“I may look fake but I’m real where it counts”: Positivity and authenticity in the songs of Dolly Parton

Research has shown that the emotional tone of music lyrics across genres has become less positive over time. Case studies of some individual artists, such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, have revealed more nuanced findings about how an artist’s catalogue might reflect their public persona. Thus far, however, these case studies have focused exclusively on male singer-songwriters. Dolly Parton is well known for both her extensive song catalogue and her public persona of positivity. Given Parton’s enduring appeal as both an authentic and positive voice in the music industry, we predicted that her lyrics would be similarly authentic and positive and reflect general themes in positive psychology. Using linguistic analysis software, our analysis showed that, compared to the yearly top 10 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country and Pop charts, Parton’s lyrics contain a higher percentage of markers of positivity and elevation and that, unlike both country and pop songs, which have significantly decreased in positivity, her use of positive linguistic markers has remained consistent for the past 50 years. These factors are aligned with well-being and social connectedness, and we suggest that they have a unifying power that might help explain her popularity in the current sociocultural environment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)