美国国家公共电台 NPR From Rolls-Royce To Grey Poupon, A Look At Brand Mentions In Chart-Topping Songs

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Product placement is everywhere these days, including in our music. Pop culture reporter Kim Bhasin at Bloomberg recently took a deep dive.

KIM BHASIN: I was listening to "Bad And Boujee" by Migos, and there's a bunch of brand name drops in there.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAD AND BOUJEE")

MIGOS: (Rapping) Bustin' for Instagram. Get your Klout up. Yeah, that way - float on the track like a Segway. Yeah, that way...

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Rolex, Gucci, Uber, Ferrari, Jacuzzi - that song has 19 brand names in all, which got Bhasin thinking. He and another reporter pored over all the top 20 songs in the past three years. They found 212 different brand names mentioned either by name or otherwise.

BHASIN: We had to look up a lot of slang words to make sure we didn't miss anything.

SHAPIRO: Like a frog, for example. That's a Porsche. Eight of the 10 most mentioned brands were fancy cars, along with alcohol and other things favored by the rich and famous. And Bhasin says that's not all.

BHASIN: There's a ton of, like, unexpected brands that get mentioned in music that you don't realize until you sift² through (laughter) all of these songs.

SIEGEL: His analysis revealed nods to Kit³ Kat, 7-Eleven, Crock-Pot, Rolaids, A1 steak sauce, even Band-Aid.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAD BLOOD")

TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) Band-Aids don't fix bullet holes. You say sorry...

SHAPIRO: That's Taylor Swift's hit song "Bad Blood." It's hard to know for sure why these product placements end up in songs.

BHASIN: Who knows how they pick these brands? A lot of the times it's just, you know, they like it. Or it works as an analogy in their lyrics⁴, and it just makes sense to make that reference.

SIEGEL: And then there are less poetic⁵ reasons. Take the song "Forever" by Chris Brown.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOREVER")

CHRIS BROWN: (Singing) Double your pleasure. Double your fun.

BHASIN: Which was released as a regular song. But Wrigley, the chewing gum folks, later revealed that it was actually a long version of a jingle⁶ for Doublemint gum.

SHAPIRO: There is one thing that's clear from all this number crunching⁷ and listening. The most mentioned brand was Rolls Royce. Artists seem to really like that particular flashy car.

SIEGEL: And they like mustard, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUMBLE⁸.")

KENDRICK LAMAR: (Rapping) Hey, this that Grey Poupon, that Evian, that TED¹ Talk. Hey, watch my soul speak. You let...

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

3 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

4 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

5 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

6 jingle   

n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵

参考例句：

• The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
• The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。

7 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。