"Love On Top"

We live and breathe in a society that is continuously surrounded by music. Whether that is driving in the car, walking to class listening to your iPhone, running or even studying, individuals are constantly being absorbed into a world full of song lyrics. Although there has been an observed increase in media and more specifically media consumption, research has shown that this increase in consumption of music also has a profound effect on human perception (Levitin, 2006). Music in fact is so engraved in the society that we live in today that one could argue that instead of paying attention to our parents wise advice, many individuals are falling into the socialization trap that these rap, hip hop and other genre song lyrics are portraying. I know that in my everyday life and as well as in my friends lives, we constantly are listening to the emotional significance and meaning behind the song lyrics that we are blaring at the top of our lungs. One song in particular that my friends and I love to belt at anytime of the day is our queen and arguably idol, Beyonce.

But how could anyone possibly find something wrong with any of Beyonce’s song lyrics, someone might ask? Well the truth of the matter is that throughout a majority of Beyonce’s songs, as well as other media songs, individuals are portrayed to various love myths that I know a lot of my friends get sucked into believing. The abundance of brain washing lyrics regarding love, not only makes my single college friends wish that they had a lover but more importantly, it makes them wish that they had a guy that completes them, filling all of their needs and truly making their dreams come true and therefore completing them as an individual (Galician, 2004, p.225). What’s the problem with being optimistic and listening to love songs? Well the overall problem is that through praising and looking up to Beyonce and listening to her repeatedly sing the lyrics “Baby it’s you. You’re the one I love. You’re the one I need. You’re the only one I see” in her 2011 hit music video, “Love on Top”, my friends sulk in bed for hours because they are hoping and wishing that they will find this mysterious man who is said to exist in the world but somehow is rare to find.

Although it is easy for me to now argue that a lot of songs contain lyrics that are highly influential on individual’s attitudes and beliefs, it was hard for me to notice this and make this connection until today when my friends and I found ourselves singing this well known Beyonce song. I instantly paused and carefully paid better attention to these lyrics to notice that they were in fact a representation of myth #10, observed in the Anne Bader “Love Will Steer The Stars and other Improbable Feats: Media Myths in Popular Love Songs” a myth that was studied carefully and found to be present in nearly 55% of all songs. Today might have been an important moment for my friends because they finally realized that although they always have thought and been told through song lyrics,  that they would be happier if they had a man, this statement is highly false. In fact, if they stopped listening to songs focused solely on making dreams come true through finding the right male to complete them, I would be shocked not to see a happier society with less love expectations, well at least amongst my friends.

                                                                  Works Cited

Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media myths in popular love

     songs. In M.-L. Galician & D. L. Merskin (Eds.), Critical thinking about sex, love, and romance in

     the mass media (pp. 141-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Graham, R., Schuler, N., & Stefanija, L. (2004). Musical Listening Habits Of College Students: A 

     Foreword. 1-15. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from 

     http://www.academia.edu/861049/Musical_Listening_Habits_of_College_Students_A_Foreword