I just want to preface this by stating I'm not sure if this would be better suited for the music stackexchange site, though I feel it's probably still appropriate here because my question mainly concerns identifying a term.
Question: Is there a term that describes the technique in which an artist repeats lyrics from their previous work in their other/future songs? I know you could technically say they're alluding to their past work, but I'm wondering if there's a more technical term for this.
Note that I'm looking for a term which is neutral in connotation as opposed to something which implies they're being lazy and recycling their lyrics. Also, just to clarify, this is less about an artist reusing the same ideas for the songs and more about them inserting subtle references to their older songs in their lyrics.
Examples:
1) One of Lana Del Rey's songs is titled "Young and Beautiful" (2013). The chorus begins with:
Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?
A later song, "Old Money" (2014), has the following two lines:
Will you still love me when I shine? / From words but not from beauty
2) Another one from Lana Del Rey. Her 2011 song "Video Games" has the following line:
Heaven is a place on earth with you
One of her later songs, "Ultraviolence" (2014), has the following similar, albeit shorter, line:
Heaven is on earth
3) Eminem's song "Lose Yourself" (2002) repeats the following in the hook:
You better lose yourself in the music / The moment, you own it, you better never let it go
He says something remarkably similar in "Sing for the Moment" (2003):
That's why we seize the moment / Try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it
And in "The Monster" (2013)
Somebody once told me to seize the moment, and don't squander it
I can't really think of any more examples off the top of my head–these three are the first that come to mind. I'm sure there are lots more, though.
Best Answer
Depending on the context or connotation you have in mind, I would say that the artist is either
or
One could also talk about the intentional use of common themes throughout the artist's works, or state that their work is thematically linked, in which case you would just state that they're returning to that theme or you could talk about theme re-use.