The popular song in the socio-cultural space of modern Russia: transformation of codes and meanings (based on content analysis materials)

Abstract

Popular music is one of the instruments of influence on the masses, which raises the importance of tracking the direction of changes in the ideas, broadcast in popular songs. The relevance of this topic relates to the inclusion of Russia in global processes, when intercultural integration becomes one of the factors of transformation of the socio-cultural space under the influence of new rules and patterns of musical life. The purpose of this study is to analyze changes in the codes and meanings of popular songs of modern Russia. The novelty of the study is as follows. Based on the content analysis, general trends in the transformation of codes and meanings of popular songs in Russia from 1990 to 2021 are shown. The growth of listening to popular songs and comments on it was revealed, which indicates the scaling of the impact on the audience, especially on representatives of the younger generation. A decrease in the average age of performers was recorded. It is determined that the main theme of the songs is the theme of love, which is often presented in a tragic or vulgar context. Socially significant positive topics (patriotism, politics, childhood, youth, family) occur in fragments or in isolated cases. An increase in the number of lines of songs with a constant number of words since 2001 has been revealed with a drop in the share of disclosure of the theme of songs, which indicates the destruction of speech and general cultural norms, the desire of performers to “hype”, the growth of popularity, commercial benefits, and not to convey the meaning of the lyrics. The specifics of the song genre in Russia are shown for three periods: 1990-2000, 2001-2010, and 2011-2021. The “roaring”, “heavy-hearted” nineties with a sense of the breakdown of the social system, habitual personal relationships and social ties are replaced by pop “zero” with expectations of positive changes, freedom. The period since 2011 is characterized by a wide variety of stylistic trends and not just significant banality and mediocrity of the text, but also the glorification and justification of deviant behavior, the predominance of pessimistic and sexualized mood, aggression, turning into an insult. This leads to the fact that the song, as a “public singing” that unites and elevates people, becomes dysfunctional, destructive, destroying the personality (especially the emerging one), social ties, the social system, the socio-cultural space of the country as a space of norms and rules. The direction of further research is related to the development of methodological recommendations on the criteria for censoring the musical space in order to restore the speech norm and the traditional Russian system of values.