Music

Mermaids have long been associated with music,citation needed and much like that of Orpheus, the power of their singing voices is said to have had the ability to enthrall. Along with their legendary vanity, the hair-combing and mirrors, the association of mermaids with music is coupled with another association of a vocal nature: they are said to be able to confer verbal eloquence,citation needed much like the Muses of the ancient Greek myths.citation needed

• In the 18th-century sea shanty, "The Keeper of the Eddystone Light", the singer's father is a lighthouse keeper and his mother is a mermaid.
• Alexander von Zemlinsky's symphonic poem Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid), first performed in 1905 but then forgotten until its second performance in 1984, is based on Andersen's detailed fairy story. Zemlinsky briefly explained its plan to Arnold Schoenberg; a more detailed matching of story and music is provided by its second conductor, Peter Gülke.
• 1985 hit by French duo Les Rita Mitsouko, "Marcia Baila", includes the verse "...la sirène en mal d'amour" (A lovesick mermaid). The song's video clip includes a mermaid.
• In Finnish musician J. Karjalainen's song Merenneito ja minä ("Mermaid and Me"), he describes a wonderful tour in the underwater kingdom with a mermaid with whom he has fallen in love. In the song he is able to breathe under water due to the mermaid's magic medicine.
• Another Finnish song, Koskenlaskijan morsiamet ("Brides of Log Driver") is about a mermaid who falls in love with a skillful log driver. Unfortunately, he is already engaged to a human woman. When the mermaid sees her love riding the rapids with his human bride, she in a burst of jealousy raises a rock off the river bed, drowning them both. Seeing them drown and die, she immediately regrets her deed, and in the end of the song she is left weeping alone on the rock.citation needed
• Joanna Newsom's song "Colleen" tells the story of a girl from the sea who adapts to life on land, but is plagued by dreams and memories of her past. The song is told from the girl's perspective, and it is left open to interpretation whether or not she eventually returns.
• The music video for "Cherish" by Madonna includes several merman and a merman child.
• Another Madonna music video, Music had an animated Madonna turn into a mermaid while diving into a martini.
• In the music video for "Mermaid Sashimi" by Mexican singer Juan Son, a mermaid is in a restaurant ready for being cooked.
• The mermaiding performers of Weeki Wachee Springs appear in the 2005 music video for the track Low C by Supergrass.
• The Weeki Wachee Mermaids also briefly appear in the music video for the 2012 Kelly Clarkson song, Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You).
• The death metal virtual band Dethklok have a song called "Murmaider," about mermaid murder. In the second episode of the animated series Metalocalypse, the band state that fish had "no good metals to listens to" so they recorded The DethWater Album. "Murmaider" appeared as the first track of the band's real album, The Dethalbum.
• Sade appears as a lovestruck mermaid in the music video for her 1992 single "No Ordinary Love."
• Among the outrageous claims made in the Lonely Island song "I'm On A Boat" is the claim by T-Pain that he has had sex with a mermaid. The video shows an African American mermaid in the background behind T-Pain as he sings this verse.
• Danish bubblegum singer Ni-Ni (Nynne Qvortrup) released an album in Japan and Denmark on February 16, 2001 called Mermaid which included the song "A Mermaid's Tale."
• A recently formed high school band, Jarrod and the Mermaids, is immensely popular in the region Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. They have a distinct style of magic.
• Tori Amos references a mermaid in her song Silent All These Years. and was inspired by reading Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid story to her little niece, Cody.
• Lady Gaga dressed as a mermaid named Yuyi for the video for "You and I."
• Lana Del Rey released a song Mermaid Motel in 2010 on Del Rey's debut album, Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant.
• In 2007, Japanese pop group SMAP recorded a song titled "Mermaid", which was originally intended as a single, but ended up being released as the 7th track of their 2008 Platinum album, Super Modern Artistic Performance. The song was used for Japanese media coverage of select swimming events during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• "FT Nesli - Mermaid" sung by Turkish singer Neslihan Evrüz 2008 in English by Burak Yeter from the album Mermaid.
• Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies features a mermaid in the musical number "Beautiful/The Beauty Underneath".
• In 2011, Japanese group Aldious released a single, "Mermaid". The PV had one of the girls of the band as a mermaid.
• In 2011, Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish released Imaginaerum, which contained the song "Turn Loose the Mermaids".
• In 2012, French singer Nolwenn Leroy appeared as a mermaid on the cover of her album Ô Filles De L'Eau, and in the music video of her single "Sixième Continent."
• In 2012, American pop rock band Train released a new single titled "Mermaid" from their sixth studio album, California 37.
• The music video for the 2017 Maroon 5 song, "What Lovers Do" features SZA as a mermaid looking on the band's frontman Adam Levine.
• The opera The Enchanted Island features mermaids in the end.
• The music video for the 2018 song “Only You” by Cheat Codes ft. Little Mix features a LGBT narrative with a mermaid and a lonely girl.