When listening to a song, rarely does the listener closely analyze the lyrics to find out the meaning of the song. Song lyrics are written in a way that purposefully says what an artists wants in an indirect way. Other genres though, may have a different approach to saying what they mean. For example, a post from Melyssa Griffin, by Melyssa Griffin, titled “15 Tips for Being More Positive” is a simple list numbered one to fifteen with different ways to improve positivity. While another option for positivity is the song “Beautiful Day” by U2, brings a picture for a positive life even though the meaning may be harder to find in the lyrics, and the song is written in a different genre than a blog. The formatting, audience and purpose are all determined by the genre. Likewise, a genre is differentiated from another genre by the differences in formatting, audience and purpose.
The internet post and the song both have the same goal, to bring positivity into people’s lives, but the format of the messages are much different because of the audience and the genre they are writing to. The post dealing with more positivity targets an older and more mature audience and has a very simple way to improve the positivity in their lives. Before Melyssa’s list begins she included a few paragraphs explaining how positivity is about choosing to see the good in life rather than finding the fault and worry in people or situations. This implies she truly does want to help people with their personal lives and she has goals for this post. Melyssa’s audience will most likely read the options and begin to try them in their own lives. I am assuming this is a trial and error process because every step will not work for every person in the audience. In other words, some of the options given by her will be more appealing than others to different types of people based on their personalities.
The song “Beautiful Day” by U2 is set toward a different audience and has a similar goal but different approach from the internet post. The writer of “Beautiful Day,” Bono who happens to be the lead singer of U2, wrote the lyrics to go with the rhythm of the music. This type of writing is intended for an alternative rock audience and mainly for entertainment, although there is meaning behind it. The intro to the song has no lyrics, you just hear the calming music for about fourteen seconds before the first line “The heart is a bloom.” By only having the music as an intro the song is already bringing a positive feel, because the rhythm and beat are already uplifting and positive (Bono). When the lyrics do start they do not jump in at you they are calm and go with the music, which is what was intended by the writer and band.
Once you listen to the lyrics and begin to decipher what Bono is trying to say you realize that the beginning of the song is not really bringing you up, but it is painting a lightly sorrowful picture. Bono’s purpose for the song is not to bring you down but to upset you and he does that with the music and the lyrics perfectly. The song starts slow but slowly picks up and about a minute into the song the music is full force and gives a rejuvenating feeling. As soon as the song hits its peak the lyrics have turned the sorrow to hope and Bono hits you with “It’s a beautiful day” and you begin to feel more positivity and hope about the day (Bono). The text is generally written for musical purposes which means it is going to have a different style than a blog post.
Griffin writes in a very casual but clear way that is straight to the point. She tends to use incomplete sentences as points, which she turns into paragraphs to explain her point. Her blog has a formal writing style and is very easy to follow. Griffin has her main points and paragraphs to support and emphasize her thought process for these main points. Bono writes in a way that is poetic and it follows the the beat of a song. He also reuses words and phrases to emphasize his point and to further his opinion on the topic, while also keeping the rhythm and beat of the song.
Griffin on the other hand tries to stay away from repeating words or phrases because readers generally find repetitive text annoying and tedious to read. Her format of bolded words and numbers makes it easy for readers to skim through the post to find the main points and either ignore or focus on those certain posts. For example, She bolds and numbers “2. Eat Healthy” and following that text she has a short paragraph explaining her point and her reasoning (melyssagriffin.com). Readers of “15 Tips for Being More Positive” will know exactly what they are looking for and what they are looking to change as soon as they click on the article and begin reading. It is not very likely that people will listen to “Beautiful Day” and expect a positive attitude from it, but after hearing the song with the repetitive phrases and clever lyrics, they may have the same understanding as readers from “15 Tips for Being More Positive.”
The information in the blog post and the song both come from the writer’s own ideas and experiences.It is up to the audience to decide what they want from the authors because there is nothing substantial to make either source credible. Griffin fortunately provides good evidence to support her reasons and make them more logical. Under each main point she writes two to three sentences explaining why and how this will achieve the purpose of living life with a more positive attitude. Bono relies more on appealing to emotions than Griffin does. Songs are typically meant to get a feeling out of you and “Beautiful Day” is no exception. The repeated beautiful meanings are sung by Bono but emphasized by the music. This expression of passion is moving to the listener and inspiring once you understand the meaning of the song. Griffin’s post uses less emotion because her approach is much more scientific, she is simply stating solutions to a problem.
The structure of the genres differ greatly because the delivery for a song are very different than the delivery of a internet post. They both send the same message, but the way the audience perceives it affects how the text should be structured. Griffin relies on facts, lists and short sentences, Bono relies on rhythm and repetition. Bono’s “Beautiful Day” was meant to be listened to, so rhyming and repetition are much more pleasing to hear than a robotic list of short choppy sentences. To a reader of Griffin’s post though, short and concise sentences in a formatted list is easy to navigate and read so the audience can quickly find the information they are looking for.
Griffin’s post begins with a cover photo and two paragraphs explaining positivity a bit more. The photo is just to emphasize her point and has a quote saying “Life is better when you’re happy.” She does this to emphasize her topic and pull people in to read her post. “Positivity is choosing to see the bright side of life. It is recognizing that struggle and pain are not all that’s there, even if they’re all we can see in a certain moment. It is seeing the good in people, even when we have to search (really, really hard) for it. And it is about trusting ourselves. I guess it all comes down to this: even with pain, sorrow, and evil, there is always good, and that, friends, is what we should focus our energy on (melyssagriffin.com)”. She is explaining how positivity is not a thing but a mindset and we might have to change the way we perceive things to become more positive.
The combination of the cover photo and the paragraphs is a good introduction to the post because it sets up the topic with the perspective that Griffin is writing from. Photos and quotes are very common among blogs. Though photos add a huge element to text, the lyrics in a song are not meant to be read like a blog post. This is not to say that pictures are not used in music. All types of art are used for album covers and posters. Songs are sometimes written to accompany works of art, photos, or videos.
The blog post from Melyssa Griffin and the song by Bono both are capable at sending the same message in different formats. Their audiences are also very different and therefore both genres have different purposes. Though “Beautiful Day” is more for the purpose of entertainment, it still makes an impact like the blog post does about living with a positive attitude. Griffin’s blog post, because it’s purpose is more to inform than to entertain, is in a more formal writing style that is appropriate of blog posts. The style and formatting of the blog post is also very traditional for blogs with lists, bolding, photos, quotes and short paragraphs. The song by Bono is very typical for what an alternative rock song looks like in terms of the writing style. The repetition of short words and phrases emphasizes the important points the artist is making. In this case Bono is trying to be motivational and inspirational in order to send the message to his audience that he is intending. In general, genre determines how an author writes to make a point. The formatting, audience and purpose are all determined by the genre. Likewise, a genre is differentiated from another genre by the differences in formatting, audience and purpose.
