Most 'LOVE' Songs are Masturbation

I am a big fan of songs, and this might be a common liking for many. Finding a person who doesn't like songs is rare. For most, a song is a feel-good way of relaxation and an experience. Yet a simple expression of sound can be a threat to the most powerfuls. Maybe that’s why dictators, businesses, and politicians have always been on the side of suppressing songs that break the narrative they have been setting. It’s true, too; a simple arrangement of words shouted or sung subconsciously validates their own meaning, or simply songs can shape us.

Songs are also an element of whole civilizational expression, along with all the other modes of art. They hold a wonderful power to be retained, like how decades-old music comes up suddenly in our mind. Well, this was a brief idea about songs. Now, let’s talk about what’s wrong with it.

Due to humans’ instinctual behavior of aggression on their likes, we show aggression on what we like. For example, when we find a song we like, we are aggressive with it, which means we forget our compass of judgment. Simply take it as if I listened to a song and I liked its music. Maybe I don’t even get its words, but now that I have liked it, my aggression will never let me question what it’s actually depicting, until I am bored. I believe humans are still immature. We still like being ruthless and freaks. Instead of actually becoming a better person or becoming balanced, we act. But when the curtains are down, we get back to what we always were. And music becomes the way for it. This is the base of this article.

Let’s talk facts: a 2018 study on Billboard Top 40 songs from 1960 to 2010 found that 67.3% of the lyrics referenced relationships and love. Also, a study by the Open University of Catalonia found that love and heartbreak were the principal themes in 52 out of 71 of the Billboard number-one songs from 1946 to 2016. These two data points are enough. I can even say that in my own life, almost 90% of songs I have heard, especially pop and mainstream songs, are all love songs. So, yes, love songs dominate the number of people listening. And to be more precise, crushing, wanting to ask for a date, falling in love, and breakups are pretty much what there is. Well, I don’t have a problem with love or relationships. I actually believe love is what the world lacks the most right now, more than food, water, or fresh air.

But when I listen to most of the love songs, Where is love? Where is the expression about real love, on how we are complex beings and loving someone is not a one-time agreement but an every-moment value to care for a person unconditionally? Wait! Before I say more, let me emphasize this again: “MOST”. I am not saying all love songs.

We have an innocent biology that can be hooked by even the most racist, sexist, discriminatory, bigoted, biased, classist, or homophobic song, just with particular music and sound effects. As something’s value doesn’t independently define its price in the market, a good love song isn’t necessarily the face of love songs. So let me dissect each segment of what so-called “LOVE” songs are hilariously hypocritical (or reasons why I say they are masturbation):

1. They Are Self-Gratifying: They talk about how the singer did so much for the other person, and how they are right. ‘LOVE’ songs talk about how they sacrificed and hurt themselves for the other person. This not only confuses me if it was even love (where is loving unconditionally and why is there ego) or just side-effects of their mental problem, but also proves that just as how masturbation is about self-gratification and feeling good, ‘LOVE’ songs are no different.
2. They Solve Nothing: Yeah, I know songs aren’t necessarily supposed to solve anything, but they aren’t supposed to create problems either. So when a song says what the singer feels, that they feel robbed and how they are scared for life, they are setting and even glorifying trauma and pain as a ‘cool’ thing to feel. I also believe in holding responsibility along with their power. A singer is an icon, their songs are mantras. And I believe they should be caring to their fans and also provide PROPER support through their music. But nowadays, singers themselves are almost jokers, like how they are just one of those friends that want attention for the price of doing anything. And that’s why I say just like how masturbation is an act conducted in the absence of something that it doesn’t solve, ‘LOVE’ songs aren’t about self-realization and improvement, but rather worsening the situation.
3. They Aim for Highs: As I said before, ‘LOVE’ songs are mostly about crushing on someone, falling in love, or breaking up. They are about high moments of pleasure, suspense, or sadness. But love is so much more than that, and these songs never mention it. ‘Najeek’ is a song that I am fond of, it’s by singer Bartika Eam Rai. Although her songs are a mix of ‘LOVE’ and love songs, this particular one of hers explains beautifully how attraction is something the guy is feeling and how she isn’t ready for love. And I rarely found a song that talks about so many untouched emotions and stages of actual love, rather than hitting the three most common stages everyone goes through. I say true love is experienced by few, and maybe that’s why targeting these high three stages brings the most views? And that’s why I say how masturbation is about having that short high moment of pleasure, ‘LOVE’ songs are no different.

And this concludes Why Most ‘LOVE’ songs are Masturbation.