Blue without my Green: A Corpus Analysis on Colours of Grief and Emotive Expressions of Amy Winehouse’s Compositions

Abstract

Singers and songwriters use their music as a platform for communication, using lyrics to express intimate sentiments - often caused by the pressures of the music industry as well as personal matters such as mental health. In this study, we analysed Amy Winehouse’s songs, exploring the explicit and subliminal affective messages using linguistic techniques i.e., metaphors and colour symbolism. Grounded on corpus analysis and stages of grief theory, we looked at linguistic patterns and intensity of word choice related to Amy’s choices of colours and emotive expressions. The findings show that sadness was the most prevalent emotion in her lyrics and its correlation to her mental health issues; the transition of positive sentiments developing into negative emotions was also evident in the data. Her complex relationships and experiences were also infused into her deliberate self-portrayal of catalytic mental deterioration, self-destruction, and torment. This study offers new insights in corpus analysis research on psycholinguistics and mental health in pop culture.