Have you taken a look at the Billboard Top 100 Chart recently? Or maybe the Global Top 50 on Spotify? Even if you haven’t, you can probably name at least a few songs that have achieved lots of airplay and are currently quite popular. Songs like “Hotline Bling” by Drake, “The Hills” by The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” have topped the charts and continue to do so week after week because of their undeniable catchiness and appeal to a large audience. But, have you really delved deeper into these songs? Are they really “happy” songs? I mean, when you scream out “I only call you when it’s half past five/The only time that I’ll be by your side” at your Saturday night rager are you really thinking about what these words are saying? Probably not. But me, being super into this kind of stuff, I have thought about the context of these songs pretty extensively and I found that some of the songs which have defined the music scene over the past couple months, all have a surprising link. While they may have upbeat catchy choruses and dance ready musical accompaniments, their lyrics are all pretty dark, depressing and generally screwed up. Let me show you.

1) “The Hills” by The Weeknd

While you may consider this your go-to turn up song (and rightfully so - the dramatic beginning and electronic music in the background are on fire) this song is actually pretty messed up. The Weeknd is talking about how he basically doesn’t have feelings for this girl who he has relations with or if he does have feelings for her, he doesn’t know how to show them. He doesn’t know who to trust, he doesn’t know who to believe, and he just generally doesn’t know what to feel. He also is really sick of everyone judging him. But these super strong, moving lyrics have been coupled with a very party soundtrack, which kind of makes you forget about all those bad things.

2) “Hotline Bling” by Drake

While not as much of a turn up song as “The Hills,” “Hotline Bling” is still super relevant in popular culture today. Especially given the influx of insane memes featuring Drake and his bad dancing, this song is one that will definitely stay on everyone’s radar for weeks to come. And although it has become somewhat of a “joke”, the lyrics are definitely not. I would not say that Drake is particularly content in this song, if he’s content at all. Sure, it’s debatable what exactly he’s referring to (Was she really a phone sex operator? Is she just another girl he had a thing with?), it doesn’t really matter. Plainly and simply, Drake is talking about losing someone who had some sort of impact on his life. And now she’s totally changed and he doesn’t see her anymore and he’s spending his time dancing horribly and wondering if she’s moved on. Sounds like another really motivational song, doesn’t it? Yet I’ll bet money on it you’ll hear it at your local club this week.

3) “Sorry” by Justin Bieber

Scoring the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Top 100, JB’s newest release has become an anthem for apologies of all sorts. He specifically seems to be apologizing to a girl he had feelings for and is essentially asking if she’ll give him one last chance. Yet, the Skrillex produced track is definitely not reflective of these deep emotions and difficult questions. Instead, the song is one you listen to when you are ready to hit the dance floor, just like they do in the lyric video. Because you know when I want to be forgiven I totally have a super fun party with all my friends, right?

Are you starting to see the trend here? Quite a few of the songs that have infiltrated the mainstream music scene are doing this crazy thing where they talk about really intense, difficult emotions, but mask them with music that will make you want to move and sing-along. So, why is this happening and what does it mean? I’m definitely no music scholar, but personally I feel like this trend speaks a lot to our generation --- the generation where people don’t want to commit, where people don’t say how they feel, where people feel constantly judged, where your life on social media looks perfect but your actual life is a scene from a tragedy and where it has become more important to be “chill” than it is to be “real”. This is the generation that sings about our really disturbing and difficult problems, but cover them up with dance tracks or super catchy choruses that we can scream at parties while we try to forget why we really like the song... because it speaks to us about something we’d rather not say.