Music artists can be powerful sources of representation about what it means to have a high status. Previous literature has shown that artists display their high status by singing about economic factors, such as driving expensive cars. Yet, we do not know whether artists also showcase a high status in their lyrics by identifying with a particular social group and showing power via sexual objectification and subjectification. Considering the gender and ethnicity of the artists, this study analyzed 4117 popular lyrics on Spotify between 2016 and 2019 in six Western countries (US, UK, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada). A manual analysis of the lyrics showed that almost half (46%) of the songs depicted status in terms of economic capital (e.g., wearing jewels), 26% through social capital (e.g., knowing famous people), 16% through cultural capital (e.g., drinking champagne), and 6% through sexual objectification and subjectification (e.g., showing naked bodies on expensive cars). Most of these status representations were present in rap lyrics and among Black and Brown male artists. These findings offer new evidence and theoretical insights on the diffusion of neoliberal ideals of materialism, utilitarianism, hegemonic masculinity, and objectification in music lyrics and their potential reinforcement of racial-ethnic and gender hierarchies.

音乐艺术家可以成为代表高地位意味着什么的有力来源。此前的文献表明，艺术家通过歌颂经济因素（例如驾驶昂贵的汽车）来展示自己的崇高地位。然而，我们不知道艺术家是否也在他们的歌词中通过认同特定的社会群体并通过性客体化和主体化来展示权力来展示崇高的地位。考虑到艺术家的性别和种族，本研究分析了 2016 年至 2019 年间 Spotify 上 6 个西方国家（美国、英国、荷兰、澳大利亚、新西兰、加拿大）的 4117 首流行歌词。对歌词的人工分析显示，几乎一半（46％）的歌曲通过经济资本（例如佩戴珠宝）来描述地位，26％通过社会资本（例如认识名人），16％通过文化资本（例如，喝香槟），还有 6% 通过性客体化和主观化（例如，在昂贵的汽车上展示裸体）。大多数这些地位表征都出现在说唱歌词以及黑人和棕色人种男性艺术家中。这些发现为唯物主义、功利主义、霸权男性气质和歌词客观化等新自由主义理想的传播及其对种族民族和性别等级制度的潜在强化提供了新的证据和理论见解。