Framing the Narratives of SB19’s Simula at Wakas

Abstract

This paper examines the songs in the Simula at Wakas by SB19 as a unified narrative text for qualitative content analysis. In response to the low level of stylistic, socio-critical, and narrative approaches in the P-pop research, the study examines ten songs through the stylistics approach by Paul Simpson, the Marxist and psychoanalytic criticism approaches, and the narrative theory by Tzvetan Todorov. Results indicate that extended metaphor, symbolism, paradox, and repetition are patterned linguistic strategies that build around the theme of labor, visibility, identity conflict, and resilience. The way these stylistic devices mediate the relationship between social structures and the psychological experience is through the translation of external pressures into internalized forms of subjectivity. The songs are linked together in a sequence to create a logical narrative flow of unstable equilibrium to disruption, crisis, and adaptive resolution. The paper shows that narrative meaning in popular music can be the result of stylistic patterning as opposed to literal plot, which contributed to the scholarship of P-pop by placing the lyrics of popular songs in a complex position of cultural texts.