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Representation of age and ageing identities in popular music texts
Author(s) -
Kelly Jacinta,
Watson Roger,
Pankratova Marina,
Pedzeni Annmarie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/jan.12916
Subject(s) - lyrics , ageing , representation (politics) , flagging , popular music , psychology , medicine , literature , art , history , political science , archaeology , politics , law
Aims To critically examine the representation of ageing identities in popular music texts. Background Having a positive outlook provides both short‐term benefits and has been proven to help people live longer. Music is capable of conveying positive and negative emotion towards ageing, however, only a limited number of unpublished studies exist on how age and ageing is represented in popular music. Design Qualitative discourse analysis. Methods In July 2014, a search without time limits was completed of the music lyrics databases, The Music Lyric Database, Songfacts, The Macronium and Absolute lyrics for English language music texts relating to age and ageing. Results Findings revealed ( N = 76) relevant music texts offering up negative and positive discourses of age and ageing, with negative predominating. Identities of age and ageing were categorized as ‘contented and celebrated aged’, ‘pitiful and petulant pensioners’ and ‘frail and flagging old folks’. Conclusion From this study, it is evident that mainly negative representations of age and ageing are available in popular music texts. It is imagined that the negative representations of age and ageing can be dispiriting, confidence and esteem lowering for older people and their potential impact might be considered carefully by artists. However, while evidence exists that negative and positive emotions can influence health and well‐being, further qualitative research is needed to explore what impact precisely the negative texts have on those experiencing ageing.