I personally am probably the last person who should be asking this question if you know me, but I have noticed that the usage of swearing and vulgar language is more prominent in music, where it is far more jarring than it should be.
Hip-hop, rock, metal, and punk are genres where vulgarity is expected, or at least not out of place, because these are largely aggressive genres, and using foul language is part of expressing aggression. Other genres or artists may use it for comedic effect, like country singers or comedy singers whose humor is dirtier.
But this question is mostly directed toward pop, R&B, or artists whose music is generally "softer."
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Take The Weeknd for example. I like the guy and think he is an excellent singer, but sometimes the usage of vulgarity and the smoothness of his voice are jarring.
Here are the *censored* lyrics to the chorus/hook to one of his hits, "Often":
She asked me if I do this every day, I said, "Often"
Asked how many times she rode the wave, not so often (baby)
B****** down to do it either way, often
Baby, I can make that p**** rain, often
Often, often, girl, I do this often
Make that p**** poppin', do it how I want it
Often, often, girl, I do this often
Make that p**** poppin', do it how I want it
Often
I am not a poet or a songwriter, but with the way he sounds, The Weeknd could afford to be a bit more poetic in his word choice. To be fair, some of his biggest hits, like "Blinding Lights" and "Earned It," were done completely without the use of vulgar language, but looking up his songs on Apple Music shows more of the little gray "E" for "explicit content" than not.
Lana Del Rey isn't as popular as she was a few years ago, but she falls into a similar camp (I personally could not listen to "Young and Beautiful" for a while without choking up. Don't judge me). Her music is angsty, ethereal, and basically modernized elegies, dirges, and laments, but such music lends itself very well to waxing poetic without the need for four-letter words.
She isn't as bad as The Weeknd when it comes to using vulgarity, but her 2019 album "Norman F*****g Rockwell!" has the little gray "E" next to 9 out of 14 songs.
Here is the first verse of the titular song:
G*****, man child
You f***** me so good that I almost said, "I love you"
You're fun and you're wild
But you don't know the half of the s*** that you put me through
Your poetry's bad and you blame the news
But I can't change that and I can't change your mood
Ah-ah, oh
Granted, the Apple Music description of "Norman F*****g Rockwell" does note that the album has a satirical element, examining how high society is often a facade and the egotism of elites, but even then, one could argue that because swearing is often cathartic, limited use could make certain lines have more of a punch than using it regularly.
Even Taylor Swift (as much as we're sick of hearing about her, sorry) has gotten in on dropping some profanity in her lyrics, but this is a recent phenomenon judging by a perusal of her music.
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Regardless, the point is that it seems as though musicians and songwriters are becoming less able to turn a phrase without using foul language, even in places where being poetic and using complicated lyrics is more common.
We could speculate on why this appears to be the case, ranging from education (or lack thereof), digitalization of communication limiting our ability to express emotions, normalization of profanity, or simply because people are becoming less creative when it comes to writing.
This is not a demand for music to stop having profanity altogether because it has its place in certain contexts, but rather an observation of how much we advance in some ways, but seem to regress in others.
ADDENDUM: Looking for a picture to headline this article, I remembered Bruno Mars is very similar in this regard. He is extremely talented, sings wonderfully, and is fantastic on stage, but like the others mentioned here his use of vulgar language is often jarring.
