Interpreting Song Using Music — A Short Semiotical Analysis
As social human beings, we need to interact with each other. One way to
interact with others is by communicating. And in communicating, we use language. There are spoken and written languages. Language is not only about spoken or written, we also can use our body gestures to communicate with others. Kreidler (1998:44) stated, “People not only talk and write to describe things and events and characteristics; they also express their opinions, favorable and unfavorable. With language, we are able to communicate with each other.”
I believe we all know that we can communicate indirectly using a song or music. Because I think it’s funny though. There are some moments when I listened to some sad songs and my friends were like, “What’s happening, man? What’s bothering you? Come and tell your story.” I could say that we don’t need to verbally express what do we feel, we can just use a certain song to express it. Miell et. Al. (2012) stated that music is a powerful means of communication. It provides a means by which people can share emotions, intentions, and meanings even though their spoken languages may be mutually incomprehensible.
Cited Hunter and Schellenberg (2010), Limer (2018) stated that when examining emotion in relation to music, emotion consists of values of dimensions, arousal, and valence. Arousal is measured from low to high, and valence is measured from positive to negative. There are three major emotions; happiness, sadness, and anger. Happiness has high arousal and positive valence, sadness has low arousal and negative valence, and anger has high arousal and negative valence.
I personally love listening to any kind of musical genre. Be it pop, rock, metal, jazz, swing, blues, dangdut, etc. As long as the song and my ears have the same connection, then I am fine with it. Frank Ocean once said this, “When you’re happy, you enjoy the music but when you’re sad, you understand the lyrics.” I totally relate to that quote. Most of the time I fall in love with a song it’s because I listen to it when I’m in my “normal” condition— not happy and not sad. And mostly I focus on the music, not the lyrics.
Because of my random musical preferences, I stumbled upon the Queen of Japanese City Pop — Mariya Takeuchi. She’s Japanese, therefore most of her songs contain lyrics that are written in, you guess it, Japanese. From Plastic Love, September, Oh No, Oh Yes!, Yume No Tsuzuki, and then I found Eki. Just by listening to the intro of Eki, I became sad immediately. I know nothing about the Japanese language. I didn’t even know what does Eki mean at that time. But somehow I felt miserable just by listening to the song.
Then a several days ago, on my way to go back home from work, I realized something; we can determine the emotion of a song just by focusing on the music. Not the whole song, which contains music and lyrics.
After that, to strengthen my hypothesis, I kinda did a little experiment. I asked several friends of mine to do a favor. (Including Mega Dayu, a person who inspired me to write Flying High with the Butterfly Effect). I specifically asked them to listen to some songs and just focusing on the music, not the lyrics, and they didn’t need to listen to the whole song. Then I asked them to just tell the emotion of each song — happy, sad, angry, sorrow, or any other else.
Love You on Tuesday by Mocca = Happy
Lucky by Lucie,Too = Passionate
Eki by Mariya Takeuchi = Sad
Dancing Queen by Abba = Cheerful
Here We Go Again / Fanboi by Ardhito Pramono = Cheerful
After I gathered “my participants” answers, I concluded that when we listen to a certain song, we can recognize the emotion that is contained in it. Though we can’t immediately feel the emotion or relate to the emotion, at least we can recognize the emotion.
Imagine that you are now playing an adventure game. At first, the soundtrack should be light, cheerful, or calming music. It shows that this is the beginning. There is nothing to worry about. Everything is fine and normal at this point. In the middle of it, suddenly the music changes into tense, scary, or anxious music. I am sure you would think that your character is in a danger.
Particular aspects of music may encourage listeners to perceive specific emotions. For example, it has been well documented that music in major keys with an upbeat tempo is perceived as conveying happiness, whereas music in minor keys with a slow tempo is perceived as being sad songs. (Limer, 2018). From my example songs above, Dancing Queen has music in major keys with an upbeat tempo, while Eki has music in minor keys with a slow tempo.
Interpreting the story of a song using the lyrics? I have done that!
My undergraduate thesis was about the connotative meaning found in the song lyric of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater, which you can read here.
But interpreting the story of a song using the music? It’s a different story.
From the random thought about determining the emotion of the song just by listening to the music, I developed another thought; how can we interpret the hidden story in a song using the music? I was pretty sure that it could be analyzed using Semiotics theory. Until my question was answered by my undergraduate thesis Supervisor, Pak Muhammad Rozin. He said that theoretically, it is possible. He cited Chandler; Sign is everything that stands for something else. Moreover, Pak Rozin added that everything that has a specific meaning could be regarded as a sign, including music.
Semiotics itself is the study of signs and their meaning in society (Media Texthack Team, 2014). The signs here could be anything. Ranging from pictures, text, photography, drawing, even music itself. According to Saussure (1959), every sign is composed of:
* a ‘signifier’ — the form which the sign takes; and
* the ‘signified’ — the concept it represents.
To make it easier, take a look at this short explanation by Rogers (2016)
Furthermore, in terms of music, it could be like this:
1. Upbeat and cheerful song
Signifier: Upbeat and cheerful music
Signifies: A symbol of happiness
2. Downbeat and mellow song
Signifier: Downbeat and mellow music
Signifies: A symbol of sadness
3. Upbeat and intense song
Signifier: Upbeat and intense music
Signifies: A symbol of passion or angriness
Maybe we can interpret a song by only analyzing the music, maybe we can’t. Because I think it could be tricky. Especially if we interpret a song that has musical changes here and there or a song that has “bright” music but the lyric is “dark.” Hence, I got another thought; we could get the “correct” story of a song and/or get the “correct” emotion of a song if we analyze both the lyric and the music. Therefore, music in a song has a role in the process of interpreting the story conveyed. Unless it is an instrumental song, which doesn’t have any lyrics on it, then it would be easier. Because we only have the option to just determine the emotion of it.
Let’s try it by analyzing some songs below:
Eki — Mariya Takeuchi
This is a total sad song. You can feel it just by listening to the music without require to understand Japanese. But basically, this is a song about a woman who accidentally met her ex-lover in a station.
The youthful memories well up
A step ahead of the nostalgia
I can’t find the words
I just wanted to casually let you know
That I’m doing just fine
Without you…Note: the lyrics translation was taken from JPopAsia
Mariya sang beautifully. This is an example of how the lyrics and the music blend together to make the listener feel gloomy.
On the Phone — Sheila on 7
A hidden gem from Sheila on 7. This song has music in major keys with a little bit of upbeat tempo. And the lyric itself tells about a person who is in love with someone after they had a conversation on the phone.
Suddenly the phone rang
It was you and me, we spoke and laughed, yeah
We had so much fun on the line
It’s unforgettableI’ve been loving you since the first time
An hour conversation on the phone
So I wanna thank you for filling the emptiness in me
It’s you who I’ve been dreaming of
I’ve been loving you since the first time on the phone
With happy lyrics and bright music, the listeners could perceive a positive emotion from this song. The listeners could also know how it feels to be in love with someone.
Here We Go Again / Fanboi — Ardhito Pramono
This song is tricky. A song that at first has fun and jazzy music plus it has positive lyrics. It tells about a person who falls in love again with someone after a while. He describes the woman and he also describes how he really loves and is interested in the beauty of this woman.
So here we go again, I kissed that girl again
But suddenly it must come to an end
Stop smiling, you know you are so annoying
Your chicks, your lips, your hips are so tempting
If she really finds out, I’ll be dead man walkin’
Ardhito wrote, “I kissed that girl again.” It could be a cue for the listener to interpret that Ardhito now is already with that girl. I mean, if he isn’t with that girl, how could he kiss her? Plus, the music in this section is bright and fun. All of them unite into one package. Therefore people would interpret that this is a happy song.
Until this section comes:
I’m just a fan
Livin’ my fantasy
Fallin’ in love with the girl I can’t see
Flying miles away
With all my dignity
Savin’ all my fireworks
Will you ever notice me?
“Livin’ in my fantasy” and “Will you ever notice me?”
Aren’t they confusing? Well, no wonder since we are presented with bright music and lyric at first.
The last section turns into sad. The “sad” itself could be justified by the music. While at first the music is bright and fun, in this section the music turns into sad and gloomy. You will be like, “What is going on? What’s this really about?.” It’s easy tho. It could be interpreted that Ardhito isn’t with that girl. In fact, Ardhito is just dreaming about being with her and kiss her. That’s why the music becomes down. It is used to justified the fact that Ardhito is with that girl only in his dream.
War Inside My Head — Dream Theater
A metal song with tense music and strong lyric. War Inside My Head tells about a person who was drafted to join a war. And then that person is haunted by their memory about that war after they have returned from that war. This person cannot enjoy a simple thing because of their memory. For example, when they hear a firework, they would think that the firework’s sound is a bomb’s sound and they will recall their memory from a war which they had been forced to join. (Agus, 2018).
A free vacation
Of palmtrees and shrapnel
Trading innocence for permanent psychotic hellHearing voices from miles away
Saying things never said
Seeing shadows in the light of the day
Waging a war inside my headFeeling strangers staring my way
Reading minds never read
Tasting danger with each word I say
Waging a war inside my head
The tense music here is used to create a picture of war. Which we know that war is a tense and chaotic event. By blending tense music with words that mentioning the words war, danger, and shrapnel, the writer of the song wanted to convey that this song is about a veteran who has Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or globally known as PTSD. Some of the symptoms of PTSD are witnessing an event that involves death, injury; or learning about unexpected or violent death, serious harm, or threat of death and one of the traumatic events that are experienced directly is military combat (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).
About to Crash (Reprise) — Dream Theater
About to Crash (reprise) has a story about a woman who always experiences
massive changing conditions or mood swings. Moreover, this song is actually about a woman with Bipolar Disorder. Generally, a person with Bipolar Disorder would have two states of mind; Manic and Depressive. Taken from WebMD Medical Reference (2019), the Manic episode describes the times when someone with bipolar disorder feels overly excited and confident. While the Depressive episode describes the times when the person feels very sad or depressed.
I’m alive again
Darkness far behind me
I’m invincible
Despair will never find meI feel strong
I’ve got a new sense of elation
Boundless energy
Euphoria fixation
That section describes the Manic episode. It tells the listeners that the woman here is having a “high” condition, where she feels excited and confident. The musical arrangement in this section really justifies the story. Opened by John Petrucci with strong, intense, and energetic guitar riffs. Then followed by the same musical arrangement — strong, intense, and energetic music. This justifies the story about the woman’s condition at the moment. She is having a good time. She is being energetic and she thinks that she will never lose her energy.
Then suddenly come to this section
Still talk to just get by
Seems so meaningless to try
When all I want to do is cry
Who would ever know I felt so sad’Cause even though I get so high
I know that I will never fly
And when I fall out of the sky
Who’ll be standing by?
(Will you be standing by?)
That section describes the Depressive episode. It tells the listeners that she is now in a “low” condition, even though she’s just had a good time. She’s losing her energy and thinking everything she does is useless. The musical arrangement itself changes into something different from the previous section. It has more mellow music and is not so energetic again. By lowering the music’s intensity, Dream Theater tried to justify this woman’s condition. Since the section tells about the low condition, thus the music should be different from the previous one. The sudden change in the musical arrangement here could drive the listeners to fall deep into a dimension on how this woman feels when she is having a breakdown after having a good time.
After that, it comes to the instrumental section. You know, it’s Dream Theater. They are extremely talented and each member plays their own musical instrument flawlessly. The instrumental section itself is so odd. It never stays in one theme. First, the band plays something of kinda major musical arrangement. Then it changes into rigid, strong, and intense music. Then it changes into calming and chills musical arrangement. Then it changes into a stressed and apprehensive musical arrangement. Then finally it comes to the climax.
The instrumental section in this song could justify how this woman feels every day. And again, it could drive the listeners to really know and could feel the woman’s condition at that time — always having a sudden mood change.
As I said before, by analyzing the music only, we could interpret the emotion or the mood of a song. Sounds organized in a way that aligns with musical structure associated with different emotions can accurately convey emotion, exemplifying a case where music creates emotion, in a sense (Juslin and Laukka, 2004).
But since music is a sign, we can’t interpret a song’s hidden story by only analyzing the music. Maybe we can, but it would be difficult and we might not get the correct answer. By only analyzing the music, we could easily determine the mood or the emotion of a song, not the whole story. Unless we have already known what the story of hidden in the song. Because context does play a role in how a listener perceives and interprets the emotion in music that they hear (Limer, 2018).
Since music is a sign; a sign of a happy story or a sign of a sad story. If we combine analyzing the music and the lyrics, then we could get the correct story of it.
But how about if we combine analysis music, lyrics, and video clip? Well, that’s a whole different story. Until next time!
REFERENCES
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