Popular music is getting sadder and angstier
Analyses of top-charting songs find a rise in blue moods
“DIE WITH a smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars was, by many measures, the song of 2025. The soppy ballad led the charts in more than 30 countries and holds the title of longest-running daily number one on Spotify, a streaming platform. Collaboration between two musical heavyweights goes some way to explaining the song’s success. But its appeal may also owe something to its tone: melancholy is the mood of the moment.
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