It’s a strikingly apt image. Hit Me Hard and Soft feels immersive and saturated. At times, Eilish’s unique strong-but-delicate voice almost sounds like it’s underwater—and that we, her listeners—have plunged into the emotional depths with her.

I suspect few would quickly compare Eilish with her decade-older contemporary, Taylor Swift. Eilish plays the foil of the alt-goth kid to Swift’s awe-shucks girl next door.

POSITIVE CONTENT

Album opener “Skinny” reflects on the tension between others’ thoughts about Eilish’s weight and her own point of view: “People say I look happy/Just because I got skinny/But the old me is still me/And maybe the real me/And I think she’s pretty.”

That track also reflects on the fickle nature of celebrity (“Am I already on the way out?/When I step off the stage/I’m a bird in a cage”). It also suggests that the online world’s appetite for scandal is insatiable (“And the Internet is hungry/For the meanest kind of funny/And somebody’s gotta feed it”).

While Eilish is known for her skewering cynicism and sarcasm, some moments here feel surprisingly earnest, such as her plea for lasting love on “Birds of a Feather”: “I don’t think I could love you more/It might not be for long, baby, I/I’ll love you ‘til the day I die.”

Several other songs try to make sense of disappointment and loss in the wake of broken romantic relationships (“Chihiro,” “The Greatest,” “L’Amour de Ma Vie”).

“The Diner” offers unsettling commentary on celebrity stalkers, and it’s written from the perspective of the stalker: “I saw you on the screens/I know we’re meant to be/You’re starring in my dreams/In magazines/You’re looking right at me.”

CONTENT CONCERNS

In late 2023, Eilish came out as gay. Only, she thought everyone already knew: “But I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’ I didn’t realize people didn’t know.”

That personal detail is relevant here because Eilish sings repeatedly about lust and love for other women throughout (a fact that likely influences the way we hear some of the lyrics about love in included in the previous section).

“Lunch” is startlingly ribald as Eilish sings about wanting to perform oral sex on another woman. Some lyrics are too explicit to include here, but it’s worth noting that Eilish says, “It’s a craving, not a crush.”

Likewise, “Wildflower” seems to describe a deeply dysfunctional love-and-sex triangle among three women. We hear lines such as, “And I wonder/Do you see her in the back of your mind?/In my eyes?” A suggestive reference to nakedness turns up on “The Greatest” as well.

On “Chihiro,” we hear about a disappointed lover who perhaps hints at suicide (“And you tell me it’s all been a trap/And you don’t know if you’ll make it back”), prompting Eilish to respond, “I say, ‘No. Don’t say that.’”

There’s a passing allusion to reincarnation (albeit one that’s likely intended metaphorically) in “Birds of a Feather”: “I knew you in another life/You had that same look in your eyes.”

“The Greatest” is a melancholy song chronicling a dying relationship: “And we don’t have to fight/When it’s not worth fighting for.” The song also hints that a couple is cohabitating.

More suggestive innuendo turns up in “Bittersuite”: “I see the way you want me/I wanna be the one/ … Can’t sleep, have you underneath/ … Keep me off my feet.” 

We hear the album’s lone profanity, an s-word, on “Birds of a Feather.”

ALBUM SUMMARY

It’s impossible to know for sure how autobiographical any given artist’s songs truly are. That said, Hit Me Hard and Soft has the feel of something that’s deeply personal and revealing. Billie Eilish paints a complicated and layered self-portrait here of a woman longing for love and deeply aware of the ways she’s had her heart broken … and how she’s broken others’ hearts.

Eilish doesn’t play coy when it comes to the fact that she identifies as a lesbian. “Lunch,” in particular, is shockingly shameless in its depiction of Eilish’s female-focused sexual appetites.

The fact that Eilish sings so matter-of-factly about her same-gender attraction offers stark evidence of how far our mainstream culture has walked down this path when it comes to all things LGBT. It’s hard to imagine such plainspoken same-sex fantasizing from a mainstream pop star even five years ago. I suspect many—including some young people quietly grappling with this issue in their own lives—will hear a deep affirmation of that path here.

That perspective, combined at certain points with other suggestively sensual lyrics, is certainly one of the big stories here–especially for families who might have young fans of Billie Eilish. Those moments offer more than enough reason to hit the pause button on streaming Eilish’s latest, as she veers diametrically from God’s intended design for sexual intimacy between a man and woman in covenantal marriage.

We could easily stop right there. But I think we need to press just a bit deeper.

As I listened to each track here—just as was the case on when I reviewed Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department—I hear brokenness and longing, a deep desire for intimacy and meaning and connection. Yes, I respectfully believe Billie’s looking for that love in, as the old song says, all the wrong places. But her heart and yearning to know and be known is achingly, painfully present almost from start to finish.

Billie Eilish may not know it—and she (as well as many others, I suspect) might mock me for saying it—but she’s looking for God, looking for a kind of love only He can give her.

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Colliding streams of attraction, fear, compulsion, lust and hope cascade and tumble into each other, yielding a torrent of emotional whitewater that joyously propels a young lover’s heart downstream. 

Does that sound overwrought? Overwritten? Maybe just a little.

Then again, after listening to Gracie Abrams’ latest song on this subject, maybe not. That’s because “Risk” taps into a flood of conflicting emotions as this 24-year-old singer navigates like a kayaker plunging down Class 5 rapids. It’s a breathtaking plunge, but one that Gracie seems ready to take.

POSITIVE CONTENT

Gracie surprises herself when she comes to the realization that she’s “actually invested” emotionally in the possibility of a new relationship. She’s also self-aware enough—at least, some of the time—to realize that her infatuation may not be a reliable guide. She sings, “Haven’t even met him/Watch this be the wrong thing/Classic.”

She also sings that she’s willing to take the risk of “jumping in the deep end/ … But I’m gonna take it.”

Lines like these effectively convey the churning feelings of risk and vulnerability that anyone who’s ever been twitterpated has felt. There’s an innocence here that brings to mind some of Taylor Swift’s earlier material, a tenderness that shows up in lines like: “And you’re coming to me/And you get to my door/And you can’t even speak/But I think that’s sweet/Yeah, I think that you’re sweet.”  

The video somewhat humorously depicts Abrams as a kind of crazed stalker chasing this guy. It’s meant to depict, I think, how unhinged we can get when infatuation becomes almost like inebriation.

CONTENT CONCERNS

Perhaps the most annoying aspect of this song is Abrams’ repeated misuse of God’s name throughout the song’s two parallel courses. Seven times total we hear these two phrases: “God, I’m actually invested,” and, “God, I’m jumping in the deep end.” Those abuses of God’s name are compounded by the fact that this catchy chorus easily gets lodged in your brain, and those are the phrases from this song that come to mind first.

And even though Abrams says she doesn’t even know this guy yet, she’s still imagining him being with her in bed at night: “And I wake up/In the middle of the night/ … And I feel like I could die/‘Cause you’re not here/And it don’t feel right.” Later she circles back more clearly to this fantasy: “I wish you could hold me here, shakin’/You’re the risk, I’m gonna take it/Why aren’t you in my bedroom.”

And this line is both mildly profane and mildly suggestive: “Knowing d–n well that I haven’t been touched by you.”

The video shows Abrams drinking wine in her bedroom by herself.   

TRACK SUMMARY

Listening to this admittedly infectious song, I couldn’t help but think, “This sounds like Taylor Swift about 10 years ago.” And, looking up the two singers’ respective ages, sure enough, Swift’s a decade older than Gracie Abrams.

While I can’t say for sure, it definitely seems as though Abrams has imbibed deeply from the Taylor Swift well of songwriting. We get the same kind of girl-next-door heroine confessing and battling with her conflicting emotions as she works up her courage to take a chance on a guy who’s captured her fancy.

As gushing infatuation songs go these days, this one’s relatively tame. That said, the mild profanity, misuses of God’s name and some slightly suggestive references mean you may not want your tween or teen putting Gracie Abrams’ latest effort on repeat.

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Maybe not for you or me or the calendar makers, but certainly for the artists fighting to throw out the best summer song. And while the winner is not quite yet decided (it is, after all, April), there is one song in the running you should know about. 

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.”

This earworm, released by the 24-year-old former Disney star-turned-actor-turned singer, has a 70s feel. That’s especially true of the accompanying video which has already garnered close to 9 million views in a little over a week, and that number is still climbing.

This song equates Sabrina–all of Sabrina–to an addictive drug that a new man in her life just can’t quit.

POSITIVE CONTENT

There’s nothing wrong with someone liking you (“Now he’s thinkin’ ‘bout me every night, oh/Isn’t that sweet? I guess so”). And Sabrina knows that this new guy is really into her (“Say you can’t sleep, baby, I know/that’s that me espresso”).

CONTENT CONCERNS

In fact she’s so sure of this man’s affections that she confidently stands on the side of arrogance (“I can’t relate to desperation/My give-a-f—s are on vacation/And I got this one boy and he stop calling/When they act this way, I know I got ‘em”).

It’s pretty clear that the addiction and obsession here are due to a few things:

Sabrina’s skin and scent (“Soft skin and I perfumed it for ya”), her overall demeanor (“Walked in and dream-came-trued it for ya”) and of course the sexual interaction Sabrina has with this man.

Now, all of that above information sets the stage for the music video, which finds Sabrina and her backup dancers at the lake, dressed in an array of very revealing bikinis, along with shirtless men, for whom the women flaunt, dance and act provocatively, even to their embarrassment.

In addition to the f-word, Sabrina also says “holy s—” in one line of her song.

TRACK SUMMARY

Sabrina Carpenter isn’t a new name. While many may know her best as an actress, she’s continuing to make a very prominent space for herself in the music industry.

She’s had a handful of songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and, even bigger, she opened for Taylor Swift in 2023 during her Eras Tour. That’s no small accomplishment.

Here, she boldly sings about how glorious it feels to be someone’s addiction–and to know it. This song, while it is remarkably catchy and meant to be a light summer hit, is laced with sensuality, arrogance and a few harsh profanities that likely will make it out of reach for young listeners.

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The arrival of a new Taylor Swift album is always an event that the Swifty faithful mark on their calendars like Christmas. And this time around, Swift surprised everyone with the release of her 11^th album, The Tortured Poets Department. The original 17 songs showed up on streaming at midnight (Eastern time) April 19. But a couple of hours after that—wait, what’s this? Fourteen more songs?    

Indeed.

Swift, ever the marketing genius, called it The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. A double album, she said. More like a triple album, really. And one can’t help but ponder the question: When on Earth did this 33-year-old singer have time to pen and record 31 more songs about heartbreak, love, heartbreak, tragedy, heartbreak and still more—well, you get the point. After all, she’s been jetting around the world for her Eras Tour for the last 18months and spending most other waking moments with her NFL beau, Travis Kelce.

By all accounts, they seem deliriously happy together. This album, though? More like deliriously tortured. It feels like reading Romeo and Juliet 31 times in a row.

With so much poetic angst set to music here, we’ll hit some of the most relevant lyrical issues and circle back to the bigger conversation about Taylor’s tragic romantic worldview in the conclusion.

Positive Content

At the risk of sounding like the kind of churlish, hate-filled critic that Taylor blasts on one of her tracks, there’s very little here that one could characterize as positive.

That said, perhaps we can give Swift a bit of credit for self-awareness regarding her unhealthy romantic relationships. To wit: “I love you, it’s ruining my life,” she sings in lead single “Fortnight.” Later in the song, we get a bit of vintage innocent Taylor when she sings, “At dinner, you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one/People put wedding rings on, and that’s the closest I’ve come/To my heart exploding.” That’s a genuinely touching lyrical moment.

But there aren’t many of those here.

Content Concerns

With each album she releases, Swift seems more and more comfortable with casual profanity. “Down Bad” includes 18 f-words, for instance, one of several songs that include that particularly harsh vulgarity. Other swearing includes the s-word, “b–ch” and “h—” on numerous tracks.

Lead single “Fortnight” (referencing a two-week period of time, not the popular game Fortnite) seems to be about a woman who’s had a brief affair with a neighbor, perhaps in part because her husband has cheated too (“My husband is cheating/I wanna kill him”).

Likewise, on “Thank You aIMee,” which purportedly is about dealing with Kim Kardashian’s criticism at one point in her career, she says of her mother’s response, “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman/But she used to say she wished that you were dead.”

Songs breezily suggest sexual trysts that include lyrical references to shared beds and showers, as well as cohabitation when she keeps finding one ex’s stuff in her drawers. “So High School” nostalgically reminisces about risky adolescent behavior (“I’m watching American Pie with you on a Saturday night/ … Truth, dare, spin bottles”) as well as sex in the back of a car (“Get my car door, isn’t that sweet/ … Then pull me to the backseat/ … No one’s ever had me/Not like you/Had me.” The she adds this retrospective commentary: “You knew what you wanted, and boy, you got her.”

Nods to drinking, smoking and marijuana use turn up throughout the album as well. “Fortnight” includes the line, “I was a functioning alcoholic.”

“But Daddy I Love Him” tells the tale of a rebellious girl’s love affair with a wrong-side-of-the-tracks kind of guy—and it paints a nasty picture of judgmental churchgoers: “I just learned these people only raise you to cage you/Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best/Clutching their pearls, sighing, ‘What a mess’/I just learned these people try and save you/‘Cause they hate you.” Later she adds, “I’ll tell you something right now, you ain’t gotta pray for me/Me and my wild boy and all of this wild joy/He was chaos, he was revelry.”

Another song that spiritualizes love and intimacy is “Guilty as Sin?” Suggestive lyrics hint at sexual fantasy and masturbation: “I keep these longings locked/ … These fatal fantasies giving way to labored breath/Taking all of me, we’ve already done it in my head.” Swift then asks, “Without ever touching his skin/How can I be guilty as sin?” And then Swift takes a big leap, using Christian images and themes to describe her own romanticized religion: “What if I roll the stone away?/They’re gonna crucify me anyway/What if the way you hold me is actually what’s holy?/ … They don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly/I choose you and me religiously.”

There are many, many more instances of similar problems throughout this 31-song collection. But that representative sampling gives you a sense of what to expect here.

Album Summary

Taylor Swift would probably number me among those hateful, religious, pearl-clutchers in church for what I’m about to say. But I think it bears saying, because Swift practically says it herself: Romance for Swift is a religion. In fact, she says what she experiences in moments of intimacy represents something akin to worship for her: “What if the way you hold me is actually what’s holy?”

I’m honestly grateful that Swift herself has identified that core longing here. She yearns for those fleeting experiences of intimacy to transcend time and space. Indeed, on “Down Bad,” she describes a moment of soul-to-soul connection in ecstatic, cosmically transcendent terms: “Tell me I was the chosen one/Show me that this world is bigger than us/Then sent me back where I came from/For a moment, I knew cosmic love/ … For a moment, I was heaven struck.”

What she’s longing for is salvation, being unconditionally known and embraced. And she works so very, very hard to earn that salvation. Still, Swift savagely spurns those who would suggest such a thing, even though she’s so obviously seeking salvation in relationships that inevitably leave her broken and gutted.

Elsewhere, she sings, “So how much sad did you think I had/Did you think I had in me/How much tragedy?” Honestly, Swift’s appetite for tragedy seems nearly infinite, listening to song after song after song that “poetically” chronicle her black holes collapsing in on themselves. It’s a void no man can fill, no matter how passionately she longs for it. Only God will fill that space, for her, for any of us.

Now all of that said, everything I’ve written above takes Swift’s tortured personal confessions earnestly, at face value. But I think it’s also worth asking this question about her stories of tragedy and heartbreak: How much is personal, and how much is a performance? A very calculated performance, perhaps? After all, she has a reputation to uphold: No one does a breakup song—or a breakup album—like Taylor Swift.

And Swift has tapped into a seemingly infinite adolescent appetite for such romantically tragic angst. It’s the kind of affection that prompts tween and teen girls to buy four different versions of the same album, just to make sure that they’re not missing out on the complete Taylor Swift experience.

Too cynical? Maybe. Then again, no one else has ever generated a billion streams of her songs on one outlet alone.

And that should give us pause when it comes to our kids and the messages they’re ingesting.

At the surface level, I really don’t like all the harsh profanity here (more pearl clutching—sorry, Taylor), or the glorification of reckless intimacy. But I think I’m even more discomfited by the underlying worldview that millions upon millions of impressionable girls are ingesting: that romantic love is the capstone human experience.

That’s a worldview that Taylor Swift continues to lean into with all her might. And it’s one that deserves our parental attention and critique, lest it leave our daughters (and probably some sons, too) vulnerable to the kind of emotional devastation that Taylor herself plods through over and over again here.

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At least that’s what she’s telling listeners in her latest single, “Illusion.”

This track, from the 28-year-old Grammy-Award winner’s upcoming album Radical Optimism, finds Lipa admitting to some of her past mistakes while claiming she’s ready to move forward from them.

Almost.

See, Lipa may know a red flag when she sees one, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have fun while it’s waving.

POSITIVE CONTENT

To Lipa’s credit, she admits that she’s made some mistakes when it comes to former relationships (“I been known to miss a red flag/I been known to put my lover on a pedestal/In the end, those things just don’t last”).

But she’s done with that and ready to move forward (“It’s time I take my rose-coloured glasses off/…Now I’m grown, I know what I deserve”).

See, she recognizes all the questionable signs she never saw before (“I already know your type, tellin’ me the things I like/…Don’t you know I could do this dance all night?”).

And she’s letting this new guy know she’ll never fall for shady behavior again (“Don’t know who you think that you’re confusin’/I be like, ooh, it’s amusin’/You think I’m gonna fall for an illusion”).

CONTENT CONCERNS

Still, Lipa has no problem dancing and flirting with this guy she says she’ll never date (“I still like dancin’ with the lessons I already learned”). And in one line, Lipa uses the s-word.

The music video for this track features Lipa and other women in bikinis and other revealing outfits, dancing on a ship and sometimes against one another. It also features men in speedos and other suggestive outfits dancing with Lipa. And, on the cover for this single, Lipa sports a bikini top.

TRACK SUMMARY

If you were to just listen to this track, you wouldn’t have too many issues to comb through (though they still exist).

Dua Lipa is claiming to have grown up and moved on from making questionable relationship choices. But she’s still OK with flirting and entertaining these bad choices, even if she doesn’t go home with them.

But the song isn’t on its own. The accompanying video has already gained 8.8 million views in just a few days. And it features Lipa and other women and men in revealing bathing suits, dancing together, pretty suggestively, on a ship. And she does say the s-word in one line of her song.

It’s nice to see Dua Lipa growing up and wanting healthier relationships, but this latest track still has hints of what has made Lipa so famous: dancing, lighthearted-vibes and love–or a lack thereof.

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Just watch any music video with former DisneyChannel or Nickelodeon stars and you’d understand that pretty quickly.

But in this case, we’re not talking about those stars. We’re talking about YouTube sensation JoJo Siwa.

Siwa started out as a dancer on the second season of Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition and, when she was eliminated in week nine, she took to YouTube, where she became a star.

Siwa took fans around her mansion, unboxed sparkly gifts, did her makeup, had many a heart-to-heart with viewers and even came out with dance videos and music videos.

And her videos received millions of views. Meaning, she is no small influencer.

That makes her latest hit, “Karma,” quite the shocker.

This song, and its accompanying video, is a billboard for anyone who wants to watch a good-girl-gone-bad-gone-lesbian sort of video.

Of course, this was Siwa’s intent. She said in an interview with Billboard that her desire was to be as “bold” and as “b-llsy” as possible. She also said that she wants to create a new musical style, which she wants to call “gay pop.”

And this profane song about the effects of karma has helped her to accomplish that mission on all fronts. 

POSITIVE CONTENT

The saving grace here is that Siwa quotes a part of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shall not lie, thou shall not cheat,” Siwa parrots.

Siwa admits that she cheated on her girlfriend, but that she is sorry for what she did (“This lonely room feels so empty, just me and my regrets/And cold blue eyes look back at me, the mirror has no sympathy/My guilts become a symphony that won’t let me forget”).

CONTENT CONCERNS

Siwa is telling listeners that she’s been cheated on, but that it’s because she also has cheated and lied in the past.

And so she tells the story of her infidelity. “I was a bad girl, I did some bad things/I swear I did it all for fun and it meant nothing.”

She intended to keep her tryst a secret (“It never happened, it was a secret”) and didn’t think about how her actions would hurt her girlfriend (“Another late night, another crazy mood/And I didn’t think twice what it would do to you”).

Until, of course, her girlfriend cheated on her (“When I saw the pics of you and her, I fеlt the knife twist/…It still kills me you hooked up with her”) and she realized that “the universe is giving me what I deserve.”

Which perfectly sets the stage for the chorus, which repeats: “Karma’s a “b–ch/I should’ve known better/If I had a wish, I would’ve never effed around.”

There’s also a double entendre in the chorus that says not only is Karma the worst, but so is the girl that’s now with Siwa’s former girlfriend (“Karma’s a b–ch, and she’s with you right now”).

TRACK SUMMARY

There are a lot of ways to rebrand oneself. But this is one of the most problematic.

This song, and subsequent music video, feels like Siwa is trying too hard to give herself a new name and distance herself from her YouTube personality of sparkles, bows and all things girly.

I’m sure she’s grown up and changed in many ways. I just wish she would have expressed that differently. Especially because the young girls that have grown up with her may watch this shocking transformation and feel that they should do the same.

This is nothing new. Miley Cyrus spiraled out on Bangerz, Demi Lovato went wild on Confident and Taylor Swift promised revenge on Reputation.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the natural progression for young stars who never really had a childhood. Or for those whose entire childhood was put on display and scrutinized at every turn.

It makes me sad for the slow, unbothered childhood that they never got to have. And for the unhinged personalities they feel they need to take on afterward.

But if you’re a parent of a JoJo Siwa fan, you should know that this new turn she’s taking is laced with profanity and glorifies her own lesbian lifestyle.

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This 34-year-old Irish native is probably best known for his hit “Take Me To Church,” which told listeners that sex was both a part of Hozier’s religion and an act of worship.

So, in many ways, listeners have come to expect Hozier to be lyrically daring. And he continues to be so. Especially on his new EP, Unreal Unearth: Unheard, with his latest single called “Too Sweet.”

While his former hit was bold and basically sacrilegious, “Too Sweet” is so masterfully written that you might not expect it to simply be about how Hozier is not a morning person, while a woman in his life is. And he is, kindly, over it.

POSITIVE CONTENT

It’s true. Hozier is not a morning person (“It can’t be said I’m an early bird/It’s 10 o’clock before I say a word”). But this woman in his life is, and she feels that if Hozier was, he’d be a healthier person (“How do you sleep so well/You keep tellin’ me to live right/To go to bed before the daylight/But then you wake up for the sunrise”).

But that’s not how he wants to wake up. He wonders if she ever wants to just take it easy and “wake up, dark as a lake/Smellin’ like a bonfire/lost in a haze?”.

It’s clear this woman is “drunk on life” and he thinks “it’s great.”

Still, his preferences are vastly different from hers.

He wants to enjoy life with a drink (“I think I’ll take my whiskey neat”), a strong cup of coffee (“My coffee black”), unconventional work hours (“I work late when I’m free from the phone”) and a much later bedtime that’s certainly unproductive in this woman’s eyes (“And my bed at three”).

It seems that she’s the opposite of Hozier in every way. He calls her “sweet.” In fact, she’s “too sweet” for him. Too structured, too put together and too uptight (“You treat your mouth as if it’s Heaven’s gate/The rest of you like you’re the TSA”).

CONTENT CONCERNS

It’s not necessarily bad to be a morning person. It’s not a sin to be a night owl. It’s totally fine to enjoy different things, to have different preferences and to work on a different schedule than most. To view life in a different lens.

Really, the only concerning lyric here is that Hozier thinks it’s strange this woman wants to keep in shape. To which he comments “who wants to live forever, Babe?”.

He also mentions that he enjoys drinking his “whiskey neat.”

TRACK SUMMARY

Of all the things this song says, I think it most clearly communicates that Hozier is a masterful lyricist.

I’ve never listened to a song that basically told someone to enjoy life and not take everything so seriously in such a beautiful way.

As someone who is pretty type-A, I can appreciate a lot of what is being said here. Especially because Hozier is clear that he appreciates this woman’s preferences (“If you’re drunk on life babe, I think it’s great”) and views her as a beautiful creature (“You know you’re bright as the morning/As soft as the rain/Pretty as a vine/As sweet as a grape”).

Just one that needs to calm down and be OK that he too has his own way of enjoying things.

As for problematic content, there isn’t much here to worry about. Yes, Hozier enjoys whiskey. Sure, some of his habits could be called questionable. And he does say that he doesn’t feel life is so great that he’d want to live forever.

But there’s no profanity. No references to sex. No videos from which you’d need to shield your eyes. Just some wonderfully wound lyrics that tell a funny story of sorts.

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The second single from Grande’s album, Eternal Sunshine, “We Can’t Be Friends” encapsulates the heartache of an ended relationship. In the song, Grande declares to an unnamed ex that although “we can’t be friends,” she would “like to just pretend” and “wait until you like me again.”

A music video, which is based on the premise of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, accompanies the song and adds to its meaning.

In the video, Grande plays a character named Peaches. Peaches goes to a medical clinic, asking them to perform a procedure that would erase her ex from her memory. Although she is seemingly content with her decision, the song’s ending repeats the phrase, “I’ll wait for your love.”

POSITIVE CONTENT

Music is filled with bad advice about breakups. Country songs often suggest drowning your sorrows in alcohol. Oliva Rodrigo’s recent single, “Bad Idea,” suggests you give into temptation and sleep with your ex.

In contrast, Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends” doesn’t offer any explicit advice; however, it does present a relatable example of someone processing a breakup. The song demonstrates that it’s normal to desire separation from a previous partner while also missing his or her affection and company.

CONTENT CONCERNS

Unfortunately, Grande’s relatable representation of a breakup ultimately offers little hope. The song ends with repetition of the phrase, “I’ll wait for your love,” leaving listeners with her feelings of insatiable longing for a relationship that did not work out.  

This song also includes some postmodern themes. For example, she states, “Me and my truth, we sit in silence/Baby girl, it’s just me and you.” Grande’s message here doesn’t seem agenda-filled; however, she does implicitly suggest a worldview based on subjective truth and personal experience.

The music video doesn’t add anything terribly explicit, but there are a few moments to consider. As mentioned before, the premise of the video involves a woman undergoing an operation that promises to erase all memories of her ex. Obviously, this is not a realistic or healthy way to process a breakup. Additionally, a scene in the video involves a couple lying in the same bed together, and the man is seen without a shirt.

TRACK SUMMARY

Compared to many other relationship-related songs, Ariana Grande’s breakup commentary could be seen as being more positive—which is an indicting comment on the overall state of this medium. Although she avoids offering blatantly negative advice, her conclusion is an ambivalent acceptance of her dissatisfaction.

American author Flannery O’Connor delineates the problem with such conclusions by stating, “At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.”

Unfortunately, O’Connor’s “despair domesticators” dominate this postmodern generation. And based on “We Can’t Be Friends,” Ariana Grande seems to be one of them.

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Longtime fans watched him step away from NSYNC and forge his own insanely successful solo career, which now includes 10 Grammys, four Emmys and six studio albums. 

Timberlake’s most recent album, his first in six years, is called Everything I Thought It Was. It includes 18 songs, one of which debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100. It’s called “Selfish.” 

This track is an earworm, like many of the songs Timberlake has written in the past. That said, this one isn’t as racy as some of his past work. Instead, it focuses on Timberlake’s deep love for his wife of more than a decade, Jessica Biel.

POSITIVE CONTENT

Timberlake tells listeners that his wife completely captivates him (“If they saw what I saw/They would fall the way I fell”). He shares that he and Biel have a special bond (“But they don’t know what you want/And baby, I would never tell”) and a deep level of intimacy (“If they knew what I know/They would never let you go”). Because of those traits, he intends to be with her forever (“So guess what?/I ain’t ever lettin’ you go”). 

Timberlake believes that Biel was made for him, in more ways than one (“’Cause your lips were made for mine/And my heart would go flatline/If it wasn’t beatin’ for you all the time”). 

As for rivals? Forget about it: “And I don’t want any other guys/Takin’ my place, girl, I got too much pride/… So if I get jealous, I can’t help it/I want every bit of you, I guess I’m selfish.” 

CONTENT CONCERNS

A few lyrics include mildly suggestive imagery, such as when he describes her lips (“your lips were made for mine”) and his desire for “every bit” of her. 

TRACK SUMMARY 

Justin Timberlake isn’t necessarily known for his romantic songs. 

Seductive? Yes. Lustful? For sure. 

But this one is different. 

This isn’t the first time Timberlake has written a song about Jessica Biel or his love for her. But “Selfish,” despite its title, is sweetly centered on the woman he loves so deeply.

There are a few nods at sensuality here. Still, this is ultimately a love song that finds Timberlake declaring his faithful passion for his wife.

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These two superstars have released a toe-tapping single called “Doctor (Work It Out).” And even though this infectious dance track is technically new, it’s also been more than 10 years in the making.

The song was teased way back in 2012 while Cyrus was working on her 2013 album, Bangerz. Then, it was leaked in 2017. Still, the timing wasn’t right. So, to the vault it went.

Now that it’s available to the public, the song and its accompanying music video have gained over 5.8 million views in three days on YouTube. That’s a lot of views.

This song is, without question, meant to be a feel-good, dance anthem. It’s also doused with desire, soaked in sexual innuendo and peppered with light profanity.

POSITIVE CONTENT

Nary-a-one single thing.

Sure, if you don’t listen to the words, the beat most certainly makes you want to dance. But you cannot separate the song from the provocative, sexually-charged lyrics and seductive video.

CONTENT CONCERNS

And that’s where we’ll start. With the lyrics.

Miley tells this man that she is ready to be his doctor or nurse, with the sole intention of being the medicine he needs before he sustains any… injuries (“A midnight medication/Just show me where it hurts/I need to rock you baby/Before your body bursts”).

She’s ready to be the one who solves his issues (“Let lil’ mama work you out”), provided he’s on the same page. After all, she’s not going to dilly-dally (“Are you on the fence?/Don’t waste my d–n time”).

And it’s implied that he most certainly will be swayed by her one-time offer (“Take your sugar/And pour it into me”) by the night’s end (“I’ll slip, but I won’t slide/Don’t gotta be forever/Just together for the night”).

TRACK SUMMARY

When I first played this song, I was certain it was Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” It sounds so similar, I’m guessing, because Thicke’s song was also created with Pharrell Williams and has the exact same opening as Miley’s new hit.

But it was not the same song. And while it’s less problematic in some ways, that doesn’t make it better.

Miley’s song casts aside the references to sadomasochism as well as the winks at degrading women that the other track included.

In this go around, Cyrus is telling a lover that she’s ready to act out all the things she has in mind.

Those acts aren’t displayed on the song’s accompanying video, but the camera does get glimpses of Cyrus seductively dancing, wearing a leotard that reveals her thong, her buttocks and a fair amount of cleavage.

Apparently, that was the goal.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Miley says of the song that,

It completely embodies my spirit and my essence at this exact moment. And this song is really just kind of fun, and it’s not too heavy or heady or deep, and that’s kind of right where I am and my nature at this moment. And so it just feels really reflective of where I’m at, and that’s really what my music always does.

I can’t say that I agree with Miley. The beat is fun, sure. But the lyrics carry their own hyper-sexualized weight that’s sure to sway some listeners one way or the other.

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