Today’s music is sad and simple compared to decades past. In A Nutshell Stress language surged: Words related to stress, ...

Over the past 50 years, the lyrics of popular songs in the U.S. have become simpler, more negative, and contain more stress-related words, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports. The ...

The lyrics of more than 6,000 songs were analyzed. This is an Inside Science story. "Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth," sings Pharrell Williams in "Happy," but the joyful sentiments ...

When comparing today’s hit tunes with the top 40 of past decades, strong opinions are never in short supply. Every generation seems to lament its successor’s musical tastes and listening habits.

To understand the role of storytelling in contemporary pop music, researchers at UC Berkeley created a machine learning ...