I Knew You Were Trouble: Emotional Trends in the Repertoire of Taylor Swift
Megan Mansfield, Darryl Seligman

TL;DR
This study analyzes the evolution of emotional expression in Taylor Swift's music over 14 years, quantifying optimism and relationship strength from lyrics and melodies, revealing trends toward positivity and relationship dynamics.
Contribution
It introduces a novel quantitative method to assess emotional states in music and applies it to a large discography, uncovering new insights into Swift's emotional and relational themes.
Findings
Overall trend toward positive emotions in stronger relationships
No significant change in happiness levels over time within albums
Potential links between eye color, reputation, and emotional tone
Abstract
As a modern musician and cultural icon, Taylor Swift has earned worldwide acclaim via pieces which predominantly draw upon the complex dynamics of personal and interpersonal experiences. Here we show, for the first time, how Swift's lyrical and melodic structure have evolved in their representation of emotions over a timescale of yr. Previous progress on this topic has been challenging based on the sheer volume of the relevant discography, and that uniquely identifying a song that optimally describes a hypothetical emotional state represents a multi-dimensional and complex task. To quantify the emotional state of a song, we separate the criteria into the level of optimism () and the strength of commitment to a relationship (), based on lyrics and chordal tones. We apply these criteria to a set of 149 pieces spanning almost the entire repertoire. We find an overall…
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Taxonomy
TopicsNeuroscience and Music Perception · Music History and Culture · Music and Audio Processing
