“Good old Sussex by the Sea! Good old Sussex by the Sea! You may tell them all we stand or fall, For Sussex by the Sea.” Yep, we’re back in the bosom of the Southern Softies of old Brighton Town, and very welcoming this soft bosom is, too.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I had a great trip back up North; we injected a fair few quid into the local economy by drinking for England – and Scotland and Wales for that matter – to celebrate the mighty Trotters stamping all over the Cobblers at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
Luckily, we are back just in time for the Christmas Lunch Season and, thankfully, there’s no sign of the sandwich at the desk in this industry just yet; my esteemed bosses are already on it, my diary is nearly chokka (are you reading this Nick?) and even our teenage web ops expert is gagging for his first festive pint.
And it is a good job some of us are keeping the vineyards, breweries and distilleries in business, if the results of a shocking new report are to be believed.
You see, apparently they have even come over all sober in the music industry, according to a study conducted by sparkling water brand Dash Water (don’t ask), which analysed lyrics for the top 10 songs of each year since 2012 to find the number of references to drinking and being drunk.
The results revealed that drunk references have declined by a shocking 40% in 2022 compared to the previous year. (Not even The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York can rescue these stats.)
Now drinking references in songs were at an all-time high in 2017, where half of hit songs mentioned being drunk, but have declined by 79% since 2017, showing a significant cultural shift in attitudes toward alcohol among those listening to the top 10…
According to, yes you guessed it, Dash Water, this shift goes hand in hand with a rising trend around mindful drinking, which apparently encourages people to take a more conscious and intentional approach to alcohol consumption. (To be fair, I’m usually conscious too, until I get intentionally wide-eyed and legless).
Today’s songs are even adopting more anti-alcohol lyrics, while Google searches for “mindful drinking” have increased 41% worldwide since last year, and searches for “sober curious” have risen 96%.
Similarly, the hashtag #mindfuldrinking has over 24 million views on TikTok and #sobercurious has over 711 million. There’s even been a 12% decline in those looking for “cocktail recipes” online over the past year, compared to a 19% increase in “mocktail recipes”.
Bizarrely enough, these youngsters don’t mind sucking on a coloured battery to get their fix of sickly vape gloop though.
Still, Dash Water head of ecommerce Holly Crossley sat on her high horse and said: “People are much more mindful of what they’re putting into their bodies than they were five to ten years ago. Young people especially seem to be adopting a more mindful approach to drinking and I think that’s down to the many self-care trends we see online.”
If that doesn’t drive you to drink, nothing will…
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