Getting Better: A Systematic Functional Interpretation of Grief Through a Song

This article presents an analysis of the song Get Better by British band Alt-J. The song was written amid the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. It mainly represents grief after the loss of a beloved person from the perspective of the bereaved. The analysis was conducted using the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework by Halliday with an emphasis on the three metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. The findings of the analysis determined that the song depicted a few of the occurrences that some people unfortunately had to experience after unforeseeable death of a loved one and how they managed to overcome grief.