Representasi Cinta dan Penuaan Bersama dalam Lirik Lagu “Akan Tua Bersama”: Kajian Semiotika Roland Barthes

Abstract

Popular songs naturalise ideas about intimacy and time. This study examines how love and growing old together are represented in the lyric video of “Akan Tua Bersama” (Irfan Jaelani, 2026). Using a descriptive qualitative design and Roland Barthes’s denotation, connotation, and myth, the corpus comprises 14 time-coded lyric units and one closing text card from a 306-second video, supplemented by descriptive statistics. Time and ageing form the dominant semantic field (32.9%), followed by steadfastness (23.3%) and togetherness (19.2%); refrains occupy 30.7% of the duration, while the visuals show one night-road location without human figures. Five myths emerge: love lasts until old age; love does not change; happiness is the partner’s presence, not possessions; fidelity is proven by presence, not promises; and ageing is a threat that togetherness tames. These contrast with the largely negative portrayal of ageing in English-language popular songs. The study extends Barthesian lyric analysis to audiovisual texts.