Abstract
This study employs metaphorical criticism to analyse how a singer unveils societal truth through lyrics. A popular singer, G.E.M., was the only Asian musician who got Forbes Under 30 in 2016, and was named “Taylor Swift of China”. Music involves emotional clues with happiness or sadness in a song and triggers listeners’ emotions. The puzzle of this study is: how do popular music lyrics, like G.E.M.’s works, represent societal issues with diverse stories, such as gender relationships and family love, with metaphorical usage of animal characteristics as a discourse method? The song “Grey Wolf” portrays the essence of the wolf as cunning. G.E.M. used white and black to represent good and evil so the public could easily understand the concept. However, the lyrics tell us that reality has no dualism or false dilemma; we are all grey wolves that have misunderstood or emotionally hurt others in relationships. The grey wolf (vehicle) means tolerance in this song and a warning to society (tenor). The song “Do not Force It” used a hedgehog to hint that people in love relationships always stab each other. The song “Mama” adopts a firefly that always lights people in the darkness as a metaphor for a mother’s love for her children. This album includes 13 songs that all use animals as a metaphorical strategy in the lyrics. Metaphors are a practical way to reveal societal issues for the public to reflect on and strike a balance between the popular market and the lyricist’s ideas about society.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Popular Culture, Metaphor, Representation, Society and Reflection
