Leonard Cohen: Popular Music and Populism in the Twenty-First Century

Leonard Cohen, self-described as a “grocer of despair” in his song “Field Commander Cohen” (1974), might seem an improbable figure to be associated with popular music and populism. However, since the 1980s, there has been an emergence of an alternative populism within his work, as highlighted in Laura Grattan’s analysis of his song “Democracy” (1992). This entry extends Grattan’s argument into the twenty-first century, exploring the cultural shifts that transformed Cohen from a counterculture icon of the 1960s and 1970s to a saintly, prophet-like figure in the popular imagination. His passing in 2016, just before the results of the American presidential election, symbolically marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new dystopia characterized by Trumpian populism. Today, Cohen remains a vital part of popular culture, evident in the widespread renditions of “Hallelujah” on social media and in the 2021 Netflix documentary, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. His lyrics have been invoked globally, with instances like Brian Williams quoting him in discussions on a US missile strike and an Indian Supreme Court judge referencing Cohen’s words in a landmark judgment on decriminalizing homosexuality. This entry documents Leonard Cohen’s transformation from a counterculture icon to an “influential figure” in popular culture and populist discourse in the digital age.