Is Popular Music Dumb?

According to the shocking report of one data analyst, the complexity of lyrics in modern songs is at schoolchildren level. 

Has it finally happened? Has the bloated greed of the ever growing music industry finally eclipsed talent, creativity and inspiration? 

Well, yes and no. 

According to the graphs below, the general direction of intelligence, while spiking across several genres over the last 10 years, has decreased overall.  

Yes, I said third graders. Because only 2005 and 2006 would have given a reasonably competent third grader a tough time. Sure, we know hit music lyrics aren’t the peak of sophistication, but who knew the bar was this low? - Andrew Powell-Morse

all charts and graphs herin by Andrew Powell-Morse

Morse goes on to say that country music, yes, COUNTRY music is the more sophisticated genre. However his classification and process may seem a little suspect. 

There are a lot of reasons for this. Remember that I mentioned that word length plays a role? Well, Country is the only genre generally devoid of words like “oh” or “yeah” repeated 20 times in a row. Sorry everyone else, but if you say it in the song, it’s counted as a “lyric.”
But it’s also about the syllables. Country music is full of words like Hallelujah, cigarettes, hillbilly, and tacklebox. Add to that long place names like Cincinnati, Louisville, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and Country has a serious advantage over the competition. - Morse 

Sadly, Hip Hop and R&B fair the lowest of all genres. Coming last in both word count and average grade level of difficulty. 

Rock is not exempt from scrutiny. Probably the most shocking revelation is that Nickelback has the most sophisticated lyrics.  

Popular music, has shocking results: 

Morse goes on to say: 

As promised, Ke$ha does manage to score the worst of any major artist I looked more closely at. Not just a little worse either, although Lady Gaga makes a valiant effort to keep up (keep down?).
Unlike the other genres, the Pop stars who stand out are a bit less surprising with the gold, silver, and bronze going to Mariah Carey, Adele, and Justin Timberlake, respectively.
Pop actually holds its own pretty well with Mariah Carey scoring higher than anyone in the other three categories. Bravo Mariah, bravo!

So, is there any validity to what our analyst is saying? Possibly. Remember, music enjoyment is something that is subjective. It's a personal journey and experience. There are some things that are just not quantifiable. Lastly, below you'll find a list of the "dumbest songs". We'll leave you to draw your own conclusion whether or not you agree with this list.