What Makes a Song Emo? (A Comparative Analysis)

So much has been said about emo music. It has become a fad and is currently invading everybody’s closet, mp4s, and even lifestyle. But what really is Emo? Is it a kind of music that bored suicidal kids love to drown in?

Emo is actually a slang term derived from the word emotional. Quite recently, it has been increasingly used to refer to a fashion style. However, before it became a fashion statement, emo was actually a shortened term for emocore (emotional hardcore), a subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the middle of 1980s where some members of the band became unusually too emotional during performance. In the early 1990s, the first wave of the genre began to fade when bands started to disband. However, in mid-1990, it began to reflect the indie scene. But as these independent bands started to go mainstream, new bands reflecting the emo style also started to emerge in the popular music scene.

The genre has been criticized not only for its popularity but also for its misconceptions and credibility as a subgenre of music. Quite interestingly, if you examine the set of lyrics below, you wouldn’t really know if both are emo music or not. The song, Poetic Tragedy by The Used is characterized as an emo song but the one, The Beast In Me is a song made by Johnny Cash. Content wise, the two songs share the same concept. So, does this mean that emo already existed in Cash’s time?

“The Beast In Me”

The beast in me Is caged by frail and fragile bars Restless by day

And by night rants and rages at the stars God help the beast in me

The beast in me Has had to learn to live with pain

And how to shelter from the rain

And in the twinkling of an eye Might have to be restrained God help the beast in me

Sometimes it tries to kid me That it’s just a teddy bear

And even somehow manage to vanish in the air

And that is when I must beware

Of the beast in me that everybody knows

They’ve seen him out dressed in my clothes

Patently unclear It it’s New York or New Year God help the beast in me

The beast in me

Now, this leads us to the question, what makes a song emo?

Answer # 1: The Lyrics and Performance

Lyrics of emotional songs depict extreme pessimism about anything in the world. Usually, this pessimism is effectively shown through the singer’s choice of style in singing – screaming their throats out while being extremely emotional. If lyrics and performance really are the gauge of emotional music, then more than half of the songs in the world, if sung in a screaming and emotional fashion, qualify to become emotional music.

Answer #2: The Artist

In this case, if The Used, which is now carrying the flag of divine “emoness”, sing a Britney Spears song, then that Britney Spears song can already be considered emo?

Answer #3: The Audience

The mass has a strong power to dictate the gauge of anything in this world. Ask anybody who has been to high school and they would agree. So, if one day, the mass decides that Kenny Rogers is emo, then his song would also then become emo?

No matter how we see it, emo music has become very popular among teenagers. Its misconceptions actually cause some of these kids to go astray and see depression and suicide as something hip. The questions really here is not about Emo being a credible music genre or not, rather, it is more on whether or not Emo actually help teenagers counter the turbulent period they are in.