Lyrical Code-Switching, Multimodal Intertextuality, and Identity in Popular Music

Abstract

Augmenting the author’s prior research on lyrical code-switching, as presented in Picone, “Artistic Codemixing”, published in 2002, various conceptual frameworks are made explicit, namely the enlistment of multimodal and intertextual approaches for their methodological usefulness in analyzing and interpreting message-making that incorporates lyrical code-switching as one of its components. Conceived as a bipolarity, the rooted (or local) and the transcendent (or global), each having advantages in the negotiation of identity, is also applied to the analysis. New departures include the introduction of the notion of “curated lyrical code-switching” for the purpose of analyzing songs in which multiple performers are assigned lyrics in different languages, as a function of their respective proficiencies, as curated by the person or persons having authorial agency and taking stock of the social semiotics relevant to the anticipated audience. Moving beyond the negotiation of the identity of the code-switching composer or performer, in another new departure, attention is paid to the musical identity of the listener. As a reflection of the breadth of lyrical code-switching, a rich assortment of examples draws from the musical art of Beyoncé, Jon Batiste, Stromae, Shakira, BTS, NewJeans, Indigenous songsmiths, Cajun songsmiths, Latin Pop and Hip-Hop artists, songs composed for international sports events, and other sources.

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