Semantic study on the lyrics of Britney Spears' songs

ABSTRACT

One form of literature is poetry, and song lyrics are categorized as poems or poetry. Lyrics play an important role in songs, making them interesting when they are well-crafted. Song lyrics can be seen as the composer's expression or representation of their feelings, thoughts, and desires. To give a song artistic value, composers often use meaningful sentences or words to convey their messages. Thus, lyrics in a song often reflect the composer's emotions and feelings.

The term "meaning" is used in various ways, and not everyone who knows a language can fully understand what is said to them or produce strings of words that convey meaning. Semantics, a branch of linguistics, is the study of meaning, including the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences. Various kinds of meanings are also found in song lyrics as a form of literary work. This means that language encompasses thought and activity. Britney Spears uses different kinds of meanings in her lyrics to create compelling songs and convey messages to her listeners.

This study investigates the types of meanings and messages found in Britney Spears' songs. The research focuses on the lyrics from her first to her fourth album. A descriptive qualitative method is used, as it does not require variables; instead, the writer analyzed and interpreted the lyrics of Britney's songs. Data was obtained from Britney's cassettes and from the internet at www.britneyspears.com. The steps included selecting songs that contain semantic elements, presenting all data from the first to the last album, and reading all the lyrics. The data was then analyzed by choosing difficult words, comprehending their meanings, and categorizing them accordingly.

The analysis revealed that connotation and denotation meanings are prevalent in the lyrics, along with figurative language and repetition, which explain the lexical meanings. Sentence meanings, discourse meanings, and the overall messages show that Britney often describes love in her songs.