Song lyrics are getting simpler, more repetitive: study

Lyrics have also become angrier and more self-obsessed over the last 40 years, the study found, reinforcing the opinions of cranky ageing music fans everywhere. A team of European researchers analysed the words in more than 12,000 English-language songs across the genres of rap, country, pop, R&B and rock from 1980 to 2020. Before detailing how lyrics have become more basic, the study pointed out that US singer-songwriting legend Bob Dylan -- who rose to fame in the 1960s -- has won a Nobel Prize in literature.