This research aims to explore how the lyrics in British band Coldplay’s
album Everyday Life delivered specific messages that the band have never
addressed in their previous works. This qualitative research employs Teun Van
Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis framework, in which social context and
cognition of a text’s writer is explored to uncover a text’s purpose. Through the
use of Van Dijk’s framework, this research found that the four song lyrics in the
album address different yet interconnected issues about chaotic social situations
driven by racial injustice happening in the West. The first three songs, Trouble in
Town, Guns, and Orphans, respectively, revealed that the Black people and
Muslims are the main victims discussed in the lyrics, while the title track
Everyday Life served as the band’s reflection of the situation. From direct
profiling behaviour to war, it is apparent that the context of what the band
criticized in this album is how White people and authority’s decisions
disadvantages the minorities, especially Black people and Muslims, even in their
home country in Middle East. The text analysis of the lyrics revealed that the band
did no erasure of their own background as White people, thus positioning
themselves as an ally and supporter of the minorities. The fact that the lyrics were
written as the band’s voice of distress over the situation and how they reflect is
revealed through the social cognition analysis, which revealed how the social
turmoil driven by racism backdrops their intention in writing these songs.
Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Lyrics, Racial Injustice, Authority,
Violence.

SI220004

SKR BSI 220004

Perpustakaan FAH (Skripsi BSI)

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