8 Profound Quotes That Are Actually No Different Than Simple Pop Lyrics

Whether it be world class musicians playing in metro stations, famous writers publishing under pen-names, or Banksy selling prints anonymously, our society places a lot of importance on social context. I.e., if JD Salinger came of age today and decided to publish stories of Holden Caulfield on tumblr, would Catcher In The Rye be considered anything more than an inconsequential series from a whiny blogger?

When it comes to “intellectual value,” contemporary pop music probably isn’t the first thing anybody really thinks of. Yet, while it’s definitely true that institutions like the Patrice Wilson school of hit-making aren’t doing much to counter the established mindset, are pop lyrics really that different than the words of societally approved smart people? Based on the 8 themes below, I’d say pop music is a lot more succinct.

1. On Reckless Youth

Profound Quote:

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. – Maya Angelou

Pop Culture Lyric: 

So la da di da di, we like to party. Dancing with Molly. Doing whatever we want. This is our house, this is our rules – Miley Cyrus

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco&w=584&h=390]

2. On Love & Infatuation

Profound Quote:

In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. An intense love, a veritable tornado sweeping across the plains—flattening everything in its path, tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shreds, crushing them to bits. The tornado’s intensity doesn’t abate for a second as it blasts across the ocean, laying waste to Angkor Wat, incinerating an Indian jungle, tigers and everything, transforming itself into a Persian desert sandstorm, burying an exotic fortress city under a sea of sand. In short, a love of truly monumental proportions. –  Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

Pop Culture Lyric:

Because your love, your love, your love is my drug – Ke$ha

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR_qa3Ohwls&w=584&h=390]

3. On Women Triumphing Over Hardship

Profound Quote:

There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. – Washington Irving

Pop Culture Lyric:

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire ‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar – Katy Perry

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CevxZvSJLk8&w=584&h=390]

4. On Men Losing Themselves Over Love

Profound Quote:

The closer a man approaches tragedy the more intense is his concentration of emotion upon the fixed point of his commitment, which is to say the closer he approaches what in life we call fanaticism. – Arthur Miller

Pop Culture Lyric:

I’ve tried playing it cool. But when I’m looking at you. I can never be brave. Cause you make my heart race – One Direction

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1xs_xPb46M&w=584&h=390]

5. On Insatiable Lust

Profound Quote:

‘Sex’ is as important as eating or drinking and we ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty as the other. – Marquis de Sade

Pop Culture Lyric:

I love bad bitches, that’s my fucking problem. And yeah, I like to fuck, I got a fucking problem – 2Chainz

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZm1im2erU&w=584&h=390]

6. On The Relationship Between Love And Riches

Profound Quote:

If women didn’t exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning. – Aristotle Onassis

Pop Culture Lyric:

Show you off, tonight I wanna show you off. What you got, a billion could’ve never bought, oh, oh – Justin Bieber

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys7-6_t7OEQ&w=584&h=390]

7. On Self Discovery Through Mental Illness

Profound Quote:

What truly is logic? Who decides reason? My quest has taken me to the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. I have made the most important discovery of my career – the most important discovery of my life. It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found. I am only here tonight because of you – John Nash, It’s A Beautiful Mind

Pop Culture Lyric:

I’m friends with the monster, that’s under my bed. Get along with the voices inside of my head. You’re trying to save me, stop holding your breath. And you think I’m crazy, yeah, you think I’m crazy. Well that’s nothing. – Rihanna

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXXi19_7iE&w=584&h=390]

8. On Committment In Relationships

Profound Quote:

Usually adult males who are unable to make emotional connections with the women they choose to be intimate with are frozen in time, unable to allow themselves to love for fear that the loved one will abandon them. If the first woman they passionately loved, the mother, was not true to her bond of love, then how can they trust that their partner will be true to love. Often in their adult relationships these men act out again and again to test their partner’s love. While the rejected adolescent boy imagines that he can no longer receive his mother’s love because he is not worthy, as a grown man he may act out in ways that are unworthy and yet demand of the woman in his life that she offer him unconditional love. This testing does not heal the wound of the past, it merely reenacts it, for ultimately the woman will become weary of being tested and end the relationship, thus reenacting the abandonment. This drama confirms for many men that they cannot put their trust in love. They decide that it is better to put their faith in being powerful, in being dominant. – Bell Hooks

Pop Culture Lyric:

Now don’t go wasting my precious  time. Get your act together we will be just fine. – Spice Girls 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJLIiF15wjQ&w=584&h=390]