Does emo rap makes you less emo? The influence of emo-rap on young adults’ emotions. Author: Christiaan van der Weijden Student number: 10625224 Master’s thesis Graduate School of Communication Master’s programme Communication Science Supervisor: Susanne Baumgartner Date: 26-6-2019 Abstract Emo-rap is currently gaining more and more popularity, especially among emerging adults. Taking into account the lack of research about this genre, the relationship between emo-rap and emerging adults’ emotions will be studied. Contrary to popular belief, sad music can also induce happy emotions among listeners. This study will research if this also holds for emo-rap. An online experiment (N=170) was conducted, with a 2 emotional valence (happy vs. sad) x 2 music genre (rap vs. pop) factorial design. After inducing sad mood, emerging adults had to listen to one of four songs. Results show that music in general lead to more happiness among participants, when in a sad mood. In contrast to the predictions, happy music lead to more happiness than sad music. Moreover, a high preference for the heard genre made participants happier than a low genre preference, when in a sad mood. 2 Introduction Nowadays, hip-hop and rap music are gaining more and more popularity, especially among adolescents and young adults (Statista, n.d.) in the Netherlands (NPO, 2018) and the United States (Nielsen, 2018). One could argue that these genres have become pop-music, regarding the presence of numerous rap and hip-hop songs in major Spotify charts. One of the popular sub-genres is called emo-rap, with Lil Uzi Vert and the late XXXTENTACION as one of the most popular right now. They are known for their face tattoos, colored hair and lyrics about drugs and depression. To illustrate their popularity, XXXTENTACION’s most popular song ‘SAD’ has been streamed almost a billion times, whereas Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘XO TOUR Llif3’ already surpassed one billion streams. This genre is “characterized by soporific beats, dreamy atmospheres and lyrics displaying an emotional vulnerability that is the antithesis of the hard-bragging, hard-living gangsta rap that has come to define mainstream hip-hop” (Teffer, 2018). Since a lot of people are exposed to this music, and thereby come in contact with depictions of feelings of depression and accompanying behavior (e.g. drug use), its possible influence needs to be investigated. In particular, music can have several influences on listeners, one of them is emotion induction (Thompson, & Robitaille, 1992). In this case, one would think that emo-rap will probably induce negative emotions on listeners. But is this really the case? First of all, a definition of the broad concept ‘emotion’ is needed. Emotion is “a quite brief but intense affective reaction that usually involves a number of subcomponents—subjective feeling, physiological arousal, expression, action tendency, and regulation—that are more or less “synchronized.” Emotions focus on specific “objects” and last minutes to a few hours (e.g., happiness, sadness)” (Juslin, & Sloboda, 2013, p. 585). For rap is considered as ‘problem’ music (North, & Hargreaves, 2006), prior research regarding other negative deemed music genres might be relevant. Contrary to popular belief, 3 hard rock, for example, is known to regulate sad emotions (Schave, & Schave, 1989). Moreover, previous research shows that music study results in general could benefit physical health (Juslin, & Sloboda, 2013). However, there aren’t any studies that research the influence of emo-rap on emotions. And taking into account the age-groups among which emo-rap is the most popular and the fact that music can portray society and therefore can help young adults meet their social- emotional needs (Miranda, & Claes, 2004), the focus of the current research will be on emo- rap and young adults. And to see if there will be any differences between different music genres on emotions, the effects of emo-rap on emotions will be compared to those of rap as a broader genre as well as pop-music. In short, the goal of this research is to provide a basis for future research regarding this relatively new genre, while presenting new insights about the effects of emo-rap on young adults’ emotions. Hence, the research question for the current study will be as follows: What is the influence of emo-rap on young adults’ emotions when already being sad? Theoretical background Enjoyment of sad media Before researching the relationship between emo-rap and emotions, we need to understand why people might enjoy this kind of sad media content. Oliver’s (1993) research about the paradox of enjoying sad films discusses the difference between direct experiences of emotion and the evaluation of these experienced emotions. The latter are called metaemotions. Oliver (1993) argues that people can experience positive metaemotions (positively appraising negative feelings) through sad films and this could meet certain needs. People could perceive this as gratifying. This relates to Oliver and Raney’s (2011) reasoning that consumers of entertainment media not only choose to consume certain kinds of content 4 because of hedonic reasons, but also because of eudaimonic reasons. Whereas hedonic reasons are about amusement and pleasure, eudaimonic reasons are deeper and more meaningful. For instance, eudaimonic reasons could be searching for the meaning of life, truths, purposes or certain feelings. In addition, Bartsch (2012) argues that emerging adults still have their whole life in front of them. Hence, they feel like they have endless possibilities in all aspects of life. This can result in several jobs, relationships and, concerning media, it can result in the consumption of more frightful and thrill-seeking content. They are more attracted to fear and sadness than older adults, since the latter feel like they have less time left. They prefer to spend their ‘short’ time left being alive in a positive way; they avoid negative affect. That’s why older adults are more inclined to consume entertainment content for hedonic reasons. This also explains why young adults will listen to sad music during a heartbreak or watch a scary movie (Bartsch, 2012; Oliver, 1993). Through these negative types of media, young adults can learn valuable life lessons. Older adults, on the other hand, have already learned these lessons and are not inclined to experience them again. These findings are supported by Mares, Oliver, and Cantor (2008), which argue that young adults are willing to undergo unpleasant, but arousing, experiences, since it will benefit them in the long run. Especially through entertainment media, for it is a great way to pass through these (emotional) experiences vicariously (Bartsch, 2012). So one could say that older adults prefer emotional stability, whereas young adults tend to choose for intense emotions. This could explain why young people might choose emo-rap. Besides the general media theories, the theory of music, mood and movement, poses that “music produces the psychological response of altered mood leading to improved health outcomes” (Murrock & Higgins, 2009, p. 2252). The brain processes rhythm, melody, pitch and harmony. The system in which this processing occurs is also in charge of one’s emotions, 5 sensations and feelings. So music can change one’s mood through affective responses to the processed music (Murrock & Higgins, 2009). Important to say is that this theory doesn’t include lyrics, it is specifically about the music itself. However, it is possible that the lyrics might enhance the feeling the music already produces. The theory provides a basis regarding how music can regulate one’s emotions. In short, the discussed theories give an overview of why young adults would listen to emo-rap. Moreover, Murrock and Higgins (2009) provide reason to believe that emo-rap might alter negative emotions. This could be done either through hedonic reasons (seeking pleasure and amusement) or eudaimonic reasons (searching for the meaning of their lives, for instance). Music and emotion regulation among young adults Next, a better understanding about the relationship between music and emotions is needed, specifically regarding young adults. Zimmer-Gembeck, and Skinner (2011) argue that adolescents need to be able to control their emotions and levels of stress to withstand the developmental difficulties they go through. One way of coping with these difficulties is through music, it helps adolescent regulate their emotions (Saarikallio, & Erkkilä, 2007). This is in line with previous research (Schave, & Schave, 1989), which poses that, in this case, heavy metal music can regulate listeners’ mood. This can happen through validating people’s emotions and feelings and showing they are not the only one experiencing what they are experiencing. Moreover, music can be the tool for adolescents to release emotions vicariously or just serve as a distraction from unpleasant emotions (Schwartz, & Fouts, 2003). This corresponds with Bartsch’ (2012) research, who states that emerging adults use entertainment media (among which music) to pass through emotional experiences vicariously. These mentioned 6 similarities between literature on adolescents and emerging adults provides reasons to believe that the findings on adolescents could be similar for emerging adults. As becomes clear, music can be used to regulate emotions. However, the emotional valence of the music might influence this regulation of emotions. Difference between emotional valence For the variety in emotional valence could be important regarding emotion regulation, this relationship will be discussed as well. As mentioned already, Oliver and Raney (2011) and Bartsch (2012) argue that young adults can consume media for eudaimonic reasons. In addition, Brattico and colleagues (2011) state that sad music can also be considered satisfying. Also, Ter Bogt, Vieno, Doornwaard, Pastore, and Van den Eijnden, (2017) state that adolescents can gravitate towards certain music to feel melancholic. Moreover, Ladinig and Schellenberg’s (2012) state that people are more attracted to sad music when experiencing sad emotions or being in a negative mood.