Do you ever find yourself repeating the same one line from a song over and over throughout the day, even when you consider the song to be highly annoying? Pop songs feel like they are designed in a way that allows them to infiltrate our brain, to make us remember the lyrics and to make sure we can’t stop our feet from tapping to the beat. However, it is not always known that pop songs often follow a “formula” to help them become as catchy as possible, a formula which uses basic psychology to peak interest, catch our attention and tap into our emotions.
What constitutes pop music?
With the Spice Girls being the best-selling girl band of all time, they are seen as the Queens of Pop and today, artists such as Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Drake dominate the pop charts. Pop music is simply a shortening of the world “popular” and describes music which is popular with the masses at that particular moment in time. This can mean many different music styles, genres and everyday trends can contribute to what is defined as pop music at any given time, with popularity often defined by shifting cultural preferences and trends (University of Bristol’s Intelligent Systems Lab, 2011). However, despite these findings, research also suggests that many elements remain constant in popular music and have done so since pop music’s inception in the mid 1950s, when Elvis ruled the airwaves.
What consistent factors are most likely to make a “popular” song?
As already mentioned, popular music will often incorporate general cultural trends into it’s design. From the Rock and Roll influence of the 1950s and 1960s, the “flower power” disco generation of the 1970s, the hip-hop revolution of the 1980s to the boy and girl band influences of the 90s, pop music can sound very different. Since the turn of the 21st century however, the music industry has been heavily impacted by the downloading of digital music, giving people access to a far wider range of artists than before. This led to lots more genres influencing pop music from Latino flavours, to R&B to dance music. In 2010, the music of nightclubs started to dominate the charts, with songs which talked of partying and escapism becoming most popular following the 2008 economic crisis. DJs started to influence pop music heavily, with songs such as David Guetta’s “Love Don’t Let Me Go”, Timberlands fusions of dance, hip-hop and R&B music and The Black Eyed Peas producing music for all generations to dance to becoming “pop”. However, despite these cultural changes, some things have remained pretty consistent over the last 70 years. These including:
Repetition and danceability - The ability for people to dance to a song has become more important over the last 50 years, first with the rise of Disco in the 1970s, but also since the 1990s and the growth of music festivals and dance music’s influence on the charts. Songs often have a simple, rhythmic beat that is consistent throughout and written in a simply binary form (Bose and Mashable Brand, 2019). Simply binary music is often in two main parts that will repeat for the duration of the song, adding to the catchy nature of the song. Many pop songs use this traditional approach, with a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, with the chorus acting as a “hook” for listeners. As the brain enjoys repetition and simplicity, the repetitive nature of this kind of structure means it is easier to remember, adds rhythm and makes the song easier to dance to. This has remained pretty similar since the 1950s.
Loudness – The loudness of a song has become ever more important in recent decades, as loudness can often contribute to success today. Whilst this has always been important, volume can now be amplified when the song is recorded as this grabs a listener’s attention and holds it for longer. Research suggests that around the 1980s, when the compact disc was created, music started to get louder as well more energetic (Dredge, 2013). This correlation may be due to the portability of music and the desire to have motivating, energetic music to walk, run or commute to.
Finding the ‘happy medium’ – Popular songs have often found the happy medium between happy and sad. This is known as the valence of a song, a psychological term indicating the emotional value of a stimulus. Research by The Echos Nest investigated the properties of over 5000 popular songs from 1950 to 2013 found that valence has not really changed over the decades and the most popular songs remain in the middle of happy and sad. This music can often encourage a feel-good factor, lighting up different areas of the brain and often encouraging the release of dopamine, making us feel happier and more connected to the music. Go overboard on the “happy” and the song can appear cheesy. Too much sad and no one will want to dance. It’s a fine balance in pop!
Psychology is not the only driver of popular structure however
Other simple factors have driven these similarities also, namely radio and producer drive for profit. For example, a popular song averages around 3 minutes simply so it can easily be played on the radio. As the original format for recording songs was onto records made of a material called shellac, these could only store 3-4 minutes of music (Longdon, 2018). These were later replaced with vinyl in 1949, making records more durable and cheaper to produce. This shift meant that, if you wanted your song to be popular, you needed to provide radio stations with a vinyl copy, also known as a 45. This push to be popular meant most artists complied, and thus the 3-minute radio edit was born. And despite the digitalisation of music, tracks still regularly come in at an average of 3 minutes 30 seconds, simply so they are easier for DJs to play in blocks on air, allowing scheduling of adverts, DJ “banter” and making it easier for radio to keep generating revenue.
It’s a real combo
As has been explored, it seems music that is louder, repetitive, makes us feel happy and is easy to dance to (but is short enough to fit into a radio schedule) are all the factors which contribute to the popularity, and commercial success, of a song. Making songs popular comes down to the songs form but also down to its ability to make people feel connection to the sound, something which has not changed much since the 1950s. And today, remixes are becoming more popular than ever, where an old song is spun with a twist. Sometimes this novel spin on a beloved song can make the track appear new, exciting and fresh, despite it still following a popular structure. This grabs the attention of listeners who may have heard it before, allowing for an easier connection to take place and, as the brain loves repetition, another popular hit is born from the old.
References
Bose and Mashable Brand (2019). The Hit Factor. Mashable. Doi: https://mashable.com/ad/feature/science-of-pop-music
Emamzadeh, A., (2018). Why do some songs become popular? Psychology today. Doi: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/finding-new-home/201806/why-do-some-songs-become-popular
Dredge, S. (2013). Pop music is louder, less acoustic and more energetic than in the 1950s. The Guardian. Doi: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/25/pop-music-louder-less-acoustic
Longdon, V. (2018). Why are pop songs 3 minutes long? Classic FM. Doi: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/why-are-pop-songs-3-minutes/