Language in R&B and Country Songs Essay

Mass communication genre can be characterized by the use of different kinds of languages. Music, unlike any other communication genre, can help to trace music-language relations in the best possible way. Music is believed to have a bigger power over the human emotions than the language, though when it comes to the language of the songs, music and language change their roles. People tend to listen to both the lyrics and the music of the song, and one cannot deny that that if any of these constituents lacks the power to impress the listener, the song will never be considered a success. Lyrics of a song lets the audience perceive the idea of the song and the emotional load it is supposed to carry, whereas the music helps to convey the emotions and inner character of the singer. The songs of different genres are written in different languages, which has certain impact on the audience of a singer and the effect the song produces on it.

R&B and country are two absolutely opposite music genres which have their own features and which are able to produce different impressions on the audience due to the types of languages used in it. Colloquial language is characteristic for R&B, while country music utilizes mostly literary language; each of these language styles has its peculiar features. The distinction between language styles can be easily seen if contrasting and comparing the songs “Déjà vu” by Beyonce Knowles (feat Jay-Z) and “Inside Your Heaven” by Carrie Underwood. Beyonce chose to sing in pop, hip-hop, and R&B with the song under consideration belonging to the latter music genre. Carrie Underwood sings country and her “Inside of Your Heaven” belongs to this genre. “Déjà vu” is written in colloquial language, while the lyrics of “Inside Your Heaven” can serve as an example of literary language; it is necessary to analyze two types of language the songs are written in, as well as poetic diction, type of verse in the lyrics, and structure of the songs in order to find out which role the language has in appealing to the audience, how it reflects the genre of the artifacts, and how it affects the perception of the artifacts.

To begin with, different features of colloquial and literary language can be traced in the songs under analysis. This helps to refer these songs to definite music genres, in this case, either to R&B (the lyrics for which are written in colloquial language) or to country music (for which literary language is typical). Colloquial language “includes contractions (always improper in formal writing), slang, colloquialisms, dialect, turns of phrase peculiar to local areas (provincialisms), and shortened word forms (TV for television, phone for telephone, CD for compact disc, etc.)” (Ehrenhaft 141) Most of these features can be observed in “Déjà vu” by Beyonce. This song may be characterized by frequent usage of contractions, for instance, “Know that I can’t get over you/ Cause everything I see is you/ And I don’t want no substitute…” (“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce”) There are also several slang words in the song, for example, in “I used to bag girls like Birkin bags”, gotta be having déjà vu,” and “she about to steam” (when there is Beyonce’s turn to sing) (“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce”). There are several double negatives in the song, as in “I don’t want no substitute” and “Don’t want to compare nobody to you.” (“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce”) This also proves that the song is written in colloquial language.

Likewise, features of the literary language can be found in the lyrics of “Inside Your haven” by Carrie Underwood. The main features of literary language are standardized vocabulary and spelling, recognized grammar, proper pronunciation of words free from regional dialects and slang. Despite the use of several contracted forms, as in “I’ve been down, now I’m blessed” and “You’re all I’ve got” and simplified form of “want to”, namely, “wanna”, the lyrics of “Inside Your Heaven” can still be considered literary. The song is written in Standard English and in conformity with the existing grammar rules. Unlike “Déjà vu,” no double negatives can be observed in the song; the spelling and vocabulary are standard, for instance, “Take me to the place you cry from/ Where the storm blows your way…” (“Lyrics: Inside Your heaven, Carrie Underwood”) All the words in the song are pronounced properly and according to the standardized rules, the grammar is correct, and the vocabulary used is standard, which means that the song is written in literary language.

What’s more, difference in language style between these two songs lies in the number of the utilized stylistic devices. Colloquial language hardly uses any stylistic devices because it can produce necessary impression on the reader by means of unusual contractions, as well as by accentuating separate words pronouncing them differently, and using double negatives to make the arguments stronger. Literary language, in its turn, is used “to create images in readers’ minds; the language enables readers to engage with the text and incorporate their own meanings and understandings with those of the writer.” (Knapp and Watkins 30) Unlike colloquial language, literary language widely uses metaphors, repetitions, and a range of other devices. Thus, “Déjà vu” contains only a few metaphors, such as “I breathe you” and “Got a better glimpse” and one hyperbole “everything I see is you” (“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce”). There are no any other stylistic devices in the song, which can be explained by its belonging to colloquial style of language.

In contrast, the song “Inside Your heaven” by Carrie Underwood abounds with metaphors and other stylistic devices. The metaphors are used in the lyrics almost in every line; they are “I felt a revelation coming around,” “my dreams are in your eyes,” the earth that holds you,” “bit of air,” “the wrong becomes undone,” “my soul surrenders,” minutes turn to days and years,” “mountains fall,” (“Lyrics: Inside Your heaven, Carrie Underwood”), etc. These metaphors serve as the main means of expression of emotions in the song. They help to realize how strong the girl’s feelings are and how much she wants to be beside her beloved. Metaphors are powerful means of expression and namely this is why they are typical for literary style. Other stylistic devices which can be found in lyrics of “Inside Your Heaven” are hyperboles, as in “You’re all I’ve got,” “All my dreams are in your eyes,” and “Holding you until the day I die” (“Lyrics: Inside Your heaven, Carrie Underwood”), as well as several kinds of repetitions, for instance, repetition of “when” (anaphora) in “When minutes turn to days and years/ When mountains fall…,” and framing repetition in the stanza “I wanna be inside your heaven/ Take me to the place you cry from… I wanna be inside your heaven.” (“Lyrics: Inside Your heaven, Carrie Underwood”) Hyperboles used in the song are used as a means of exaggeration, while repetition is a means of emphasis. These devices are also used to add the song certain expressiveness.

Lastly, the songs under consideration have different types of rhyming which can also be connected with the language styles they belong to. Colloquial style is always associated with casualty and ease. “Déjà vu” can be regarded as a song written in free verse. The song does not have any definite metrical pattern: “Seeing things that I know can’t be/ Am I dreaming? When I saw you walking passed me/ Almost called your name…” (“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce”) In bridge and chorus some of the lines even rhyme, for instance, “Cause everything I see is you/ And I don’t want no substitute…” (“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce”) Nevertheless, no other definite patterns can be observed in the song. This allows considering the lyrics of “Déjà vu” a free verse. The rhythm makes the words in the song coherent and, in case with “Déjà vu”, the music helps to perceive the song as a whole making it possible to separate the lines and to single out the most meaningful words.

As far as “Inside Your Heaven” is concerned, it is also written in free verse, though the lines are more organized and even arranged in stanzas. Some of the stanzas are written in blank verse. They are not rhymed but have regular meter. If one of these stanzas is organized in a single line, it can be observed that it is written in pentameter, which means that it consists of five feet. For instance, “Naturally my soul surrenders the sun and the moonlight all my dreams are in your eyes.” (“Lyrics: Inside Your heaven, Carrie Underwood”) Still, in general, the song is written in free verse because most of the lines do not have a separate meter. However, the song can not be characterized by the casualty that ‘Déjà vu’ possesses; the arrangement of lines into stanzas makes the song well-organized and coherent. This distinguishes it from “Déjà vu” and can be explained by the fact that it is written in literary language.

Therefore, the analysis of the songs of different music genres shows that they are written in different language styles. The peculiarities of these styles help to define what role the language plays in appealing to the audiences. It can be stated, that literary language is more expressive due to the frequent use of such stylistic devices as metaphors, hyperboles, and repetitions. The song which is more expressive and which is able to evoke emotions in the listener is more likely to be appealing to the audience. The language style also reflects the genre of the songs. Colloquial language can be characterized by the usage of contracted forms and slang which can be found in “Déjà vu,” the song which refers to R&B genre. Similarly, standard grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation can be observed in “Inside Your Heaven” which is written in literary language.

The verse of the songs and their structure also accounts for their genre. Both the songs were discovered to be written in free verse; at this, several stanzas in “Inside Your Heaven”, if organized in a single line, may be considered a blank verse, because in this case they will be written in pentameter. The casualty of the structure of “Déjà vu” may be explained by colloquial style of its language, while a more careful organization of lines and stanzas in “Inside Your Heaven” may be explained by literary language it is written in. This means that the language style is able to reflect the music genre of the songs. Finally, the language also affects the perception of the songs because different styles of language evoke different emotions. Colloquial language of “Déjà vu” produces an impression of everyday conversation. It seems that in case with this song, the music produces more impression on the listener than the lyrics of the song. The music makes the song rhythmic and helps the singer to better express the emotions. “Inside Your Heaven” produces quite opposite impression because the lyrics of the song seem to be more meaningful than the music. The music simply supplements the words and makes the song melodious; it allows stressing the words which are of more importance to the singer and which help to express the idea of the song. Literary style adds beauty to the songs and standard grammar and vocabulary only emphasize this beauty. Thus, literary language has more effect on the perception of the song because it is able to better convey the emotions of the singer due to the use of standard grammar and stylistic devices which make the speech colorful and expressive.

Works Cited

“Lyrics: Déjà vu, Beyonce.” Beyonce Lyrics. 2008. MP3 Lyrics Organized. 2009. Web.

“Lyrics: Inside Your Heaven, Carrie Underwood.” Carrie Underwood Lyrics. 2008. MP3 Lyrics Organized. 2009. Web.

Ehrenhaft, George. Barron’s ACT Assessment. Barron’s Educational Series, 2006.

Knapp, Peter and Watkins, Megan. Genre, Text, Grammar: Technologies for Teaching and Assessing Writing. UNSW Press, 2005.