The Trump Effect: Who You Gonna' Dance With?
(Charting Trump's Rhetorical Effect in Popular Music Reception)
Examining the Billboard Hot 100 beginning 26 weeks out from the 2016 presidential election, then 13 weeks out, and the 13 weeks that followed the election, a trend lyrically and musically emerges that mirrors John Branch’s syndicated political cartoon. Musically, at least in this genre, the election saw a farewell to music symbolizing “You… Us… We…” to a music symbolizing “Me! Me! Me!” What follows is an attempt to visualize that trend.
What's in a Word Cloud?
26-13 Weeks from Election Day
The cirrus word cloud on the left is generated by Voyant tools using a corpus of the top five songs from the Billboard Hot 100 beginning with the May 14, 2016 chart (twenty six weeks) before the election. The corpus is then made up of the top 5 songs lyrics for thirteen weeks. The corpus is sixty five documents (songs) with 10 unique documents (10 different songs appeared in the top 10 during this time period. The full corpus and tool can be accessed here: Voyant Tool
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The Top 10 words by incidence: Work (582), Dance (555), Oh (484), Panda (380), Got (367), Let (367), Need (343), Feeling (264), Can't (260), I'm (256)
Considered in isolation, over the summer months, people heard a great deal of the words “work” (582) and “dance” (555). The problem is the visualization speaks to a small lie: work, while appearing most frequently, is an oft repeated word in a single song. “Work from Home” by Fifth Harmony Featuring Ty Dolla $ign is the only song int he Top 5 that uses the term and the term accounts for almost 22% of the words in the song.
As the above makes clear, work appears 6 times in the corpus thanks to "Work from Home" and it is not a song that runs the duration of the period. "Oh" visually appears similar to "Work from Home," but "oh" appears in four songs. It has a low incidence rate in Drake's "One Dance," The Chainsmoker's "Don't Let Me Down," and Sia's "Cheap Thrills" before gaining most of the incidences at the end of the 13 week period in Calvin Harris' "This is What You Came For."
An expanded view of the terms used in the corpus makes some sense of the high incidence terms as containing a bit of a lie: we really weren't listening to a great deal of "panda," "can't," and "feeling." But is that really so?
Three Clouds
As one scans from left to right and through the word clouds, trends emerge. "Work" and "dance" yield to "I'm" and "getting." If "dance" and "work" dominate in the beginning; "need " and "know" appear in the middle surrounded by "oh," "nah," "la," and "ha;" and it ends with "I'm," "getting," and "know." The language becomes more aggressive as you move.
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This visualization made me ask are we listening to something different before and aftert he election? The answer is in the context...
We were dancing together
"One Dance" by Drake featuring Kyla and Wizkid
Drake's "One Dance," the hit of the summer, considered dancing with a love (regardless of whether or not you buy Drake's tragic life, he wants to get back to his girl (notably not plural).
Strength and guidance
All that I'm wishing for my friends
Nobody makes it from my ends
I had to bust up the silence
You know you gotta stick by me
Soon as you see the text, reply me
I don't wanna spend time fighting
We've got no time
And that's why I need a one dance
Got a Hennessy in my hand
One more time 'fore I go
Higher powers taking a hold on me
I need a one dance
Got a Hennessy in my hand
One more time 'fore I go
Higher powers taking a hold on me
Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling" challenged Drake's number one supremacy all summer, once overtaking the top spot, but only for a week. His song is more traditionally a summer tune full of sugary pop and love for a single individual (who already knows him).
"Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake
And under the lights when everything goes
Nowhere to hide when I'm getting you close
When we move, well, you already know
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine
Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance
Feeling good, good, creeping up on you
So just dance, dance, dance, come on
All those things I shouldn't do
But you dance, dance, dance
And ain't nobody leaving soon, so keep dancing
"Cheap Thrills" by Sia featuring Sean Paul
Sia's "Cheap Thrills" is the last "dance" song and it celebrates dancing, the lack of a need for money, and her baby. It figures that money isn't important to a Friday or Saturday night if she has music and her love to dance with her.
Hit the dancefloor
Hit the dancefloor
I got all I need
No I ain't got cash
I ain't got cash
But I got you baby
After the Election...
After the election in "Starboy" The Weeknd teamed up with Daft Punk to produce a different dance. What was "cheap thrills" anda concern for others (or at the least was a concern for a loved partner became me, me, me. Perhaps it is notable that the song first appeared a month before the election.
I'm tryna put you in the worst mood, ah
P1 cleaner than your church shoes, ah
Milli point two just to hurt you, ah
All red lamb' just to tease you, ah
None of these toys on lease too, ah
Made your whole year in a week too, yeah
Main bitch out of your league too, ah
Side bitch out of your league too, ah
"Starboy" by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
Another example comes from Bruno Mars release of "24 Karat." Again, the movement from the music and cheap night with one you to I've got mine and gonna' have yours is made manifest.
"24K Magic" by Bruno Mars
Second verse for the hustlas (hustlas)
Gangstas (gangstas)
Bad bitches and ya ugly ass friends (Haha)
Can I preach? (Uh oh) Can I preach? (Uh oh)
I gotta show 'em how a pimp get it in
First, take your sip (sip), do your dip (dip)
Spend your money like money ain't shit (Whoop, whoop)
We too fresh
Got to blame it on Jesus
Hashtag blessed
They ain't ready for me
I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket
(Keep up)
So many pretty girls around me and they waking up the rocket
(Keep up)
Why you mad? Fix ya face
Ain't my fault y'all be jocking
(Keep up)
Though provisional and initial, the cirrus clouds produced a sense of difference in musical taste before and after the election that might have been missed otherwise. Though more work is required, at least initially if Obama was indeed saying, "You... Us... We..." we were listening to the same message on the radio and streaming songs with that inclusive message. Then, as the election loomed, and if Trump is saying, "ME! ME! ME!" we also appear to be listening to that message in our music.