Commodifying Sadness: The Role of Women as Emotional Laborers on Instagram

Commodification in the postmodern era refers to the process where everything, including art, culture, and even individual identities, becomes a commodity that can be bought and sold. The purpose of this research was to describe and analyze the forms of commodification of sadness visible in the comments on Instagram posts of sad songs from various Indonesian titles. This research used the netnography method. The results showed that, based on the findings, comments on Indonesian sad songs on Instagram were categorized into three distinct groups: positive, negative, and neutral. This categorization aligned with the emotional tone and content of the comments, reflecting how users (mostly women) interact with and express their emotions through social media. The majority of the comments fall into the negative category, which includes expressions of regret and venting directed at individuals who have left or caused emotional pain. Based on these findings, the researcher conducted an analysis linking it to several points: emotional commodification themes identified in comments on Indonesian sad songs, emotional labour on Instagram, user engagement and interaction on Instagram, how cultural context influences user engagement and emotional responses, gender dynamics in emotional responses on Instagram, and the impact of Instagram on music consumption: the role of influencers, algorithms, and digital marketing.