honestly there is so much more to life. But what sort of message is it sending to concentrate on this one physical aspect of life? It’s something that should be enjoyed with the right person, but to rank sex up there with eternal heavenly enjoyment leaves me fairly unsatisfied.
Obviously life is a constant struggle. It’s so easy to concentrate on the things that give us instant highs, like hook-ups, romance, and partying, but when it comes down to it, we are all so complex. Our emotions run deeper than our physicality. We concentrate on love because we are so desperate to relate to each other. The tug between satisfying ourselves physically and emotionally is natural. I’d even venture to say it’s somewhat of an internal war we all need to deal with to learn about ourselves.
“What do I stand for?” Fun. asks repeatedly in their top 20 single “Some Nights”. We forever need to struggle to figure things out about ourselves to realize how to best bring love and goodness into our lives and the world at large.
So yes, sometimes the love songs veer to the obsessive side (anyone listen to Better Dig Two by The Band Perry recently? Oy.) It’s unhealthy that part of society views a romantic relationship as the only one worth having. And it’s even more disturbing to listen to songs where women are degraded and seen as objects to acquire, use, brag about. But concentrating on these societal flaws and not seeing the beauty in other music won’t help us grow individually or societally. Music can and truly does speak volumes about family, memories, and life’s everlasting changes and dilemmas.
So what do you stand for? Are you living your life to fill it with sex, heartbreak, partying, and money? Or do you want to live a life of growth, family, friendships, and so much more goodness? Perhaps take the lead of the heart-melting song “Little Things” and appreciate what we so often dislike and overlook. No wonder One Direction has captured the hearts of so many. They’ve tapped into our need to feel appreciated and loved for what we are. Afterall, you can follow in Alicia Keys footsteps and be a “Girl on Fire” because “don’t you worry child, heaven’s got a plan for you,” (thanks Swedish House Mafia, we’re feeling so reassured now.)
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Photo Credits to Each Respective Artists’ Album