Evolution of Lyrics of Egyptian Songs in the 20th Century

Authors

Omar Abdelrafe, American University in CairoFollow

Abstract

Despite the extensive research by western countries on the song lyrics, almost nothing is known about the evolution of Egyptian song lyrics. The previous studies in the U.S. and U.K. revealed that lyrics were more pessimistic as time passed. In this study, 1891 Egyptian songs from 1920 to 2022 were analyzed using a sentiment analysis tool while searching for offensive words and retrieving their popularity scores from Spotify. The results aligned with those of the other regions in which the negativity of songs and the percentage of songs containing offensive words increased. However, there is a substantial increase in neutral songs and a continuous increase in the popularity score. Consequently, the results are crucial to understanding Egypt's cultural changes over time and provide insight into the listeners' emotions. This study contributes to a vast field of lyrical analysis, in which the Middle East region is falling behind, to guide future researchers to adapt, enhance and test for a larger sample.

Document Type

FYRE Place

Department

Rhetoric and Composition Department

Second Advisor

Mariam Ramadan

Recommended Citation

Abdelrafe, Omar (2025) "Evolution of Lyrics of Egyptian Songs in the 20th Century," The Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 10, Article 10.
Available at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/urje/vol10/iss1/10

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item