What with my move to Kentucky at the end of January, getting used to a new job and setting, and the onset of the current pandemic, I finally got around to taking a look at the lyrics of the Billboard year-end Top Ten from 2019. This review is similar to that of 2018, in that, what I find most of all in these lyrics is less, especially when comparing to 2017. Fewer instances, for example, of the n-word (2 times in 1 song) and of bitch (5 times in 2 songs). And absolutely no Spanish. “Like” does appear 50 times, but that is less than half what it occurred last year, when it seemed like the natural choice for word of the year in 2018 pop music. In fact, there is really no word that pops out as word of the year in the 2019 collection.

The year 2019 does have a fair amount of name-dropping, although, in keeping with this review’s theme, it occurs less than it does in recent years. Name-dropping in 2019 generally falls into three categories: trade names, placenames, and the names of individuals or groups of people. In the first category, there are 15 trade names dropped in 4 songs (“Old Town Road”, “Seven Rings”, “Sicko Mode”, and “Wow”. These trade names are Porsche, Maserati, Fendi, Marlboro (although this could also be said to be about a person: Marlboro Man), Black Card, Nike, Remy, Goose, Facetimed, Xan (short for Xanax, appearing twice), Forbes, LaCroix, and Lambo, as well as two automobile models: G-Wagen (by Mercedes Benz) and 720S (by McLaren). Placenames occur in three of these four songs (“Old Town Road”, “Seven Rings”, and “Sicko Mode”), and they are Rodeo (Drive), Bonnaroo (which can also be considered a trade name, as it is the name of a music festival, but one that occurs in the same place every year), and Tiffany’s (although this too can be said to be the title of a work of art, specifically the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Finally, the names of people or groups of people, most of them celebrities, and more specifically, other rap artists, occur in two of the four songs that were discussed with respect to trade names: “Sicko Mode” and “Wow”. These names are La Flame, Stacey Dash, Chase B., Jamba Juice, Uncle Luke, Tay Keith, Jesus Christ, Sheck, Book, Lizzy, La Ferrari, Fall Out Boy, Dumbo, Mutombo, Lil Troy, and Prescott. Also, Mary, as in “Hail Mary”.

It sorts of reminds me of The Name Game.

Donate