When Context Shifts Meaning: A Pragmatic Analysis of Audience Interpretation of ‘I Love You So Bad’ by LANY Amid Artist Controversy

Yosia Saad Martua Situmorang, Rolan Dasma Pahotan Siallagan, Muhammad Aldiansyah Ginting, Felix Christian Tampubolon, Rakha Athallah, Dian Marisha Putri


Abstract


Popular music does not convey meaning exclusively through lyrical content, as audience interpretations may shift in response to changing social contexts and public discourse surrounding an artist. This study investigates how audiences reinterpret “I Love You So Bad” by LANY when the song is understood within the context of public controversy involving the artist, with particular attention to the ways contextual changes reshape implied lyrical meanings. Employing a qualitative pragmatic approach, the study integrates textual analysis of the song lyrics with thematic analysis of audience comments collected from YouTube and Twitter/X, drawing on Grice’s theory of implicature and Hall’s encoding/decoding model as analytical frameworks. The findings reveal that audiences initially interpreted the song predominantly as a sincere expression of romantic affection and emotional vulnerability. Following the widespread circulation of the controversy in digital spaces, some listeners reinterpreted the lyrics more critically, associating their previously romantic meanings with irony, performativity, and perceived inconsistencies between lyrical expression and the artist’s public image. The study concludes that meaning in popular music remains context-dependent and dynamically negotiated, as digital discourse and changing perceptions of artists can substantially reshape how audiences interpret lyrical meaning.

Keywords


Audience interpretation; contextual meaning; digital discourse; implicature; pragmatics

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30743/bahastra.v11i1.14369

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