Popular music and intimate relationships: examples from the Top 40 Spanish radio show

Abstract

As an aspect of everyday life, music is a privileged cultural expression that reflects social dynamics, including issues related to intimate relationships. The aim of this study was to analyse the construction and evolution of such relationships through musical hits from 1966 to 2017. To this end, we used a qualitative methodology comprising discourse analysis and the identification of interpretative repertoires. The results show that 71.9% of the chosen songs describe intimate relationships and that their themes can be grouped around three repertoires: 1) romantic love, 2) hedonistic love, and 3) toxic love. These discursive axes reveal differences between female and male voices. They also show that intimate relationships are mainly characterized by masculine domination, which positions women as objects subordinated to the desires of men. However, we also observed the recent emergence of new spaces for female expression that increase women’s visibility.