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Pop Fusion - The New Mainstream
The Songs The #1 Hit Club Songwriters New Arrivals & De-Charted Hits Song Structure & Compositional Characteristics Song Attributes
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The Songs: There were a total of 21 songs that landed in the top 10 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart during Q4-2012. Flo Rida and Justin Bieber led the pack with 2 top 10 hits.
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The #1 Hit Club of Q4-2012:
During the last quarter of 2012, 7 of the 21 songs that landed in Billboard Pop Songs top 10 either hit #1 for the first time or peaked at #1 during the previous quarter.
The quarter started out with P!nk’s Blow Me (One Last Kiss) at #1, but the second week in Maroon 5?s One More Night took over, commencing its marathon 8 consecutive week run at the top spot. Ke$ha’s Die Young wound up dethroning One More Night in December, holding onto the top spot for 3 consecutive weeks until Locked Out Of Heaven took over during the last week of the year.
The #1 Pop Hits of Q4-2012:
*Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
**Die Young
*Give Your Heart A Break
*Lights
**Locked Out Of Heaven
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*One More Night
*Whistle
Note: An (*) indicates that the song was also a #1 hit in the preceding quarter (Q3) An (**) indicates a song that was new to the top 10 in Q4
#1 Hit Primary Sub-Genre Influence Comparison: Q3 vs. Q4
Dance/Club
Q3-2012: None of the Dance songs hit #1 in Q3
Q4-2012: None of the Dance songs hit #1 in Q4
Rock
Q3-2012: 2 #1 hits
Somebody That I Used To Know
We Are Young
Q4-2012: There weren’t any Rock songs that hit #1 in Q4
Pop Fusion & “Other”
Q3-2012: 6 #1 hits
Call Me Maybe (Teen Pop, Dance)
Give Your Heart A Break (Straight-Up Pop, Dance, Ballad)
Lights (Straight-Up Electro Pop, Dance)
Payphone (Straight-Up Pop, Dance, Hip Hop/Rap)
Whistle (Straight-Up Pop, Hip Hop/Rap)
Wide Awake (Electro Pop Ballad)
Q4-2012: 7 #1 hits
Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (Pop/Rock, Dance)
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Die Young (Straight-Up Electro Pop, Dance)
Give Your Heart A Break (Straight-Up Pop, Dance, Ballad)
Lights (Straight-Up Electro Pop, Dance)
Locked Out Of Heaven (Pop/Rock, Electro, New Wave, Funk)
One More Night (Straight-Up Pop, Reggae)
Whistle (Straight-Up Pop, Hip Hop/Rap)
Summary
Interestingly, for a second quarter in a row none of the primarily Dance natured songs were able to reach the top spot on the Billboard Pop songs chart. Ne-Yo’s Let Me Love You came the closest, peaking at #4. Additionally, the one Rock song (Everybody Talks) stalled at #3 (which was also its peak position in Q3), and couldn’t attain the same level of chart success as its Q3 Rock cohorts Somebody That I Used To Know and We Are Young.
The big winners in Q4, as was the case last quarter, were songs that possessed a Fusion of sub-genre influences, most of which incorporated a straight-up Pop or Pop/Rock influence in addition to other elements such as Dance, Hip Hop/Rap or Reggae in the mix. Note that both Die Young and Locked Out Of Heaven were new to the top 10 in Q4, while the others entered the top 10 during Q3.
The Songwriters
79 credited songwriters were involved in crafting the 21 hits that landed in the Billboard Pop Songs top 10 during Q4-2012. Of those songwriters, 8 had an especially good quarter, landing 2 top 10 hits.
Interestingly, there was no single “hit songwriting champion” during Q4 (i.e. someone who scored more top 10 hits than anyone else), considering that the max was 2 per writer. That being said, 5 of those writers did attain a #1 hit during the quarter, including Benny Blanco (Die Young), Max Martin (One More Night), Shellback (One More Night), Nate Ruess (Die Young), and Flo Rida (Whistle).
The Top Songwriters Of Q4-2012 Note: The position denotes the peak position of the song to-date by the end of the quarter
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An average of 3.76 writers co-wrote each of the 21 top 10 hits during the quarter. Note that this number was virtually the same as last quarter (3.6).
New Arrivals vs. De-Charted Hits This section compares the songs that entered into the Pop Songs top 10 for the first time during Q4 against those that didn’t make it back in from Q3, giving you a look at what’s in, what’s out, and where things are headed.
NEW TOP 10 ARRIVALS IN Q4-2012 (12 Songs)
As you can see, the vast majority (two-thirds) of songs that entered into the Pop songs top 10
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Additionally, notice that songs that are primarily Rock, Hip Hop/Rap or R&B/Soul in nature were no-shows to the top 10 for the first time during Q4.
Dance Songs:
Beauty & A Beat
Don’t Wake Me Up
I Cry
Let Me Love You
Rock Songs:
None
R&B/Soul Songs:
None
Hip Hop/Rap Songs:
None
Pop Fusion & Other:
Die Young (Straight-Up Electro Pop, Dance)
Gangnam Style (K-Pop Dance, Hip Hop/Rap)
Locked Out Of Heaven (Pop/Rock, Electro, New Wave, Funk)
Some Nights (World, Indie/Alt Pop/Rock)
Too Close (Alt/Rock, Dubstep)
Diamonds (Electro Pop Ballad, R&B)
Ho Hey (Indie/Folk)
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Home (Folk, Pop/Rock)
Key Points:
Form & Sectional
Only 3 out of the 12 songs followed the most popular song structure there is – the straight-up A-B-A-B-C-B form (Don’t Wake Me Up, Let Me Love You and Locked Out Of Heaven). All of the others differed in nature from one another.
The average song length for all new arrivals was 3:46, with Dance songs averaging a bit longer than those in the Fusion/Other category (3:51 vs. 3:43).
All songs except for 2 (Some Nights and Diamonds) contained an intro in their framework, with the average length landing at 0:13.
Only half of all songs contained a pre-chorus. All were from the Fusion/Other category except for Beauty & A Beat (Dance).
All of the Dance songs contained a bridge within their framework, while this was the case with only half of the Fusion/Other songs.
Only 2 out of 12 songs contained an outro - Locked Out Of Heaven and Some Nights.
Half of all songs contained an instrumental break within the mix. Interestingly, it was only the case with 1 of the Dance songs where you would typically expect to see more (Beauty & A Beat).
One-third of all songs kicked off with the chorus as opposed to the verse (I Cry, Die Young, Some Nights and Diamonds).
On average, first choruses occurred 0:39 (18%) of the way into the song. They hit slightly earlier in Dance songs as opposed to those in the Fusion/Other category.
On average, choruses comprised 44% of a song’s total composition, with Dance songs allocating more time than those in the Fusion/Other category (53% vs. 39%).
Tempo
The average tempo for all new arrivals was 120 bpm.
Dance songs, as you would expect, averaged right around 128 bpm (they all landed at 128 except for I Cry, which was 126).
Songs in the Fusion/Other category averaged out at 116 bpm. 4 landed in the low to
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upper 120 range (Die Young, Gangnam Style, Too Close and Home), 3 were on the slower end of the spectrum (Ho Hey, Diamonds and Some Nights), and 1 was quite fast relative to all the others (including those in the Dance category) – Locked Out Of Heaven (144 bpm).
The Fusion/Other Category
There was quite a bit of diversity in the Fusion/Other category, including a couple of songs that were primarily Folk in nature (Ho Hey and Home), one that fused K-Pop Dance with Hip Hop/Rap (Gangnam Style), one that combined World, Indie/Alt Pop/Rock under one roof (Some Nights), and one that fused Pop/Rock, Electro, New Wave and Funk (Locked Out Of Heaven), amongst others.
Instrumentation
58% of all songs exclusively featured electric based instrumentation in the mix. This was followed by 3 that featured a combo of acoustic and electric (Don’t Wake Me Up, Die Young and Some Nights) and 2 that were primarily acoustic in nature (Ho Hey and Home).
75% of all songs featured a synth in the mix, with 4 of them pretty much featuring it as the sole primary instrument (I Cry, Let Me Love You, Gangnam Style and Diamonds).
2 songs were primarily acoustic guitar driven (the folk natured Ho Hey and Home)
58% of songs featured a combination of primary instrumentation in the mix (mostly synth + guitar).
Lyrical Themes
Only 4 out of 12 songs featured a straight-up Love/Relationship lyrical theme, though 5 did feature it in addition to another primary theme (e.g. Partying/Clubbing – Beauty & A Beat, Inspirational - Let Me Love You and Hooking Up – Locked Out Of Heaven).
4 songs were Inspirational in nature, with 3 out of 4 of them pairing up with an additional theme.
Gangnam Style was the stand-out in the group with its Cultural/Relationships/Parody theme.
Lead Vocal Gender
The vast majority (two-thirds) of songs featured a male lead vocal.
Only 2 songs featured a female lead (Die Young and Diamonds).
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2 songs were duets, both of which stemmed from the Dance category (Beauty & A Beat and I Cry).
Interestingly, none of the Dance songs featured a female lead vocal (half were male and half were duets).
DE-CHARTED TOP 10 HITS FROM Q3-2012 (12 Songs)
In regard to the songs that charted in the Pop songs top 10 during Q3 but didn’t make it back in during Q4 (either because they were successful and had run their course or they just had a short shelf-life in the top 10), an equal amount (5 out of 12) fell into the Dance and Fusion/Other categories, while the other 2 were Rock in nature.
As with new arrivals, notice that primarily Hip Hop/Rap and R&B/Soul natured songs were nowhere to be found.
Dance Songs:
Let’s Go (peaked at #5)
Scream (peaked at #6)
Starships (peaked at #3)
Titanium (peaked at #3)
Where Have You Been (peaked at #3)
Rock Songs:
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We Are Young (peaked at #1)
Somebody That I Used To Know (peaked at #1)
R&B/Soul Songs:
None
Hip Hop/Rap Songs:
None
Pop Fusion & Other:
Call Me Maybe (Teen Pop, Dance) – peaked at #1
Payphone (Straight-Up Pop, Dance, Hip Hop/Rap) – peaked at #1
Want U Back (Straight-Up Electro Pop, Dance, Hip Hop/Rap) – peaked at #9
Wide Awake (Electro Pop Ballad) – peaked at #1
What Makes You Beautiful (Teen Pop/Rock) – peaked at #3
Key Points:
Form & Sectional
5 out of the 12 songs followed a straight-up A-B-A-B-C-B form (Titanium, We Are Young, Want U Back, Wide Awake and What Makes You Beautiful). Note that this was the case with 3 out of the 5 songs in the Fusion/Other category. All of the others differed in nature from one another.
The average song length for all decharted hits was 3:46. Rock songs averaged the longest (4:08), followed by Dance (3:52) and then songs in the Fusion/Other category (3:33).
All songs except for 2 (Where Have You Been and Payphone) contained an intro in their framework, with the average length landing at 0:10.
All of the songs except for 2 (Titanium and Somebody That I Used To Know) contained a pre-chorus within their framework.
All songs except for 2 contained a bridge in their framework (Starships and Somebody That I Used To Know).
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Only 3 out of 12 songs contained an outro (Somebody That I Used To Know, Call Me Maybe and Wide Awake), with the average length landing at 0:18.
A little over half of all songs contained an instrumental break within the mix. This was the case with all of the songs within the Dance category, and only 1 in both the Rock and Fusion/Other categories.
Only 1 song kicked off with the chorus as opposed to the verse (Payphone).
On average, first choruses occurred 0:44 (21%) of the way into the song. They hit earliest within the Fusion/Other category (0:31/15%), followed by Dance (0:48/23%) and Rock (1:10/29%).
On average, choruses comprised 43% of a song’s total composition, with songs in the Fusion/Other category allocating the most amount of time (49%) and Dance songs allocating the least (37%).
Tempo
The average tempo for all decharted hits was 116 bpm.
Dance songs averaged right around 127 bpm. All landed at 128 except for Starships (125) and Titanium (126).
Songs in the Fusion/Other category averaged out at 107 bpm. 2 landed in the low to mid 120 bpm range (Call Me Maybe and What Makes You Beautiful), while Payphone, Want U Back and Wide Awake were all slower in nature (110, 98 and 80 respectively).
As for Rock, the average bpm was 111, with We Are Young landing at 92 and Somebody That I Used To Know landing at 129.
The Fusion/Other Category
Amongst the diversity in the Fusion/Other category included a couple of songs that fused a Teen nature with Dance and Pop/Rock (Call Me Maybe and What Makes You Beautiful, respectively), Straight-Up Pop with elements of Dance and Hip Hop/Rap (Payphone and Want U Back), and one that was an Electro Pop Ballad (Wide Awake).
Instrumentation
83% of all songs featured primarily electric based instrumentation in the mix. The 2 songs that didn’t were the 2 Rock songs – We Are Young and Somebody That I Used To Know.
92% of all songs featured a synth in the mix, with 6 of them pretty much featuring it as
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the sole primary instrument (Let’s Go, Scream, Where Have You Been, Call Me Maybe, Want U Back and Wide Awake).
The other 6 songs featured a combination of primary instrumentation within the mix (most utilizing a synth + guitar).
Lyrical Themes
5 out of 12 songs featured a straight-up Love/Relationship lyrical theme, while an additional 4 featured it in conjunction with another theme, specifically Inspiration (Wide Awake, What Makes You Beautiful, Titanium and We Are Young).
Love/Relationships was the dominant theme in every category EXCEPT for Dance, where Titanium was the sole representative. The others featured Hooking Up, Partying/Clubbing and Inspirational themes.
2 songs possessed a Hooking Up theme (Scream and Where Have You Been), and Starships was the sole representative of Partying/Clubbing.
Lead Vocal Gender
A slight majority of songs featured a female lead vocal (5 out of 12). Men followed right behind at 4.
3 songs were duets – both of the Rock songs (Somebody That I Used To Know and We Are Young) and Want U Back.
Women had a slight edge over men in the Dance category (3 vs. 2), while they were evenly split in the Fusion/Other category (2 a piece, plus the one duet).
Key Point Comparison – New Arrivals vs. De-Charted Hits:
Songs There were an equal number of songs (12) that both entered the top 10 for the first time during Q4 and those that didn’t make it back in from Q3.
Sub-Genres The balance of power within the Pop songs top 10 continued to shift toward songs that possess either a Fusion of sub-genre influences or those that are different in nature than the primary categories of Dance, R&B/Soul, Rock or Hip Hop/Rap.
Fusion/Other: There were 8 new Fusion/Other songs that entered the Pop Songs top 10 during Q4, while 5 didn’t make it back in from Q3. (+3)
Dance: There were 4 new Dance songs that entered the top 10 during Q4, while 5 didn’t make it back in from Q3. (-1)
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Rock: There weren’t any new songs that entered the top 10 during Q4 to replace the 2 that didn’t make it back in from Q3 (Somebody That I Used To Know and We Are Young). (-2)
In the end, the Pop Songs top 10 in Q4 had 3 more Fusion/Other songs, 1 less Dance song and 2 less Rock songs than it did during Q3.
As far as straight-up Dance songs are concerned, don’t worry – they’re not going anywhere. Sometimes there will be more, and sometimes there will be less (though recent trends are definitely pointing to less). As for Rock, it will be around as well, just nowhere near the levels of the other sub-genres. And as for R&B/Soul and Hip Hop/Rap – maybe in Q1-2013…
The Fusion/Other Category The new arrivals seemed to have more of a diverse, adventurous nature than those that decharted from Q3.
Remember – the decharted hits from Q3 had a couple of Teen Pop natured songs that were either Pop/Rock or Dance in nature, as well as a couple that fused straight-up Pop, Dance and Hip Hop/Rap in the mix. This was really nothing out of the ordinary.
In Q4, however, we saw a couple of Folk natured songs entering the top 10 (haven’t seen that too often on the Pop Songs chart), plus songs like Locked Out Of Heaven and Some Nights which really pushed the envelope as far as Fusion goes, and we even saw K-Pop Dance fused with Hip Hop/Rap entering the Pop Songs top 10 for the first time ever (thanks to PSY).
It just goes to show that artists and writers are starting to push the mainstream boundaries with their new compositions, and the public seems more ready to receive than ever.
Instrumentation Q4 saw a reduction in the number of new songs that possessed primarily electric based instrumentation in the mix compared to the decharted hits of Q3 (58% of songs vs. 83%). This was primarily due to the addition of the 2 acoustic songs of which there were none with the decharted songs (Ho Hey and Home), plus the 3 that featured a combination of acoustic and electric based instrumentation in the mix.
Regarding the synth, a few less Q4 new arrivals featured one in the mix as compared to those that didn’t make it back in from Q3 (75% of songs vs. 92%). Additionally, 4 new arrivals were primarily synth driven compared to the 6 that decharted.
As for songs that featured a combination of primary instrumentation within the mix, the number was almost the same with both new arrivals and decharted hits (7 songs vs. 6 songs). Both also had the synth + guitar as being the most popular combination.
All in all, songs that are primarily synth driven are continuing to lose ground in the top 10 due to the greater influx of Fusion based songs that typically utilize a combination of instrumentation in the mix, coupled with songs that don’t utilize a synth at all (e.g. the new
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Lyrical Themes The number of songs featuring a Love/Relationship lyrical theme (either by itself or combined with another theme) remained pretty much constant and in the majority due to an equal number leaving from Q3 and an equal number arriving in Q4. This was also the case with Inspiration as well, either as a stand-alone or used in conjunction with another theme, most usually Love/Relationships.
The number of songs that were Partying/Clubbing or Hooking Up in nature were almost the same between new arrivals and decharted hits as well, with the one main difference being that new arrivals combined them with another theme (again, usually Love/Relationships), while those that decharted had them primarily as stand-alone themes.
Lead Vocal Gender One of the biggest changes in the Pop Songs top 10 stemmed from the number of songs featuring a female lead vocal vs. male. The top 10 lost 5 songs featuring a female lead and 4 featuring a male lead from Q3, while it gained 8 male lead songs in Q4 compared to only 2 that were female.
Additionally, there was a major shift in the Dance category, where the 3 songs that featured a female lead in Q3 weren’t replenished in Q4. All of the new Dance arrivals in Q4 either featured a male lead vocal or were duets.
Regarding duets, they remained pretty much the same (3 lost from Q3 vs. 2 new in Q4).
Form & Sectional
2 fewer songs possessing a straight-up A-B-A-B-C-B form entered into the top 10 during Q4 than those that decharted from Q3. Interestingly, the form was most prevalent in the Fusion/Other category with decharted hits, but was not the case with new arrivals (where it was most prevalent in the Dance category). All in all, in Q4 Dance songs seemed to get more “basic” in nature, while the Fusion/Other songs broke from the ”norm” in regard to their structure.
The average song length for both new arrival and decharted hits was exactly the same at 3:46. The length of Dance songs were virtually the same as well (3:51 vs. 3:52), while the new arrivals in the Fusion/Other category were on average 0:10 longer than those that decharted from Q3 (3:43 vs. 3:33).
All but 2 songs in both categories contained an intro in their framework, with new arrival intros landing just 0:03 longer than decharted hits (0:13 vs. 0:10).
Only half of the new arrivals contained a pre-chorus while 83% of decharted songs contained one within their framework. What that means is that more new arrivals are
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launching directly into the chorus from the verse as compared to the decharted hits which featured the pre-build (or decline, depending on the song).
Less songs that entered into the top 10 for the first time in Q4 contained a bridge than those that decharted from Q3 (67% vs. 83%).
An almost equal number of decharted hits contained an outro compared to new arrivals (3 vs. 2).
An equal number of decharted hits and new arrivals contained an instrumental break within their framework. The primary difference is that this was primarily the case in the Dance category with decharted hits, while its almost solely the case (except for 1 Dance song) in the Fusion/Other category with new arrivals.
There were 3 more new arrivals to the top 10 that kicked off with the chorus as opposed to the verse than those that decharted.
On average, first choruses occurred slightly earlier within the song with new arrivals compared to decharted hits and accounted for virtually the same percentage of the song. The main difference stems from a sub-genre standpoint. Decharted Dance choruses were hitting further into the song than new arrivals (0:48/23% vs. 0:34/15%) while Decharted Fusion/Other choruses were hitting earlier within the song than new arrivals (0:31/15% vs. 0:42/20%).
Tempo The average tempo for both new arrival and decharted hits was almost the same, landing at 120 bpm and 116 bpm, respectively. This was also the case for Dance songs as well (128 vs 127), but was not the case in the Fusion/Other category. Decharted hits averaged 107 bpm compared to 116 bpm for new arrivals. This was primarily due to the greater number of new arrivals possessing a faster beat that outweighed the slower natured songs compared to what the split was with decharted hits.
Song Structure & Compositional Characteristics: Q4-2012 This section looks at all of the 21 Top 10 Hits from Q4-2012
FORM
Key: A=Verse, B=Chorus, C=Bridge, IB=Instrumental Break, VB=Vocal Break
A-B-A-B-C-B As usual, the most widely used form was A-B-A-B-C-B (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge- chorus), comprising the majority (38%) of top 10 hit Pop songs during the quarter. Note that this number was down slightly from the previous 2 quarters, however (both of which were at 43%). This was primarily due to the increased number of new arrivals that possessed differentiated forms, specifically in the Fusion/Other category.
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It defined half of the Dance songs (Don’t Wake Me Up and Let Me Love You), as well as 31% of songs in the Fusion/Other category. The one Rock song, however (Every Body Talks), did not utilize the form.
There were also a number of songs that utilized its general framework , albeit in a non-straight- up fashion:
3 songs first kicked off with the chorus but then followed with a straight-up A-B-A-B-C- B form (I Cry, Whistle and As Long As You Love Me).
1 song (Gangnam Style) featured the form except for the fact that it doubled up on sections (A-A-B-B-A-A-B-B-C-B).
Beauty & A Beat also utilized the form except for a couple of instrumental breaks (A-B- IB-A-B-C-B-IB).
Give Your Heart A Break utilized the form up until the tail end of the song, where it included an additional verse (A-B-A-B-C-B-A).
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together followed the form as well with the exception of the break that occurred after the second chorus leading into the bridge (A-B-A-B- Break-C-B).
As for the songs that had forms that completely differed in nature, some examples include:
Everybody Talks (A-B-A-B-C-IB-A-B). Notice that after the bridge there’s an instrumental break, which is followed by an additional verse and then chorus out.
Diamonds (B-A-B-A-B-B). The song kicks off with the chorus and contains 2 back to back choruses that follow the second verse. Notice that there isn’t a “traditional” bridge here, instead opting for a breakdown chorus to bring the MTI level (momentum, tension, intensity) of the song down for a bit before going into the final full chorus and out.
Some Nights (B-VB-A-B-C-A-C-VB). This song was a bit all over the place!
Home (A-A-B-A-B). Notice that this song kicked off with a double verse, followed by a chorus, verse and chorus. As with Diamonds, there wasn’t any bridge.
SONG LENGTH
The average length of a top 10 hit Pop song in Q4 was 3:40, the same as it was during the previous quarter. An overwhelming majority landed in the 3:30 – 3:59 range (57%), while the other ranges trailed far behind.
The longest songs of the quarter (those that landed at over 4:00) were all from the Fusion/Other category and had a Rock edge to them except for Ne-Yo’s Let Me Love You,
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Blow Me (One Last Kiss): 4:16
Some Nights: 4:37
Too Close: 4:17
The shortest songs of the quarter were Everybody Talks (2:59) and Home (2:36). Keep in mind that it’s extremely rare for a song to land under 3:00 in the mainstream.
In regard to the average song length for each sub-genre category, Dance songs were the longest (averaging at 3:51, which was one-second less than last quarter), while the one song in the Rock category was the shortest as previously mentioned (2:59). Songs in the Fusion/Other category had an average length of 3:40.
INTRO
During Q4-2012, the vast majority (86%) of songs contained an intro in their framework, which was the same percentage as the previous quarter. 3 were followed by a chorus (Whistle, I Cry and Die Young), and the rest were followed by a verse.
The 3 songs that didn’t contain an intro (Some Nights, As Long As You Love Me and Diamonds) all immediately kicked off with the chorus.
Of the songs that contained an intro, most were relatively short in nature with the majority (50%) landing between 0:01 and 0:09, followed by 39% landing between 0:10 and 0:19.
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There were a couple of songs, however, that possessed intros that were quite long by mainstream standards. Those song were Don’t Wake Me Up (landing at 0:22) and especially Too Close (landing at an exceptionally long 0:31).
The average intro length during Q4-2012 was 0:11, which was up just 0:02 from the previous quarter.
Intro Length Range Breakdown : Q4-2012
Compositional Characteristics:
Backing Music The majority of intros (67%) were comprised of the backing music of the section that immediately followed (i.e. verse or chorus), making for a seamless transition between sections. Note, however, that this number was down from 89% during the previous quarter. The exceptions in Q4 included:
Don’t Wake Me Up (Unique/Narration intro)
I Cry (Swell)
Everybody Talks (“Ah’s…”)
Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (Swell + inst.)
Breakdown Intros Most songs contained a “breakdown intro” (either just at the onset of the section or as a whole)– meaning that they featured solo or sparse instrumentation without a “full band”
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Solo Guitar
Home (Acoustic)
Die Young (low to high filter)
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Acoustic w/effects)
Solo Strings
Give Your Heart A Break
Atmospheric Synths
Don’t Wake Me Up
Too Close
Lights
Narration & Artist Plugs 3 songs featured artist narration in the intro:
Beauty & A Beat: Nicki Minaj plugs the artists Justin Bieber, Young Money and herself.
Don’t Wake Me Up: Consists of the spoken “dearly beloved, if this love only exists in my dreams, don’t wake me up,” which sets the scene and jibes perfectly with the nature of the atmospheric synths.
Good Time: Jepsen’s “mmm, mmm, mmm, whoa, whoa, whoa” followed by “it’s always a good time.” All in all, it’s pretty much a modified breakdown chorus functioning as an intro.
Unique Intros 5 songs featured an intro that was “unique” in relation to all other sections within the song. In most cases this enabled the song to stand out even more amongst the mainstream Pop pack than if it just utilized the backing music of the section that followed.
Everybody Talks: The “Beatlesque” “ah’s” plus the “throat clearing”.
Don’t Wake Me Up: The atmospheric synths plus narration.
I Cry: Quick synth swell.
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Blow Me (One Last Kiss): Quick synth/guitar swell (as a side note, notice how similar in nature the swell in I Cry is to Blow Me).
Locked Out Of Heaven: The quick “count off.”
“Dual” Intros 3 songs featured a “dual” intro, meaning that there were two distinct facets to the section:
Blow Me (One Last Kiss): Synth/Guitar swell followed by the full Pop/Rock, Dance instrumental segment.
Beauty & A Beat: The first-half consists of the pulsing synths (from the chorus) while the second half adds the kick, narration from Minaj, and bass.
Too Close: The first half consists of the solo “morphing” synths, while the second half adds the drums into the mix.
Memorable & Effective Intros Some of the most memorable and effective intros of Q4 include:
Locked Out Of Heaven: First, the quick 0:02 “count off” instantly establishes the “live” vibe while acting as a “unique identifier” for the song, while the balance of the section possesses that ultra-infections “Police,” Pop/Rock, New Wave, Funk vibe that instantly hooks the listener in. Additionally, notice that the intro theme (minus the count off) also occurs during the middle as well as at the end of the song, which gets it totally engrained within the listener’s head.
Whistle: The infectious, memorable whistle instantly hooks the listener in coupled with the acoustic guitar.
Ho Hey: The combination of the solo acoustic guitar plus the “ho hey” vocal instantly establishes a unique vibe in relation to everything else in the mainstream. Additionally, it’s exceptionally infectious and memorable as well.
One More Night: It instantly hooks you in with the “oo,oo,oo…” vocal coupled with the vibe establishing, reverb drenched “reggae natured” guitars.
Everybody Talks: Its unique nature as previously described enables it to stand out amongst the mainstream Pop pack.
PRE-CHORUS
During Q4, the vast majority (71%) of all songs utilized a pre-chorus within their framework. Note, however, that this number was down from 86% during the previous quarter.
Only 1 Dance song featured a pre-chorus (Beauty & A Beat), while the others transitioned
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Despite all of their characteristic and attribute differences, they all had one thing in common – they were just as infectious and memorable (and in some cases even more so) than all of the other sections within the song.
Pre-Chorus Facts and Attributes:
MTI Levels (Momentum/Tension/Intensity)
MTI Level Build The majority of pre-choruses provided a lift from that of the preceding verse (some subtle and some more intense), increasing the MTI level as the song moved toward the payoff in the chorus. This lift was primarily achieved in one of 2 ways:
Adding additional instrumentation into the mix that heightened the MTI level
Providing a change-up in the vocal melody that provided the lift.
Some examples to note include Beauty & A Beat, Everybody Talks and Blow Me (One Last Kiss).
MTI Level Remains Constant There were a few pre-choruses that had their MTI level remaining pretty much on par with that of the preceding verse. This was because the backing music remained essentially the same, and the change-up in vocal melody didn’t really take the intensity to the next level. A couple of good examples to note are Too Close and As Long As You Love Me.
MTI Level Decrease There were 2 songs, Some Nights and Good Time, where the one pre-chorus in the song actually brought the MTI level down from what was defining the preceding verse, enabling the more intense chorus to have increased impact when it hit. Note that Good Time started out as a “breakdown,” but the second half kicked things back up.
Vocal Melody As you would expect, all of the pre-choruses featured a change-up in the vocal melody from that which was defining the preceding verse.
Backing Music All but 3 songs (Everybody Talks, Die Young and As Long As You Love Me) featured a change-up in the nature of the backing music from that which was defining the preceding verse.
In some cases this change was brought about by adding or subtracting instrumentation from
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Adding/Subtracting (progression from verse remains intact)
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Bass and hats are added to the mix on top of what was defining the preceding verse.
Everybody Talks: Additional guitar is added to the mix.
Lights: Change up in the nature of the drums (i.e. the snare enters the mix).
Completely New Direction (complete shift in the backing music from the verse)
Gangnam Style
Good Time
Locked Out Of Heaven (pre-chorus B – more on this below)
Some Nights
Pre-Chorus Count All of the songs featured 2 full pre-chorus sections within the song except for the following:
Some Nights only contains 1.
Blow Me (One Last Kiss) contains 3. There’s an additional pre-chorus that follows the bridge and is followed by the chorus.
One More Night contains 3 as well, with the third following the bridge and followed by the chorus.
Locked Out Of Heaven contains 4 (back to back pre-chorus A and B that occur twice within the song).
Pre-Chorus Length The average length of a pre-chorus was 0:14, with most landing in the low to mid-teens. The vast majority were the same length of the preceding verse.
The “Stand Out” Pre-Chorus There was one song that really utilized the pre-chorus to its fullest potential – Locked Out Of Heaven:
Directly following each verse there are 2 back to back pre-choruses, each completely differing in nature from one another.
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The first pre-chorus continues on with the guitar driven Pop/Rock vibe that was defining the preceding verse.
The second-pre-chorus that directly follows takes the song in a completely different direction. Gone are the guitars and in its place we have the deep “fuzz” synths coupled with the pulsing, higher register synth “alarms.” This pre-chorus is what kicks off the synth driven Electro nature of the chorus that follows.
Notice that the vocal melody in both pre-choruses are exceptionally repetitive, engaging, infectious and memorable.
All in all, considering that Locked Out Of Heaven as a whole is split into two distinct vibes (guitar driven Pop/Rock and Synth driven Electro Pop), it made perfect sense (and worked perfectly as well) to have 2 back to back pre-choruses, each jibing with one of those vibes. If you want to learn more, you can check out the Locked Out Of Heaven Deconstructed report in the Hit Songs Deconstructed site.
CHORUS
Compositional Characteristics
Methods For Transitioning Into The Chorus There were 4 primary methods employed to transition into the first chorus of the song – a drum fill, a vocal intro, a transitional pause, or a synth swell. In some cases, it was a combination of the aforementioned methods.
Of them all, the most popular method by far was the synth swell, which was utilized in 62% of all songs.
Methods & Song Examples
Synth Swell: Sometimes it was up-front and pronounced and other times it was more subtle in nature. Examples include Beauty & A Beat, I Cry, One More Night and Some Nights.
Drum Fill: Die Young (low level in the mix)
Transitional Pause: Gangnam Style (a pause follows the intense build coming out of the pre-chorus, which is then followed by the spoken “Opan Gangnam Style” which is then followed by the full chorus slamming in.
Vocal: Everybody Talks (the backing music comes to a halt followed by the solo “it started with the” vocal which is then followed by the full chorus slamming in on the lyric “whisper.“ Notice how this technique provided the chorus with much greater impact when it hit. Another similar example is Demi Lovato’s Give Your Heart A Break via the lyrics “baby I’m not like the rest,” as well as the second chorus in Alex Clare’s Too
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Close.
MTI Levels The vast majority of songs (16 out of 21) had a first chorus MTI level that was higher than that of the preceding section. In some cases it was it was much more intense and in some cases the build was more gradual in nature. Examples include:
Intense
Too Close (a simmering Dubstep intensity), Gangnam Style (slamming in out of the transitional pause and vocal), and Some Nights (following the lower MTI level of the pre- chorus).
Gradual Intensity
Locked Out Of Heaven (the MTI level starts to gradually build starting in the pre-chorus through both halves of the chorus), Don’t Wake Me Up (gradually builds before slamming in with the full Dance second half) and Diamonds are good examples.
MTI Level Decrease Some choruses embarked on an MTI level dive at the onset in relation to the section that preceded it (in most cases otherwise known as a “breakdown” chorus). Examples that you should listen to for reference include Beauty & A Beat, I Cry, Die Young, One More Night, Whistle and As Long As You Love Me.
Now – even though these choruses started off as a breakdown didn’t mean that they stayed that way for the duration of the section, however. On the contrary, most built in intensity. A couple of examples include:
I Cry: Even though it’s not a breakdown chorus, the MTI level is certainly lower than the Dance nature of the preceding verse. Notice that at the end of the first half of the section there’s a synth swell/drum fill that leads you to believe that the full Dance chorus is going to slam in, but it doesn’t. Instead, the listener is kept in limbo with a “go-go-go” solo vocal before being slammed with the chorus. It’s pretty clever and effective.
As Long As You Love Me: The chorus starts out as a breakdown (vocal + synth – no drums), with the synths growing through the first half before slamming in with the more intense second half.
Kicking Off With The Chorus 29% of songs kicked off with the chorus as opposed to the verse, which was up from 14% during the previous quarter. Those songs were:
*I Cry
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Die Young
Some Nights
*Whistle
*As Long As You Love Me
Diamonds
Notice that half of the songs (the ones with an asterisk) possess a Hip Hop/Rap element in the mix. Historically, on the Pop songs chart, Hip Hop/Rap natured songs are more apt to kick off with the chorus as opposed to non-Rap songs.
In regard to the characteristics of these choruses, notice that ALL of them were “breakdown” choruses (i.e. sparse in nature – specifically no drums):
I Cry: Up until the tail end it’s all synth and vocal.
Die Young: Solo acoustic guitar + vocal for the first half (minus the “heart beat” drum)
Some Nights: Harmony vocal at the onset followed by piano during the second half.
Whistle: Acoustic guitar, whistle, vocal and bass at the tail end.
As Long As You Love Me: Vocal + synth
Diamonds: Vocal + Synth
Chorus Count Every song except for 2 had at least 3 chorus sections. The exceptions were Home and Some Nights, both of which only contain 2 choruses.
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There were 5 songs that contained 4 chorus sections within their framework: As Long As You Love Me, Blow Me (One Last Kiss), Diamonds, I Cry, and Whistle. Note that all of these songs except for 1 (Blow Me) first kicked off with the chorus as opposed to the verse . Blow Me (One Last Kiss) reverted back to the second half of the chorus (“just when it can’t get worse“) after the outro.
Chorus Uniformity It was almost an even split between songs that had choruses of equal length throughout the song and those that varied. These are the songs that were not uniform throughout:
As Long As You Love Me: 0:15 / 0:28 / 0:28
Blow Me (One Last Kiss): 0:34 / 0:34 / 0:34 / 0:17
Diamonds: 0:10 / 0:42 / 0:42 / 0:52
Die Young: 0:30 / 0:30 / 0:45
Don’t Wake Me Up: 0:45 / 0:45 / 0:30
Give Your Heart A Break: 0:24 / 0:31 / 0:47
Good Time: 0:15 / 0:30 / 0:30
I Cry: 0:15 / 0:32 / 0:32 / 0:40
Let Me Love You: 1:02 / 1:02 / 0:46
One More Night: 0:22 / 0:22 / 0:44
Whistle: 0:28 / 0:37 / 0:37 / 0:37
Notice that 6 of those songs started out with an abbreviated chorus in relation to the other choruses within the song (As Long As You Love Me, Diamonds, Give Your Heart A Break, Good Time, I Cry and Whistle).
2 of those songs had an abbreviated final chorus (Blow Me and Don’t Wake Me Up).
5 songs had an extended final chorus (Diamonds, Die Young, Give Your Heart A Break, I Cry and One More Night).
Last Chorus In The Song The vast majority of songs had the nature of the final chorus being as intense or more intense than any other chorus occurrence in the song. That’s not to say that they initially started out that way, however. Some first started out as “breakdowns” because they directly followed a more intense bridge (i.e. in order to provide increased sonic diversity within the song).
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High Intensity Final Choruses (all follow a lower MTI level or breakdown bridge)
Gangnam Style
Give Your Heart A Break
Good Time
Some Nights
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
What Makes You Beautiful
Whistle
Low To High Intensity (these final choruses start as a breakdown before slamming in full to conclude the song)
One More Night: In this case the intense bridge is actually followed by a breakdown pre- chorus that is then followed by a full, intense chorus.
As Long As You Love Me: Starts as a breakdown (which was the case throughout the song) before slamming in full.
FIRST CHORUS OCCURRENCE (TIME INTO SONG) As you would expect, the vast majority of songs had their first chorus occurring relatively early within the song (averaging at 0:37 of the way in), with all but 4 occurring under 1:00 of the way in:
Gangnam Style (1:07): Pushed back due to the double first verse coupled with the pre- chorus.
Good Time (1:00): 0:15 intro + 0:30 verse + 0:15 pre-chorus.
Too Close (1:16): Pushed back due to that incredibly long intro.
Home (1:17): Pushed back due to the double first verse.
The most popular range was 0:40 – 0:59 (accounting for 33% of all songs), though most (just about half) occurred at 0:39 or less.
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**Note the 0:01-0:19 range includes the 6 songs that kicked off with the chorus.
FIRST CHORUS OCCURRENCE (PERCENTAGE INTO SONG) Unlike the time spit as detailed above, when you look at the percentage into the song where the first chorus occurred (which is relative to the song’s overall length), it’s almost an equal spit between the 4 categories below with a slight edge going to those that occurred between 1% and 9% of the way into the song (note that this includes those songs that kicked off with the chorus as opposed to the verse).
The vast majority, though, occurred under 30% of the way in with the average landing at 18%.
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BRIDGE
Besides providing a departure from every other section of the song (both musically and lyrically), bridges in top 10 hit Pop songs were also utilized to provide a shift in the MTI level (momentum, tension , intensity) in relation to other sections of the song in order to provide increased dynamic diversity.
Lower MTI Level Bridges The vast majority of bridges brought the MTI level of the song down following a more intense chorus. In most cases they were partial to full breakdowns (i.e. sparse in nature). Some examples include:
Don’t Wake Me Up: The breakdown bridge grows in intensity throughout, followed by the music being pulled for a brief moment out from under the “don’t wake me” vocal which is then followed by the full chorus slamming in (which due to the nature of the kick is slightly more intense than all the other chorus sections.
Gangnam Style: Here the MTI level of the bridge is initially brought down via the low end filter that’s utilized on the entire mix save for the vocals. It then shifts toward the high end as the section progresses, bringing the MTI level back up before coming to a halt with the solo “Opan Gangnam Style” vocal, followed by the stuttered “eh,eh,eh...” vocal and ultimately exploding into the “hey sexy lady” chorus.
As Long As You Love Me: Directly following the more intense chorus the MTI level is brought down in Big Seans section (hence the “departure”), where initially all we have is his solo vocal plus the background synth. The MTI level then increases and decreases as the section progresses via the nature of the backing music and his vocal delivery,
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before embarking on one final build toward the end which is then followed by the breakdown first half of the chorus.
Higher MTI Level Bridges In a couple of cases, a “full” (non-breakdown) chorus was followed by an even more intense bridge:
Beauty & A Beat: The backing music remains pretty much the same as the preceding chorus (though a bit more intense), but it’s Minaj’s vocal delivery that really does a great job of taking the intensity to the next level.
Locked Out Of Heaven: Following an already intense chorus, the bridge takes the sonic level of the song to a peak specifically via the nature of the drums and the vocals (notice that the synths remain pretty much the same as they were in the preceding chorus). This is then followed by a breakdown chorus which brings it all back down.
Level MTI Level Bridges In a few cases, the MTI level of the bridge was pretty much the same as the preceding chorus, resulting in little dynamic variation:
Let Me Love You: With the exception of a couple of brief transitions (i.e. the filter shift heading into the bridge and the drums being briefly from the mix heading into the final chorus), the Dance nature of the song is kept in full effect.
Everybody Talks: Initially the MTI level is brought down a bit during the bridge coming out of the preceding chorus (but it’s still driving in nature), and is then kicked right back up in the following instrumental break section. The IB is then followed by a breakdown partial verse (let by the acoustic strumming guitar + vocal) which is then followed by the music being pulled out from under the “it started with the whisper” vocal which was followed by the full chorus slamming in once again.
Lights: The backing music of the preceding chorus continues in the bridge, supporting Goulding’s “vocal break.” This is then followed by the music coming to an abrupt full stop followed by the full chorus slamming right back in. It’s that brief pause that provides the sonic variation (albeit brief) within the section.
Duets & Featured Artists Of the 3 songs that were duets or had a featured artist appearing in the song, 2 featured that artist in the bridge – As Long As You Love Me (that’s where Big Sean’s rap took place), and it was the same story with Nicki Minaj in Beauty & A Beat.
Technically you could also refer to these sections an being an additional verse, but as a whole they did provide a departure from the rest of the song (coupled with their placement within the song’s framework), that ultimately qualified them as a bridge.
OUTRO
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During Q4, only 33% of songs contained an outro within their framework (down from 38% in Q3). They included the one Rock song, as well as a small handful of songs in the Fusion category. Note that NONE of the Dance songs utilized an outro in their framework.
As you can see in the graph below, the vast majority (57%) were short to moderate in length (landing between 0:10 and 0:19), while a little under a third were a bit longer, landing between 0:20 and 0:29. One song, however, surpassed them all - Some Nights - which clocked in at 0:51.
The average length of an outro in Q4 was 0:23 (which is skewed longer due to Some Nights. Remove that song and the average decreases to 0:18 ).
For the most part outros did one of two things – they either reverted back to the intro theme of the song or utilized the general backing music of the preceding chorus plus additional instrumentation or vocals being added to the mix (usually with the title being repeated).
Outro Examples
Everybody Talks: The backing of the music of the chorus continues on throughout the outro with the differentiation stemming from the repetitive “everbody talks” vocal during the first half of the section. The second half reverts back to a partial chorus while the repetitive “everybody talks” now shifts over to a background vocal behind the lead.
Lights: Reverts back to the brief solo synth melody that defined the intro.
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Combines elements of the pre-chorus and break sections (i.e. the “oo, oo, oo, oo oo…” vocal) with the backing music and partial vocals from the chorus before reverting back into the last two-thirds of the normal chorus.
Blow Me (One Last Kiss): Here the backing music of the preceding chorus remains in
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effect, while the differentiation stems from P!nk’s vocals (i.e. substituting the “la, la, la’s” in place of the first-half of the chorus lyrics). This is then followed by a reversion back to the “just when it can’t get worse…” second half of the chorus to conclude the song.
Locked Out Of Heaven: The song reverts back to the intro theme.
Some Nights: The nature of the drums remains the same as that of the preceding chorus, coupled with a change up in the vocals and more prevalent electric guitar soloing. Notice that this is one of the few songs that has an extended fade as well.
Good Time: Here the outro consists of a group of kids singing the “whoa, whoa…it’s always a good time” chorus accompanied by the primary synth via a fadeout.
SONG ENDINGS
Last Section The vast majority of songs ended on the chorus as you would expect. A few, however, didn’t:
1 song ended on an instrumental break that directly followed the final chorus (Beauty & A Beat).
1 song ended on a verse that followed the final chorus (Give Your Heart A Break).
7 songs had an outro as the final section of the song.
Ending The vast majority of songs ended very abruptly, with most providing a “false ending” for the listener. Since there isn’t a smooth resolve, the listener is basically left “hanging,” resulting in a psychological response that leaves them wanting to listen to the song again. Ending characteristic examples include:
Abrupt with a quick delay trail off (vocal or instrumental) at the tail end of the song: Whistle and As Long As You Love Me.
Chorus “Breakdown” (Vocal + Instrument): Don’t Wake Me Up (title lyrics + piano. Notice that the last lyric “up” is cut off at the end, which is followed by a brief swell and then a reverb drenched kick hit).
Filtered Morphing: Let Me Love You (notice that the entire mix at the tail end of the chorus starts to filter toward the high end of the spectrum which is then followed by a delay trail-off). This provides a “dissipation” type of effect.
Vocal Play at the tail end: One More Night (“I don’t know, whatever”).
Music being pulled followed by a solo title vocal: Blow Me (One Last Kiss), As Long As You Love Me, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Give Your Heart A
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Break (note that this happens with the verse instead).
Fade Out: One thing that you normally don’t see is songs that fade out instead of employing a button ending. In Q4, however, there were 2 – Good Time and Some Nights).
The “Exclamation Point”: Gangnam Style (after the “eh, eh, eh...” vocal the backing music is pulled out from under the “Opan Gangnam Style” vocal which is followed by a final synth/cymbal/kick “explosion” and then the airy synth trail-off.
The Resolve: Not every song possessed a false, abrupt ending. Ho Hey, for example, had a very nice resolve, and you knew it was coming considering that you could hear “last one” being said in the background. The claps were the icing on the cake.
Song Attributes: Q4-2012
PRIMARY SUB-GENRE INFLUENCES
Pop Fusion If there was one word that defined the vast majority of songs that topped the Pop songs chart in Q4, that word would be Fusion. More than ever, styles are being fused together not only to create new, exciting, outside the norm songs, but also to provide cross-genre pollination for both the artist and song as well.
Dance On the other hand, straight-up Dance songs have been steadily declining in number on the Pop songs chart, and by the end of the year accounted for just 19% of all songs (compared to 38% just a couple of quarters earlier). That being said, the influence still plays a significant role in the Fusion category as you’ll see below.
Rock Everybody Talks was the sole representative in Q4.
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The Fusion/Other Category (These songs contain a fusion of primary sub-genre influences that helped to shape their sound plus those that didn’t fall into any of the more “typical” categories)
As Long As You Love Me: Dubstep, R&B, Hip Hop/Rap
Blow Me (One Last Kiss): Pop/Rock, Dance
Diamonds: Electro Pop Ballad, R&B
Die Young: Straight-up Pop, Dance
Gangnam Style: K-Pop Dance, Hip Hop/Rap
Give Your Heart A Break: Straight-up Pop, Dance, Ballad
Good Time: Straight-up Pop, Dance
Ho Hey: Folk/Indie
Home: Folk, Pop/Rock
Lights: Straight-up Pop, Dance
Locked Out Of Heaven: Pop/Rock, Electro, New Wave, Funk
One More Night: Straight-Up Pop, Reggae
Some Nights: World, Indie/Alt Pop/Rock
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Too Close: Alt/Rock, Dubstep
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Straight-up Pop, tinge of Country
Whistle: Straight-Up Pop, Hip Hop/Rap
Notice which sub-genre influences are showing up the most in the Fusion category:
Straight-Up Pop influenced 44% of all songs
Dance was an element in 38% of all songs
Pop/Rock was present in 19% of songs
Hip Hop/Rap was also an element in 19% of songs
TEMPO
Dance The average tempo for Dance songs in Q4 was 128 bpm. 3 of the songs landed exactly at 128, while I Cry was a tad slower at 126 bpm. For those of you writing Dance songs, this is exactly where you want to be (you’re not going to see too much fluctuation away from the 128 bpm average).
Rock The one Rock song, (the energetic rocker Everybody Talks), had the fastest tempo amongst all of the top 10 songs from Q4, landing at 155 bpm.
Fusion/Other Here we saw an average tempo of 110 bpm, ranging from 70 bpm all the way up to 144.
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+129 bpm You don’t really feel the 144 bpm until the chorus hits.
Locked Out Of Heaven (144 bpm).
120 bpm – 129 bpm Notice that all of these songs except for Too Close and Home have a Dance element amongst others in the mix. As with Locked Out Of Heaven, you don’t really feel the faster tempo in Too Close (primarily in the Dubstep section), while in Home you do.
Die Young (128)
Gangnam Style (126)
Give Your Heart A Break (120)
Good Time (126)
Home (121)
Lights (120)
Too Close (126)
110 bpm – 119 bpm Even though its tempo is 114 bpm, it feels faster due to the nature of the backing music as well as P!nk’s vocal delivery.
Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (114)
100 bpm – 109 bpm Some Nights has that World, Indie/Alt Pop/Rock vibe going on, while Whistle is a combination of straight-up Pop and Hip Hop/Rap.
Some Nights (108)
Whistle (104)
-100 bpm As for the slowest tempo songs in the bunch, you feel it most with As Long As You Love Me, Ho Hey and Diamonds, while you don’t feel it as much with One More Night (specifically due to the Pop/Reggae influence) and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (primarily due to the nature of Swift’s vocal delivery coupled with the driving nature of the bass in certain sections of the song).
As Long As You Love Me (70)
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Diamonds (92)
Ho Hey (79)
One More Night (93)
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (86)
LYRICAL THEMES
During Q4 the 2 most dominant lyrical categories were Love/Relationships (no surprise there – primarily because it has the most universal appeal) and Lyrical Fusion (songs that fused more than one primary lyrical theme into the mix). Both of these categories accounted for 43% and 48% of songs, respectively.
Following WAY far behind we had the Inspirational and Hooking Up categories, both of which accounted for just 1 song each. Additionally, notice that there weren’t any straight- up Partying/Clubbing themed songs to be found in the top 10 during Q4.
Now, when you take into account each individual theme either as a stand-alone or utilized in conjunction with another primary theme (i.e. lyrical Fusion), the breakdown looks like this:
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As you can see, the 2 most popular themes were Love/Relationships (showing up in 76% of all songs) followed by Inspirational (showing up in 33% of all songs – mostly utilized in conjunction with another theme).
And in regard to the “Other” category, as mentioned earlier Gangnam Style featured a Cultural/Relationships/Parody theme which stood out amongst all of the other top 10 songs during the quarter.
Straight-Up Love/Relationship Themed Songs
As Long As You Love Me
Diamonds
Don’t Wake Me Up
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Everybody Talks
Give Your Heart A Break
Ho Hey
One More Night
Too Close
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Hooking Up Themed Songs
Whistle
Inspirational/Self Esteem Themed Songs
I Cry
Partying/Clubbing Themed Songs
None
Lyrical “Fusion” Songs
Beauty & A Beat (Love/Relationships fused with Partying/Clubbing)
Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (Love/Relationships fused with Inspirational)
Die Young (Living It Up fused with Inspirational)
Gangnam Style (A combination of Cultural, Relationships and Parody themes)
Good Time (Living It Up fused with Inspirational)
Home (Love/Relationships fused with Inspirational)
Let Me Love You (Love Relationships fused with Inspirational)
Lights (Love/Relationships fused with Inspirational)
Locked Out Of Heaven (Love/Relationships fused with Hooking Up)
Some Nights (Love/Relationships fused with Introspection)
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SONG TITLES
The vast majority of top 10 hits (71%) possessed memorable, attention grabbing titles that did a great job of piquing interest to at least take a listen to the song. This number was up slightly from 67% during the previous quarter.
The other titles were more universal/generic in nature. That’s not to say that they’re bad or didn’t work within the framework of the song. It just that they don’t grab your attention or pique your interest like the others. One thing is for sure, though, it definitely didn’t hamper their chances of rising to the top of the charts!
Clever/Memorable/Attention Grabbers (Of Varying Degrees)
*Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
*Beauty & A Beat
Diamonds
*Die Young
*Gangnam Style
Give Your Heart A Break
*Ho Hey
I Cry
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Lights
*Locked Out Of Heaven
One More Night
Some Nights
Too Close
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Whistle
*Indicates a particularly clever, original, enticing title.
Universal/Generic
As Long As You Love Me
Don’t Wake Me Up
Everybody Talks
Good Time
Home
Let Me Love You
Song Title Word Count As is usually the case (and for good reason – to foster engagement and memorability), less is
41 / 48 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com always more when it comes to song titles. During Q4, the vast majority of songs contained 2 words in their title (38%). This was followed by 1 word and 4 words, both of which accounted for 19% of songs. Interestingly, there was only 1 song title that contained 3 words (One More Night).
All in all, 62% of all song titles contained 3 words or less, while only 38% contained 4 words or more (and there were only 3 that contained more than 5).
As was the case last quarter, the longest song title belonged to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (7 words).
PRIMARY INSTRUMENTATION
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In regard to the primary instrumentation utilized in top-charting hits, the majority (52%) featured a combination of primary instrumentation within the mix. This was followed by synth dominated songs (those that were pretty much all synth in nature ), accounting for 34%, and lastly guitar driven songs (specifically acoustic), which accounted for just 14% of all songs (thanks to Never, Ho Hey and Home).
Speaking of guitar driven songs, note that they’ve finally started to increase in number after being non-existent during the first 2 quarters of the year. On the flip side, synth driven songs dropped from 43% in Q3 down to 34% of songs in Q4.
The combo/other category remained the same as the previous quarter.
Songs featuring a Combination of Primary Instrumentation
Beauty & A Beat: Synth + prominent Electric Bass
Blow Me (One Last Kiss): Electric Guitar + Synth
Die Young: Synth + Acoustic Guitar
Don’t Wake Me Up: Synth + Acoustic Guitar + Piano
Everybody Talks: Electric Guitar + Acoustic Guitar + Synth
Give Your Heart A Break: Synth + Piano + Strings
Ho Hey: Acoustic Guitar + Mandolin
Locked Out Of Heaven: Synth + Electric Guitar
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One More Night: Electric Guitar + Synth
Some Nights: Piano + Electric Guitar + up-front Drums and Perc
Too Close: Synth + Electric Guitar
Whistle: Acoustic Guitar + Synth
Notice that the most popular combination was synth + guitar (accounting for half of all songs).
Synth Dominated Songs
As Long As You Love Me
Diamonds
Gangnam Style
Good Time
I Cry
Let Me Love You
Notice that only 2 of these songs were primarily Dance in nature (where you would normally expect to find primarily synth dominated songs) - I Cry and Let Me Love You. The others all stemmed from the sub-genre Fusion category.
All Instrumentation When you take into account the varying degree of prominence that a certain instrument may play in the mix, we get a broader picture of what’s being used.
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Synth The synth showed up in 76% of all songs, utilized in various degrees of prominence within the mix. Note, however, that this number was down from 90% during the previous quarter. This was due to songs that didn’t utilize a synth at all including the Folk influenced Home and Ho Hey, Some Nights, and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (it was primarily acoustic guitar based).
Guitar & Electric Bass 62% of all songs featured a guitar in the mix, with nearly an equal split between acoustic and electric (33% vs. 29% of songs). The electric guitar was primarily found in songs that possessed more of a Pop/Rock vibe, while it also showed up in Reggae (One More Night) and the multi-sub-genre mixed Some Nights. The one song that featured an up-front electric bass in the mix was Beauty & A Beat.
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Piano Acoustic piano could be found in 3 songs, including the Dance natured Don’t Wake Me Up, the Pop/Dance/Ballad Give Your Heart A Break, and Some Nights as well.
Mandolin The mandolin was the sole “other” instrument of the quarter, used to accentuate the Folk nature of Ho Hey.
Strings And finally, one song featured strings in the mix (be it synth generated or real) - Give Your Heart A Break.
ELECTRIC VS. ACOUSTIC
Not surprisingly, Electric based songs comprised the vast majority of top 10 Pop hits during the quarter, accounting for 57% of all songs. Note, however, that this number was down significantly from last quarter, where 71% of all songs were primarily electric in nature (and this was pretty much the case during the 3 preceding quarters as well).
So, why the drop? It’s due to 2 primary factors:
Songs that feature a combination of electric and acoustic based instrumentation in the mix have been steadily increasing since the first quarter of the year – from just 5% up to 33% by the end of the year. This is primarily due to the consistent increase in songs that featured a Fusion of sub-genre influences, resulting in the utilization of more diversified instrumentation to accentuate the each particular sub-genre in the mix.
After a 3 quarter decline, songs that were primarily acoustic in nature saw a rebound in Q4, accounting for 10% of all songs (still not a significant number, though).
The Electric/Acoustic combo songs of Q4
Don’t Wake Me Up (Dance)
Everybody Talks (Rock)
Die Young (Fusion)
Give Your Heart A Break (Fusion)
Some Nights (Fusion)
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Fusion)
Whistle (Fusion)
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LEAD VOCAL GENDER
After being pretty close in number throughout the year (with women having a small lead over men), songs featuring a male lead vocal exploded in Q4, accounting for 57% of all songs compared to the 29% that featured a female lead.
As for duets, they continued to decline in number, from 22% of all songs during Q4 down to just 14% by year’s end.
Sub-genre Breakdown: Lead Vocal Gender
Dance: 50% male, 50% duet
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Rock: 100% male
Fusion: 56% male, 38% female, 6% duet
Interestingly, notice that women where nowhere to be found in Dance songs, the 1 Rock song was all male (no surprise there), and Fusion was mostly male as well.
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