Music and Suggestibility

The music of a song enables the lyrics of a song (and the suggestions which those lyrics embody) to penetrate our consciousness far more deeply that would be the case if we just read the lyrics or listened to them being read aloud. The reason for this is that the music has the effect of switching off our judgemental or analytical faculties. (This only happens if we like the music. If we don't, then our critical faculties are reinforced rather than bypassed). None of this has been scientifically proven or clinically tested but, for argument's sake, let us suppose that it is true. What sort of suggestions are the listeners to today's pop music likely to be receiving? Let us return to the Top Three:

Call Me Maybe is not a love song. It is a song about gratification. A wish is thrown into a well and immediately the singer is given the object of her desire. We are told nothing about this other person, apart from the ripped jeans and showing skin. This is not about feeling, just about wanting. Of course, it is possible to feel an immediate attraction to a complete stranger. Usually this is accompanied by some sort of speculation, or fantasy, as to the nature of the person him or herself. But sometimes it can be purely physical, with no regard for the other person as a person, just as a body. This song, then, celebrates the most basic form of human attraction, like two dogs sniffing each other.

Let's Go doesn't have any narrative content. Its message seems to be: live for the moment and make it happen tonight. The words "make it" and "tonight" suggest that immediate sexual gratification is the goal but nowhere is this made explicit.



These suggestions are a mixture of good and bad, positive and negative. Of course, high self esteem and a positive outlook are necessary for happiness and success. But when such suggestions occur in a context of narcissistic instant self-gratification then the whole thing can become distinctly toxic.