In her article, “Musical and Extra-Musical Factors Contribute to the Meaning of Popular Music: A Critical Analysis of “Zombie” by the Cranberries”, Jingsi Song argues that music has musical and non-musical elements that make up its meaning and direct its popularity. She analyzes the meaning and impact of one of the most iconic songs by The Cranberries: Zombie. To do so, the author mainly separates the article into the musical and non-musical factors of Zombie that gave its unique and powerful meaning and popularity.

Zombie is more aggressive than other pieces from the album (Song 200). The guitar sounds were composed to sound more ‘grunge’ (rougher) and the drums were intentionally played harder than how the band usually plays for other songs (Song 200). This fits the context behind the song since it was composed in response to the IRA bombing in Ireland where multiple innocent children were killed because of a civil political dispute (Song 201). The lyrics and vocals further substantiate this message in a straightforward manner: “Another head hangs slowly, child is slowly taken.” (Song 201) is sung in “an almost primal howl” (Song 202). Song’s argument that the rougher sounds and criticizing lyrics create the song’s message is credible considering that Song drew her sources based on the band’s interviews/statements that they had intentionally implemented the mentioned musical elements as their version of war against violence. However, the author’s generalized connection to the genre of rock such as “rock means rebellion in the form of music…it is always seen as related to ‘more’ things” (Song 200) could be a superficial evaluation of Zombie as the song is not just meant to purely rebel but also to honor and reminisce those who were sacrificed. In fact, the author mildly contradicts herself in later parts of the article by mentioning “a song with humanity” (Song 203), which does not match the merciless/anger-filled ambience that she was trying to explain in the early parts of the article. 

On the other hand, the author’s take on the music video of the song is flawlessly convincing. She observes and mainly refers to the music video that “the band members express their inner anger through exaggerated and powerful actions” and when combined with “child in another scene screaming in pain”, it is clear indication of the anti-war sentiment of the song (Song 202). Song emphasizes that there is an abundance of “authenticity” (Song 202) in the music and music video. The band doesn’t just say that they are against war in the lyrics; the audience can feel and experience the message through a deep transfer of emotions (Song 203). Realistic visuals of  people (especially children) suffering from violence and expressions of agony in the band members aid the music for a more profound understanding of the effects of violence (Song 203) – “seen as a value, an emotional perception between the performer and the audience” (Song 202). The author’s argument is a representation of the backbone of the success of the song since people love Zombie for its candid and powerful outcry against terrorism. Furthermore, this argument is relevant to all-time popular songs; people listen to songs that they feel genuinely connected to. 

Zombie’s popularity also stems from non-musical factors like its lead singer (Song 206). Dolore O’Riordan passed away in 2018, which brought back the attention to The Cranberries and ultimately Zombie, which O’Riordan named as her ‘most important work’ (Song 206). The author draws upon sources from interviews and news articles and argues that the lead singer’s unfortunate personal context boosted the popularity and meaning of Zombie even more (Song 206). This is true as many songs including Zombie regain fame after a long time due to a related event. However, there is a flaw in this argument as Zombie has always been a staple in rock history since its release. Many songs reappear in the spotlight due to an event. However, the method that the author argues, such as, “the personal information related to the performers has become an important factor” (Song 206) or “gained worldwide attention again” (Song 206) suggests an implication that Zombie became popular again mainly because of O’Riordan’s death. This method of coming to the argument may taint the essence of the argument by putting too much emphasis on one single event (O’Riordan’s death). Zombie is a piece that always has global attention and has never ‘fallen out’ although it may not be active in charts due to its age. Readers could be misled by this small spark as a revival of a forgotten song, which is not true. 

Song says that Zombie is clear in its message of promoting peace and denouncing violence, which is visible in the lyrics and the strong melody (Song 206-207). To explain this, she draws her sources mostly from interviews with the band itself and analyzes the instrumental elements (Song 200) and music video (Song 202). According to the author’s analysis, this evident and simple message is what draws people aside from the heart-beating melody (Song 205). On top of this, the specific contexts of the song such as the fact that it was modeled from a “dispute between UK and Ireland” (Song 203) or the fact that it was O’Riordan’s most adored song (Song 206) gives it more special meaning and increases popularity. Therefore, while there are some imperfections in the article, the author proves her point that hit songs get their meanings and popularity from both musical and external factors (using Zombie by The Cranberries as example).