An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
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03.13.2019 Vol. 219 No. 116
WEDNESDAY
SADNESS GONE VIRAL Nostalgia, heartbreak dominate charts BY NATHAN.CIRIAN @iowastatedaily.com
SARAH ESTES/ IOWA STATE DAILY
Music has become progressively more depressing since the 1990s and throughout the early 2010s. Since 2017, the mood of popular music of all types has been on a downward spiral, but there is also a trend in the Internet-based creation of various microgenres playing on the anxieties and nostalgia of Millennials and Generation Z. This sadness is accompanied by an immense wave of nostalgia, taking over music and almost every other form of media. Various other media outlets have raised concerns about this increase in sadness, including the alternative music publication Pitchfork. Their articles mention the sadness embedded within the music but hardly tackle the reasons behind why the music is sad or to what extent the sadness goes.
“When bad, confusing, out of control things happen in the present (moving, getting divorced, being fired, being scared of an unstable political environment) people always and inevitably turn to the stability of the past and to times that they felt in control,” said Will Kurlinkus, professor.
An analysis of the Year End Charts for the Billboard Hot 100 from its inception in 2006 to 2018 shows a sudden spike in sad music around 2016. The lowest number of sad songs per year were in the years 2010-2014 while the highest were in 2009, 2017 and 2018. 2018 and 2017 overshadow 2009 at nineteen and eighteen sad songs each. Songs filled with regret, loneliness, drug addictions and even suicidal thoughts have taken residence on the Billboard Hot 100 charts more often in the past two years than in years prior to 2017. One of the highest charting songs of 2017, “1-800-2738255” by Logic, Alessia Cara and Khalid, embodied the trend of sad sounds or messages. The title of the song references the telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The lyrics deal with depression, hardships and the desire to end one’s life and the waning of those thoughts over time. This sadness “bug” has infected many other genres outside of the charts as well. This is especially true of hip-hop. Artists such as Lil Uzi Vert, JUICE WRLD and XXXTentacion have paved the way for this sad sound in hip-hop over the past few years. In an email, Catherine John, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, said she agreed that these songs were reflective of this “sadness trend.” She offered a quote from David Banner, an American rap artist and producer, in which he said, “Hiphop reflects the state of America, but America makes it look a lot prettier.” As hip-hop has become more
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Student Government to review allocations for 2020 academic year BY MADELYN.OSTENDORF @iowastatedaily.com Student Government will debate review the annual allocations for Student Government accounts and allocations for student organizations at their Wednesday meeting. Vice Chair of the Finance Committee Anne Miller will be introducing the “Annual Allocations Recommendations for Fiscal Year 2020.” Student Government receives student fees to allocate the student organizations and student services on campus to use throughout the school year. This year, after all budgets have been preliminarily approved by the Finance Committee, it is recommended that $1.7 million be allocated to organizations. Vice Chair Miller will also be introducing the “Account Allocations for Fiscal Year 2020.”
KATLYN CAMPBELL/IOWA STATE DAILY Vice President Juan Bibiloni addresses his fellow Student Government members during their first meeting of the spring semester.
Around $2.5 million in estimated student activities fee revenues will be allocated among the Student Government accounts, $1.7 million
of which will be for the student organization allocations. The Pakistan Student Association, hopes to
raise public awareness and promote an understanding of Pakistan, its culture, its heritage, and its politics, is requesting $349.66 to offset costs of funding their Chai Night and pizza and game night welcome events for new members. Sen. Wyatt Scheu will be introducing a proclamation to thank President Wendy Wintersteen for her assistance in the Women in Stem Initiative (WISI). Wintersteen gave a speech on March 4 about her journey as a woman in STEM. “Iowa State Student Government thanks Wendy Wintersteen not only for her work as a woman in the STEM fields, but also for her unwavering support of the student body,” according to the proclamation. For more information or to contact your senator, visit stugov.iastate.edu. Senate meetings are open to the public at 7 p.m. Wednesdays in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.