MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SONG ‘BAD GUY’ BY BILLIE EILISH

Abstract

This paper presents a morphological analysis of Billie Eilish’s song "bad guy", exploring how word structure and formation contribute to the song’s stylistic and thematic identity. The lyrics exhibit a dynamic interplay between standard and nonstandard morphological forms, including contractions, colloquial participle reductions (e.g., sleepin', creepin'), and productive affixation (e.g., bloody, criminal). Through frequent use of inflectional and derivational morphemes, the song constructs meaning in an economically expressive manner. The analysis identifies instances of morphological creativity, such as the recurring "X type" construction (tough guy, bad type), which exemplifies ellipsis and noun phrase nominalization. Morphosyntactic minimalism, combined with strategic use of compounding and conversion (e.g., bad as a noun), reinforces the persona's defiant tone and emotional detachment. Additionally, interjections like duh and the reduplicative compound tippy toes provide insight into the pragmatic and stylistic functions of morphology in pop lyricism. The song’s lexical choices are not merely stylistic flourishes but serve a rhetorical purpose, enhancing the confrontational stance of the speaker and underscoring themes of autonomy and resistance. These linguistic features coalesce to produce a strikingly modern persona that blurs the boundaries between aggression and vulnerability, performance and authenticity. By grounding its findings in contemporary morphological theory, this analysis highlights how Eilish’s lyrics manipulate familiar forms to construct a subversive voice that challenges normative gendered expectations and conventional syntactic patterns. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that "bad guy" uses morphology not only as a linguistic tool but as an aesthetic device central to the song’s unique narrative style.

Keyword: Morphological, morphemes, creativity, linguistic