Semantic Homogenization in Italian Popular Music: A Diachronic Analysis
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Computer Science > Computation and Language
Title:Semantic Homogenization in Italian Popular Music: A Diachronic Analysis
Abstract:In recent years, studies have revealed a decline in semantic variety across popular music lyrics, particularly in English-language songs on streaming platforms like Spotify. This research examines whether a similar trend can be observed in a different linguistic and cultural context: the lyrics of all finalist songs from the 75 editions of the Sanremo Music Festival, Italy's most renowned music competition. What sets this work apart is the development of a flexible and efficient methodology for tracking changes in semantic similarity over time, which can be applied to different datasets to study similar phenomena. Drawing on a combination of full-text, segment-based, topic-based, and word-level analyses, the approach leverages both embedding techniques and large language models. When applied to the Sanremo corpus, this framework reveals a gradual move toward increasing semantic uniformity, echoing the global patterns identified in previous studies. These findings underscore the value of natural language processing tools in uncovering long-term shifts in musical language and cultural expression.
| Subjects: | Computation and Language (cs.CL) |
| Cite as: | arXiv:2607.04832 [cs.CL] |
| (or arXiv:2607.04832v1 [cs.CL] for this version) | |
| https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.04832
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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| Journal reference: | J Comput Soc Sc 9, 44 (2026) |
| Related DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-026-00468-1
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