Explicit $&@%!# lyrics in pop music
One song currently climbing the charts is by Yo Gotti titled “Down in the DM”. Search the song on iTunes and ten versions come up; five of them explicit. Like most pop songs today, there’s an explicit version and a clean version.
I like pop music. Pull up beside me on the road and you’re likely to find me belting out the latest Macklemore track or behind-the-wheel dancing to Pitbull. My Spotify is just as likely to be filled with Jonelle Monae as it is with 80’s classics and Broadway show tunes. (Don’t judge.) But I’m completely frustrated with the slow creep-- and now full takeover-- of cursing in popular music. This warrants a full-on rant for 3 reasons: 1) Spotify won’t let me select non-explicit versions of my favorite songs-- even with my recent upgrade to the premium version, 2) iTunes offers up the explicit version of any search, including a song clip, and 3) it’s almost impossible to introduce young children to popular music.
Finding music that speaks to you is almost a rite of passage. According to the journal Pediatrics “music plays an important role in the socialization of children and adolescents”. When we can’t find the words, music helps us express our emotions. For many, including me, it’s gotten me through tough times and made the best of times even better. Kids love it too. For all the same reasons. But once they move from Radio Disney or endless replays of The Wiggles to the local top 40 radio station or HITS 1 on Sirius or YouTube or iTunes, they’re bombarded with explicit lyrics.
(*To keep this rant focused, I’m not going to discuss other inappropriate elements in music for kids, such as lyrics focusing on drugs, alcohol and sex; gender stereotypes in music videos, etc. Those topics trouble me as well, but my concern with explicit lyrics is different because those other areas may be seen as issues of creative expression; not so with explicit lyrics.)
Explicit lyric versions of songs are there for one reason only-- to sell additional downloads. Imagine a home with 2 adults and 2 children. Everyone loves the new Rihanna song. Mom purchases a download of the song from iTunes. Of the versions iTunes offers, she selects the top offering because it’s the highest rated and she thinks it’s probably the one she hears on the radio. Download complete. The next day her ten-year old daughter wants to listen to the song and of course she can access it on her own device because the family has a family iTunes account. But when Mom hears it, she realizes this isn’t the edited version she heard on the radio, it’s the explicit version. Back they go to iTunes to find the non-explicit version and purchase a second download. Ka-ching for iTunes. Two downloads sold instead of one. And even though they may have now downloaded two versions, unless the child has their own iTunes account, both versions will be available on all family devices.
It’s amazing how many times I’ve heard a song on the radio, then later accessed the same song through streaming and discovered the original lyrics I heard are only one version. This isn’t about artistic freedom. This is about money.
Sometimes the non-explicit and explicit versions have completely different words. For example, the radio (non-explicit) version of Macklemore’s “Downtown” includes the line “I'm so low that my cajones almost dragging on the concrete”. Download the explicit version and you’ll hear “I'm so low that my scrotum's almost dragging on the concrete”.
Sometimes the difference isn’t a changed lyric, it’s a minuscule edit omitting the middle of the offending word. In other words, instead of hearing “fuck you”, we hear “f--k you”. Literally we can hear the “f” and the “k”, but the “uc” have been edited out. Really? Is there anyone listening who doesn’t know exactly what that word is and sing it in their heads? Even a bubblegum pop song like “Cake by the Ocean” includes the line “Let’s lose our minds and go f-king crazy”. That’s what you hear on the radio. F…king. But not on the download. In that case the full word is used.
Search songs on iTunes and you may find a teeny-tiny little red square beside the name of the song with an “E”. A click on that ridiculously small box reveals information about a parent advisory for explicit lyrics. But the notice doesn’t stop a child from listening to the twenty-second free clip of the explicit version without making any purchase or purchasing the explicit version if they choose. You may remember the start of the Parental Advisory label in the 1990’s. The uproar began when Tipper Gore and her Parent’s Music Resource Center group pushed the Recording Institute of America (RIAA) to implement notification in the mid-eighties. I was in my twenties at the time and I remember thinking how ridiculous it was. But now I’m a parent and an educator and I understand more deeply the challenges in introducing pop culture to children with age-appropriate content. That little square red box with the “E” that I saw on iTunes is the online version of that black and white sticker that used to appear on CD’s.
Kidz Bop has tried to bridge this great lyrical divide by offering kid-friendly versions of popular songs. They’ve been doing this since 2001 and have been quite successful, selling millions of CD’s and downloads. They’ve even developed a team of kids that tour and have their own fan base. But what happens when a child that’s been listening to a Nicki Minaj song on Kidz Bop proclaims “I love Nicki Minaj. Can I get more of her songs?” I’m not trying to stop Nicki Minaj. If an artist wants to make R-rated or X-rated content, go for it. But then don’t create a kid-friendly version that encourages kids to like you and follow you.
I remember a few years ago Snoop Dog appeared on the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. There’s not a song in his collection that’s appropriate for kids. But that year he collaborated on a song with Big Time Rush. The song was totally clean. So he appeared with the band on the awards show. Kids are introduced to Snoop on the show…and then what?
Parents may be unaware of this growth in explicit lyrics if they no longer listen to pop music or top 40 radio. Downloaded purchases or streaming leave no telltale album or CD hanging around a child’s bedroom. And unlike my generation, who blasted music through bedroom stereos; today’s kids are more likely listening with headphones, further keeping their music choices unknown.
So…what can you do if you want to enjoy pop music with your kids or the young people in your life? My recommendations come down to two main ideas: share and discuss.
1. Share
Music appreciation is as unique as the individual. Some five year olds are ready to hear Coldplay, while others are still singing along with Elmo. (And many would be happy with both.) To share music I think it’s essential to first listen to some current popular music. Find contemporary tracks you like and then share those tracks. It’s not that your retro classic rock favorites are wrong, but you’ll likely find stronger interest (especially with kids under ten) with musicians kids see on TV (like a judge from The Voice) or whose names are familiar from other media or from their friends. If you want to improve their selection, provide choices.
Make sure the sharing goes both ways; adult to child and child to adult. A young person with access to music and an interest in music already has opinions about what’s worth listening to. Listen together. Share a headphone. Then move to the next point…discuss.
2. Discuss
Ultimately, it’s best if the young person understands why these lyric choices are made by music artists, and if and when an explicit version of a song is right for them. For that to happen, we have to help them understand what questions to ask.
When the song “Billionaire” came out in 2010 my daughter was ten. A repeating line (in the clean version) is “I wanna be a billionaire, so frickin’ bad.” One day, after singing it in the car together I asked her “do you know what frickin’ means?” “No.” It seemed like the right moment to explain to her the difference between curse words and the words people use when they want to say the curse, but know that they shouldn’t. Her knowledge of curse words was fairly non-existent at the time, so I didn’t need to go into detail about various words and their society-accepting alternatives (such as “sugar, honey, iced tea”, or WTF), but it was an easy moment to help her to start thinking that songwriters make choices about lyrics. When you hear a lyric that concerns you, ask for their thoughts. Did he notice it? Does it bother him? Why or why not? Why does he think artists write lyrics like that? How does he feel about his younger brother or sister hearing it? Aim for awareness, not censorship.
Admittedly, these recommendations will not change the trend. As is often the case, approaching our media use with a thoughtful eye (and ear) is up to us. We can choose to talk about it, share it, discuss it, purchase it…or not purchase it. And that might be the most powerful recommendation of all.
