Do you listen to music for the beat or the lyrics?

I know that sometimes people just like the beat to a song. They don't even care for the lyrics. This isn't always the case, though. There are some people that prefer the lyrics to a song rather than the beat. They study the lyrics to where they can sing songs without fail. Do you listen to music for the beat, lyrics, or both?



I would say that I mostly like songs for the beat.

 

Well, it depends on the language. If it's in any of the language I do know (Spanish, Catalan and English) then it's both. In Japanese, since I don't understand what they are saying, it's more the beat.

 

J-Pop wise, I actually listen to both tbh - I mean, listening to 2 years straight of J-Pop more or less makes you used to the langauge already so I can kinda understand the articulation of the song easily

For everything else, I'd care mostly for the beat and less for the lyrics I guess

 

Depends on the kind of music . Any Kind of Party Music´s Lyric could be written by Monkees and so the beat is important , that you get it . Other music I listen to at work or to relax the lyrics are more important

 

I do care for both the beat and the lyrics and maybe the kind of music in itself. Listening to J-Pop has been a thing for me in the past 5 years or so which means I can understand like some of the lyrics.

 

I like to say that the voice is also an instrument, the lyrics themselves transport the direct message, but the voice(and the other instruments) transmit the feelings.

 

Normally I listen to music for both beat and lyrics. But if the lyrics are bad, I have a hard time listening to the song.

I would like to take this chance to talk about 48 group songs in specific here, and why I listen to them for the lyrics as much as the beat.

Aki-P is considered one of the best lyricists in Japan, and he's certainly one of the most prolific (if not the most). I can understand why he is held up as a great lyricist - a lot of the stuff he writes is really good. Of course, it's not all gold, but a fair bit of it is touching, inspiring, or makes you think, above and beyond what pop music tends to deliver.

The range of topics he writes on is kind of amazing as well. Of course there are a lot of typical love songs, but many songs explore other areas of life and coping with the world around us. There are songs about high school girls' apathy and exploratory tendencies like Seifuku ga jama wo suru, I'm crying, and Inochi no tsukaimichi. There are strong social commentary songs like Mokugekisha, Rinjin wa kizutsukanai and Rock da yo, jinsei wa that sort of tread off the usual path of idol music. Including the other themes Aki-P writes about, you can find lyrics about a good number of situations and topics if you look through the 48 group catalog.

I think if you are only listening to the beat of 48 group music, you are missing out on a lot. The lyrics add a whole extra layer of meaning and impact to most songs and STUDIO48 is right there for perusal, there's no excuse not to check out some lyrics if you haven't been already. You might find they make you like certain songs more than you would have otherwise (and some songs' music is just plain misleading to the meaning of the words, like in Only Today)

 

I listen to both the beat and lyrics. For me, if a song has terrible lyrics (degrading women, etc) then no matter how great a beat is, it's difficult for me to listen to because my mind associates that song with the terrible lyrics. I suppose I rely more on lyrics because even if a song has a mediocre beat, if its meaningful in content I'll like it.

 

Well, I listen to both but I mainly listen to music for the lyrics though.
Even if I don't quite like the beat, if the artists made good lyrics I'll keep listening to them. If the songs have bad lyrics and a good beat, I can try to overlook the lyrics but sometimes it's quite hard to do so I don't listen to the songs frequently.

 

I listen both...

If the beat is good but the lyrics is bad, I don't feel good to continue hearing it...

If the lyrics good but beat is bad, it's not a good song...

 

Usually just for the song itself but there are some exceptions like Pioneer, Mokugekisha, Korogaru Ishi ni Nare etc that are just so much better when you actually know the lyrics.

But there are also songs that I can't stand based on their lyrics esp. when too young girls get to perform those. (Kuchi utsushi no chocolate, Innocence)

 

as for J-rock or J-pop, i choose the beat first and then lyrics but sometimes lyrics come first.

 

for japanese and korean (other than english) the beat come first...

but for english of course it's both

 

The beat it's more important, I think. But, if the lyrics are good, even better!

 

For songs in English, usually I like songs based on a combination of the beat and the lyrics. Though I do like songs that have lyrics I can relate to or connect with. However for non English songs I guess I listen mostly based on how it sounds since I have no idea what they're singing about.

 

For the spanish one, mostly lyrics, but beat is still there, 70-30 tho. At english I maybe both of them but mostly the beat. An for the others ones since i dont have any idea about the language, beat.

 

AKB48 I listen to for the chorus / melody and hooks! Like c'mon "MANATSUUU NO SOUNDS GOOD!"

Depends on my mood what I want to listen to. Lately it's EDM music because I miss Las Vegas already…it's been only one month since so it's really bad withdrawals i know.

 

both but i'm more to lyrics.like Paul O'Brien and Sara K.'s songs..but when i want, i might choose beat music like kamonegix, or even AC/DC..

 

I voted for both, but I'm more into beat~ With a song I'm currently listening to (Minnasan mo go Issho ni- B4) The beat in the background got me into the song as well as Yukirins's talk part

 

As many people here said, for English music it is definitely both. If a song has terrible lyrics, it totally distracts me from everything else about the song. At the same time, a terrible song with great lyrics does little for me.

I think the reason that non-English, especially Asian, music is so easy for me to get into is because the lyrics are not necessary. However, I do like to look up lyrics translations for songs I listen to, and that can certainley change the way I view the song. Part of what 48Group has above almost every other idol group in Japan is their wide variety of lyrics. One of the things I value the most in lyrics is beautiful and strong imagery, which is plentiful in Aki-P's lyrics. Imagery makes the lyrics easy to remember, so even though I don't know a lot of Japanese, if a song has strong imagery I will always remember the meaning of the lyrics, for better or worse.

There are some times when I totally regret looking up lyrics, though. I used to love Secret's Love is MOVE until I found out how shallow the song is. Now I think about that every time I listen to it.