Well, I was sort of saying that the artist, the personality, the performer, is often more important than the song. Lyrics OR melody. Of course, the artist does need some sort of lyrics to mouth. In rap, that's pretty much all that's needed!

At the risk of sounding sexist, I think that female listeners tend to be more interested in the lyrics. I can think back to my own teenage days (yes, I can remember back that far...with the help of notes) and the guys were mostly interested in the riffs and such and the girls would buy magazines full of lyrics and pore over them. I suppose they look them up online these days.