All you need is love: metaphors of love in 1946–2016 Billboard year-end number-one songs

Salvador Climent,Marta Coll-Florit

doi:10.1515/text-2019-0209

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the use of metaphors, metonymies and metaphorical similes for love in a corpus of 52 year-end number one hit songs in the USA from 1946 to 2016 according to Billboard charts. The analysis is performed within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Our findings indicate that the theme of romantic love is prevalent in US mainstream pop music over the course of seven decades but shows evolutionary features. Metaphors of love evolve from conventional to novel with a notable increase in both heartbreak and erotic metaphors. Remarkably, the study finds that the two predominant conceptualizations of love in pop songs – which in a significant number of cases overlap – are the following: experiential, originating in the physical proximity of the lovers, and cultural, reflecting possession by one lover and showing a non-egalitarian type of love.

Highlights

The central theme of a large number of pop songs is some facet of romantic love
This study examines the use of metaphors, metonymies and metaphorical similes for love in a corpus of 52 year-end number one hit songs in the USA from 1946 to 2016 according to Billboard charts
We detected 393 metaphorical expressions corresponding to 102 conceptual metaphors, conceptual metonymies or metaphoric similes

Summary

Introduction

The central theme of a large number of pop songs is some facet of romantic love. Climent and Coll-Florit pop songs as those designed by the music industry with the intention of appealing to a large audience and, as well, to a product well-liked by many people (see Werner (2018) for a general discussion of the concept of pop culture). Pop music is created with the aim of achieving commercial success, and the evocation of feelings of falling in (and out of) love unfailingly exerts a powerful attraction on all kinds of audiences. As Machin (2010: 11) has suggested, “it is clear that love songs have changed over the years and can, be expected to reveal broader cultural changes in terms of gender- and sexuality-related discourses”

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Conclusion