Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com One More Night Deconstructed Skip to: Audio/Video At a Glance Song Overview Structural Analysis Music, Instrumentation & MTI Song Title, Lyrics & Harmonic Progression The Vocal Melody Top 10 Assessment A&R Hit Factors Conclusion Songwriter/Producer Take Aways Audio/Video Back to Top At a Glance Back to Top Artist/Group: Maroon 5 Song/Album: One More Night / Overexposed Songwriters: Adam Levine, Johan Karl Schuster (Shellback), Martin Sandberg (Max Martin), Savan Kotecha Genre: Pop Sub Genre: Reggae, Straight-Up Pop Length: 3:39 Structure: A-B-A-B-C-B Tempo: 93 bpm First Chorus: 0:51 (23% into the song) Intro Length: 0:10 Outro Length: n/a Electric vs. Acoustic: Electric (plus some acoustic guitar) Primary Instrumentation: Electric Guitar, Synth Lyrical Theme: Love/Relationships & Hooking Up Title Occurrences: One More Night occurs 12 times within the song Primary Lyrical P.O.V: 1st & 2nd Song Overview Back to Top Released as the second single from their fourth studio album, Overexposed, One More Night saw Adam Levine and company teaming up with three of today’s hottest hitmakers – Max Martin, Shellback and Savan Kotecha to compose a song that they hope will keep their momentum going after the stellar performance of their previous hit single, Payphone. 1 / 47 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com To date, One More Night has hit #1 on six charts in four countries and spent the last seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 (much to the chagrin of PSY). So – just what is it about the song that’s been preventing Gangnam Style from hitting #1 in the U.S.? Read on and find out! Structural Analysis Back to Top At-a-Glance Section Length (Length of each individual section within the song) I=Intro, V=Verse, Chr=Chorus, Turn=Turnaround, Brg=Bridge, IB=Instrumental Break One More Night contains 12 individual sections within its framework, and as you can see in the graph above is quite linear in regard to section length. Aside from the intro and brief vocal segment at the tail end, each section lands at 0:20/0:21. With a new section occurring every 0:20/0:21, the frequent turnover does a great job of helping to keep the listener engaged throughout the song. Now – let’s see how One More Night‘s section length compares to the 21 songs that landed in the Billboard Pop Songs Chart top 10 during Q3-2012: 2 / 47 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com One More Night / Top 10 Hit Pop Song Averages Intro: 0:10 / 0:09 Verse: 0:21 / 0:20 Pre-Chorus: 0:20 / 0:14 Chorus: 0:21 / 0:27 Bridge: 0:21 / 0:23 As you can see, for the most part One More Night is right on par with hit Pop song averages. The intro, verse and bridge lengths are almost identical, while the pre-chorus and chorus vary only by 0:06. Timeline (Shows when each section hits within the timeline of the song) Total Section Analysis (Total time consumed by each section and its percentage of the total song) 3 / 47 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com One More Night is comprised of 5 full sections within its framework (i.e. all choruses, verses, pre-choruses plus the intro and bridge), accounting for 38% of the song’s total composition all the way down to just 5%. As you would expect, the majority of time within the song was allocated to the chorus, with all 4 occurrences accounting for 38% of the total song. What was interesting, though, is the fact that the verse sections didn’t account for the second most amount of time within the song as is usually the case. Here it was the pre-chorus, specifically due to the fact that there are 3 pre-chorus occurrences within the song as opposed to 2 verse occurrences (and the fact that both are virtually identical in length). Let’s now see how the sectional breakdown of One More Night stacked up against the 21 songs that landed in the Billboard Pop Songs Chart top 10 during Q3-2012: Intro One More Night: Comprises 5% of the total song. Q3-2012 Average: Comprises 4% of the total song. Comparison: One More Night’s intro is right in-line with the Q3-2012 average. Verse One More Night: Comprises 19% of the total song. 4 / 47 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com Q3-2012 Average: Comprises 20% of the total song. Comparison: One More Night’s verse sections are right in-line with the Q3-2012 average. Pre-Chorus One More Night: Comprises 27% of the total song. Q3-2012 Average: Comprises 14% of the total song. Comparison: One More Night allocated 13% more time to its pre-choruses than the Q3-2012 average. This was due to 3 pre-chorus occurrences as opposed to 2 verses as mentioned earlier. Chorus One More Night: Comprises 38% of the total song. Q3-2012 Average: Comprises 45% of the total song. Comparison: One More Night allocated 7% less time to choruses than the Q3-2012 average. Bridge One More Night: Comprises 10% of the total song. Q3-2012 Average: Comprises 10% of the total song. Comparison: One More Night allocated exactly the same amount of time to its bridge as the Q3-2012 average. Summary: In-Line with Top 10 Pop Song Averages: The intro, verse and bridge. Deviates from Top 10 Pop Song Averages: One More Night allocated less time to the chorus while devoting more time to the pre-chorus. As you can see, the amount of time that One More Night devoted to all of its sections was pretty close to Q3-2012 Pop Song averages, with the key exception being the pre-chorus as mentioned earlier. In regard to the chorus, yes, 7% less time was devoted to it than the average, but keep this in mind – EVERY section of the song is exceptionally infectious, memorable and stands on its 5 / 47 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com own. It doesn’t need to rely on the chorus to carry it as some other hit Pop songs do. Music, Instrumentation & MTI (Momentum / Tension / Intensity) Back to Top (Evaluation of the intensity of each section within the song timeline on a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being the most intense) When we talk about a song’s MTI level, we’re referring to how fluctuations in momentum, tension and intensity levels are utilized in each section of the song. MTI Level Key Points: Linear In Nature For the most part, One More Night doesn’t possess any tremendous shifts in MTI levels from section to section (like the transition into the explosive chorus in Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger, for example). It’s more linear in nature, which jibes with and accentuates the traditional Reggae vibe and groove. Sectional Fluctuations Even though there aren’t any tremendous MTI level shifts, notice that with the exception of choruses 3 and 4 (which are basically on par with each other from an intensity standpoint) that each section does fluctuate somewhat in order to enable the song to “breathe.” This is primarily achieved through changes in the nature of Adam’s vocal delivery (i.e. the verse vs. the pre-chorus) or by adding or detracting instrumentation from the mix (i.e. breakdown chorus 1 & 2 and pre-chorus 3). Intensity Peak Notice that the intensity levels within the song reach a peak during pre-choruses 1 and 2 (subtly building the tension coming out of the verse which results in a greater release when the breakdown chorus that follows hits), as well as during choruses 3 and 4, which takes the energy of the song to its climax before concluding. The Breakdown / Full Chorus Combo Notice that the first half of choruses 1 and 2 start out as “breakdown” choruses – meaning 6 / 47 Hit Songs Deconstructed Deconstructing Today's Hits for Songwriting Success http://reports.hitsongsdeconstructed.com that they have a lower MTI level than the preceding section specifically due to certain instrumentation being pulled from the mix (specifically the drums & bass). What we’re left with are the reverb drenched “reggae” guitars coupled with the vocals (plus the synth pad during the second chorus). Notice that the overall feel of the section is quite “light” compared to the preceding and following sections. The second half of choruses 1 & 2 then brings the power back up via the reintroduction of the drums and bass back into the mix. Overall, the breakdown / full chorus combo greatly enhances the dynamic variation within a song that has a pretty linear MTI level nature as mentioned earlier. The Pre-Chorus / Chorus Roll Reversal As previously mentioned, during pre-choruses 1 and 2 we saw a slight MTI level build from what was defining the preceding verse sections which was then directly followed by a breakdown chorus, which took the MTI level back down. Now – in the third pre-chorus and chorus occurrences within the song we see a reversal of roles from an MTI level standpoint. The third pre-chorus is now a breakdown, while the third chorus that follows kicks off full in nature (i.e.