Figurative Language Found In The Song Lyric “Jealously” By Olivia Rodrigo

Authors

  • Maria Yasinta Endang Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar
  • I Putu Andri Permana Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47134/jpbi.v3i3.2767

Keywords:

Figurative Language, Song, Figurative Language Meaning

Abstract

This article discusses the figurative language used in the lyric song Jealously by Olivia Rodrigo. The author assumes that the song’s figurative language is intended to pique the interest of music fans in describing their feelings. The article entitled ‘an analysis of figurative language in the lyric song Jealously by Olivia Rodrigo aims to identify what types and find the meaning of the figurative language in the song. To analyze the data, the main theory used in this article is the figurative language theory proposed by Arp and Perrine (1991), Meanwhile to analyze the meaning the writer proposed the theory by Leech (1981). The data on the song lyric was collected by downloading the song from youtube, listening to and understanding the song lyric, and taking notes classifying the data based on figurative language. As a result of this analysis, the researcher found 5 types of figurative language found in song lyrics. They were simile consisted of 1 (16%) word, overstatement had 1 word (16%), personification 2 words (36%), irony 1 word (16%), and paradox 1 word (16%). The data were analyzed descriptively by using qualitative methods. The data is taken from one edition of the song released in 2021. These lyrics convey a deep feeling of sorrow and regret. The jealousy expressed is not related to doubts about infidelity, but instead highlights the unbearable hurt of witnessing an ex-lover move forward and discover joy with another person.

References

Arp & Perrine. (1992). English Literature, Sound and Sense. Moeller English Department.

Bachaeva, S. (2016). Co-Occurrence of the Adjective ut ‘Long’ (Evidence from the Kalmyk National Corpus). Mongolian Studies, 8(1), 148–157. ISSN 2500-1523.

Bachaeva, S.E. (2016). Adjectives denoting temperature (Evidence from the Kalmyk heroic epic of Jangar and Kalmyk National Corpus). Oriental Studies, 27(5), 189–196. ISSN 2619-0990. https://doi.org/10.22162/2075-7794-2016-27-5-189-196

Çelik, Ü.A.E. (2021). Metaphorical expressions of the node “gönül” in Turkish folk song: A cognitive semantic analysis. Milli Folklor, 17(129), 111–123. ISSN 1300-3984.

Denisova, G.L. (2020). Appeal of the Great Patriotic War cartoons to the Russian language personality. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 2020(1), 78–86. ISSN 1812-3228. https://doi.org/10.20916/1812-3228-2020-1-78-86

Dinislamova, S.S. (2021). Cultural frontier in the creative works of modern Mansi authors Ye. Anyamov and T. Bakhtiyarova. Bulletin of Ugric Studies, 11(2), 260–268. ISSN 2220-4156. https://doi.org/10.30624/2220-4156-2021-11-2-260-268

Friedrich, A. (2017). Leech Seven Types of Meaning. Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, Department of English and American Studies.

Hana, Y.Y.J. (2025). Set Expressions with the Lexeme إيد ‘Ĭd’ (Hand) in the Baghdadi Dialect of the Arabic Language. Vestnik Sankt Peterburgskogo Universiteta Vostokovedenie I Afrikanistika, 17(4), 754–760. ISSN 2074-1227.

Heni. (2021). An Analysis of Figurative Language Found in Ed Sheeran’s Selected Song (Thesis). Denpasar: English Program Faculty of Foreign Language.

Hockwater, M.J. (2025). Flipping the Script: The Impact of a Blended Literacy Learning Intervention on Comprehension. Education Sciences, 15(9). ISSN 2227-7102. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15091147

Jing, N. (2019). Problems and solutions in English-Chinese translation of song lyrics in Mulan. Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control Systems, 11(5), 1202–1206. ISSN 1943-023X.

Kreidler. (1998). Introducing English Semantic. London: British Library Cataloging in Publication Data.

Liwei, J. (2016). Chinese Idioms. In Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese Language (pp. 64–89).

Lyrics song. https://genius.com/Olivia-rodrigo-jealousy-jealousy-lyrics

Mukandabvute, A.A. (2022). A Stylistic Study of Figurative Language in Oliver Mtukudzi’s Selected Songs. In Cultural and Artistic Legacy of Oliver Mtukudzi Using Language for Social Justice (pp. 111–120). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97200-4_8

Ni Wayan Swarniti. (2022). Analysis of Figurative Language in Easy on Me song lyrics. Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa. Universitas Dwijendra.

Oxford Dictionary. Figurative.

Patrick Griffiths. (2006). An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh University Press.

Petrov, A.M. (2025). Hagiographic Images and Motifs in the Literary Cycle “The Northern Thebaid” by Viktor Pulkin. Problemy Istoricheskoy Poetiki, 23(4), 344–366. ISSN 1026-9479. https://doi.org/10.15393/j9.art.2025.15962

Rajnochová, N. (2025). Phraseologisms in the texts of Bulat Okudzhava's songs. Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 69(1), 33–40. ISSN 0039-3363. https://doi.org/10.1556/060.2024.00139

Rusdiyanto, & Astutik. (2018). An Analysis of Figurative Language in The Song Albums of Adele and Taylor Swift. International Journal on Integrated Education.

Tsipuria, B. (2021). The figurative language of Soviet power and Georgian literature. In Discourses on Nations and Identities (pp. 529–541). https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110642018-041

Verde, D. (2017). The belligerent woman in Song 1,9. Biblica, 98(2), 208–226. ISSN 0006-0887. https://doi.org/10.2143/BIB.98.2.3217843

Wahab. (2021). An Analysis of Figurative Languages Used in The Song Lyrics of Lady Gaga’s Album Entitled Chromatica (Thesis). Denpasar: English Program Faculty of Foreign Language Mahasaraswati Denpasar University.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-24

How to Cite

Endang, M. Y., & I Putu Andri Permana. (2026). Figurative Language Found In The Song Lyric “Jealously” By Olivia Rodrigo. Pubmedia Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, 3(3), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.47134/jpbi.v3i3.2767

Issue

Section

Articles

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.