Music and Society: How Music Can Become the Voice of Social Change

Music has always been more than just entertainment, and some songs become part of the way people understand political struggles, social inequality, and collective identity. Music can give listeners a way to emotionally experience issues that might otherwise feel distant. My thesis is that music serves an important societal role by turning social commentary into something personal and memorable and allows people not only to hear a message but to feel connected to it. Two works that clearly demonstrate this are Alright by Kendrick Lamar (2015, United States) and My Shot from Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015, United States). 

Work One: Alright Kendrick Lamar (2015, Compton/Los Angeles, United States)

Released on Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, Alright quickly became more than just a successful rap song. During nationwide protests against police brutality, especially those connected to Black Lives Matter, crowds began chanting the refrain “we gon’ be alright,” turning the song into a musical symbol of hope and resistance. Critics and scholars alike have noted that the song became one of the defining protest anthems of the decade.

Kendrick Lamar created the song during a time of heightened racial tension in America, when videos of police violence and conversations about systemic racism were dominating public discussion. Instead of writing a song that only expresses anger, the song balances frustration with determination, which is part of the reason it connects with listeners.

The rhythm is energetic and forceful, with Lamar’s fast-moving rap flow creating urgency and momentum. It sounds like a refusal to stay quiet. The repeated chorus acts almost like a chant. The line “we gon’ be alright” is simple, but its repetition makes it feel communal, as if the song belongs to everyone rather than just the performer (TeachRock). The instrumentation, which blends jazz, hip-hop beats, and gospel-like backing vocals, creates a mix of struggle and uplift. The music sounds tense in the verses but hopeful in the hook.

I think “Alright” is powerful because it does not sound defeated. Many protest songs focus only on pain, but this one mixes pain with confidence. That makes it memorable and motivating rather than simply sad. It feels like a statement of endurance, which explains why so many people adopted it beyond just listening to it privately.

This song proves that music can serve society by becoming a shared emotional language during moments of injustice. Kendrick Lamar gave people words and sounds they could carry into public protest.

Work Two: My Shot from Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015, New York, United States)

I wrote about this in a prior blog, but think it also fits this idea very well so I wanted to revisit it. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton premiered in New York in 2015 and completely changed how audiences viewed musical theater. Through using rap, hip-hop, and diverse casting to tell the story of the American Revolution, Miranda made early American history feel modern and politically relevant. Hamilton centers heavily on themes of ambition, immigration, rebellion, and representation.

The song presents Hamilton as an ambitious immigrant, but it also reflects a larger message about political voice and social participation. Miranda intentionally connects Hamilton’s personal ambition to broader revolutionary energy, which is why the song resonates with modern audiences who value activism and representation (Gopnik).

The rapid rap rhythm gives the song constant motion, creating the feeling that history is moving quickly and Hamilton has to keep up. The rising dynamics, from solo lines to the full cast joining in, make the number feel like a growing revolution rather than one individual’s speech. The genre fusion of Broadway orchestration with hip-hop makes past history feel connected to the present. It symbolically places modern voices into the center of America’s historical story.

I think My Shot is exciting because it makes history feel urgent instead of distant. The song is catchy, intense, and full of energy, which makes its political message easier for audiences to absorb. Rather than feeling like a history lesson, it feels like a call to action.

Like Alright this work shows music serving a societal role by making social and political ideas emotionally accessible. It transforms abstract ideas like revolution, identity, and civic participation into something listeners can personally feel inspired by.

Even though Kendrick Lamar and Lin-Manuel Miranda are working in different genres (broadway music and rap), both songs accomplish the same thing, they turn social issues into emotional participation.

Alright responds to injustice with resilience, and My Shot responds to political limitation with ambition.

Both songs rely on rhythm, repetition, and audience energy to make listeners feel involved rather than detached. That is why music can influence society so effectively. People remember a chorus they can chant and a refrain they can believe in.

Before this class, I mostly listened to music because I liked how it sounded, not because I thought deeply about what it was doing. I never paid much attention to the social background of songs or how musical elements could shape a message. After spending this course analyzing works more closely, I have started noticing that music often reflects the fears, values, and struggles of the society that created it. Songs are not just entertainment. This class changed the way I listen because now I can think about why a song matters, not just whether I enjoy it.

Works Cited

Kendrick Lamar. To Pimp a Butterfly. Top Dawg Entertainment, 2015.

Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hamilton: An American Musical. Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York, 2015.

Gopnik, Adam. “Hamilton and the Hip-Hop Case for Progressing Heroism” The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2016.

Manabe, Noriko. “We Gon’ Be Alright? Kendrick Lamar’s Protest Anthem.” Music Theory Online, 2019.

TeachRock. “Alright and the History of Black Protest Songs.”