SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS (ROLAND BARTHES) OF THES LYRICS IN MAHALINI RAHARJA’S ALBUM FABULA

Abstract

This study examines the lyrics in Mahalini Raharja’s album *Fabula* by applying Roland Barthes’s semiotic approach to uncover denotative, connotative, and mythical meanings, while also exploring their potential use as teaching materials for poetry at the high school level. The method used was qualitative descriptive analysis employing the listen-and-note technique, followed by data analysis using the referential correspondence method and the key element sorting (PUP) technique. The research data consisted of words, phrases, and lines extracted from ten songs in the album. The analysis identified 36 data points divided into three types of meaning: 16 denotative data points (44.44%), 18 connotative data points (50.00%), and 2 mythical data points (5.56%). The predominance of connotative meaning indicates that Mahalini primarily expresses her emotional experiences through metaphors of the body and feelings, while the two mythical data points the phrases “tuan” and “putri” and the word “restu”represent the values of social hierarchy and the legitimacy of family blessing that are deeply ingrained in Indonesian society. These findings confirm that the lyrics of popular songs deserve to be treated as literary texts that can be studied scientifically and utilized as alternative teaching materials for poetry, given that their diction, stylistic elements, and layered meanings are relevant to the interpretive skills that high school students need to master particularly within the framework of the Deep Learning Curriculum, which emphasizes meaningful, mindful, and enjoyable learning.