The emotions that we perceive in music: the influence of language and lyrics comprehension on agreement

TL;DR

This study investigates how language and lyrics comprehension affect emotion perception in music, aiming to enhance Music Emotion Recognition models by understanding listener differences based on language and personal traits.

Contribution

It explores the impact of lyrics comprehension on emotion perception across different language speakers, providing insights to improve MER systems.

Findings

Lyrics comprehension influences emotion perception.

Language and personal traits affect emotion agreement.

Results inform better MER model development.

Abstract

In the present study, we address the relationship between the emotions perceived in pop and rock music (mainly in Euro-American styles with English lyrics) and the language spoken by the listener. Our goal is to understand the influence of lyrics comprehension on the perception of emotions and use this information to improve Music Emotion Recognition (MER) models. Two main research questions are addressed: 1. Are there differences and similarities between the emotions perceived in pop/rock music by listeners raised with different mother tongues? 2. Do personal characteristics have an influence on the perceived emotions for listeners of a given language? Personal characteristics include the listeners' general demographics, familiarity and preference for the fragments, and music sophistication. Our hypothesis is that inter-rater agreement (as defined by Krippendorff's alpha coefficient) from subjects is directly influenced by the comprehension of lyrics.