Lyrics of successful songs in the United States have become simpler and more negative over recent decades, according to a ...

How can a song be too successful? Isn’t that the whole goal? Well it is until it’s earned, and then it can seem like more of a curse than a blessing. At least, that’s how many songwriters see it. In ...

"Please be great. Please be great." That's what Hugh Jackman, a veteran of both the screen and the stage, nervously whispers to himself every time he sits down to watch a new movie musical. But he's ...

Why do some cultural products become wildly popular while others fall short? Researchers Jonah Berger and Grant Packard investigate in a paper published in the journal Psychological Science, focusing ...