This portfolio post will be analyzing the lyrics of the song “Hey Angel” from the boyband One Direction’s Made in the A.M. album. I will be looking at stereotypical masculine and feminine traits and finding gender roles presented with the lyrics. This song is about a man referring to a woman as an “angel” and expresses his infatuation with her. Simply referring the woman as an angel is the first stereotypical feminine characteristic. Women are seen to be gentle, soft, tender, kind, and helpful. Most of the time angels are thought of as feminine figures. He continually refers to the woman as angel the entire song and it occurs quite often throughout the lyrics. The first set of lyrics I find important are stated below:
Yeah I see you at the bar, at the edge of my bed
Backseat of my car, in the back of my head
I come alive when I hear your voice
It’s a beautiful sound, it’s a beautiful noise
There are a lot of pieces of these lyrics that need to be discussed. To begin, the first two lines are sexual and show a sexualized version of the woman which contrasts from how she is referred to in the rest of the song. He shows that he thinks about the woman in this way and can’t get her out of his head. The next two lines are referring to how beautiful the woman’s voice is to him. This can show how her voice may be feminized for being soft-spoken or gentle. Overall, this song shows a lot of common feminine characteristics.
Shared by: Abigail Gonnering
Image Credit: British GQ