What makes a great pop song?

[lovenara]

i think uniqueness is the most important element

[danerius]

Originally Posted by THE AMPLiTUNES

We think a great pop song is a culmination of a great instrumental, melody and topline. Each part has to compliment each other. Also the mix of the track also has to compliment the above statement. What do you guys think?

Excellent question. Many people have listed certain elements that are required to make a great pop song. But then there are a number of songs that defy most lists and still can be defined as classic pop songs. Such as:

Smells Like Teen Spirit
Wonderwall
99 Luftballons

Personally I believe a great chorus is the number one trademark for a great pop song. But then again. Wonderwall has rather bland and boring chorus. Best selling album of all time is Thriller. A very popish piece of work. Second (or third depending on wich listing u check) best selling album is Back In Black... I wouldnt put AC/DC in the pop genre

Defining great pop songs is a matter full of contradictions. I sometimes wish I knew a definitive answer but there probably isnt one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...bums_worldwide

Regards /Bo

[THE AMPLiTUNES]

Originally Posted by danerius

Personally I believe a great chorus is the number one trademark for a great pop song.

Yeh i definitely agree with you on that. The hook (chorus, topline whatever you call it) need to have that quality of catchiness. It is hard to say what that is but when you hear it you can instantly tell a songs potential.

[ChocolateThunder]

To make a pop hit, you need four chords:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

[SOUND BOMBING]

in most cases the same thing that makes any other song. creativity and or flavor and catchiness

[danerius]

Hi. Found this the other day: Welcome! | Score a Hit! Its based on a algorithm so its nowhere near a perfect prediction of a what makes a hit. But its fun to test out songs in the app

Regards /Bo

[jdsowa]

A successful pop song must:

1) be sung by an attractive person aged 18-24.
2) have production that references to a great extent other top 40 hits from the last 6-8 months (anything too foreign will scare away the teenagers).
3) usually include some pop culture references and urban phraseology that will confer hipness in the eyes of your adolescent listenership (drunk off patron, buy the bar, tonight we're going hard, club can't handle me, swag, ice'll blind you) or talk about how rich you are and how tough it is to be young and rich and how haters are trying to hold you back but you just won't stop cause you're just doin your thing, livin your life, mane as if that's some profound statement.

[danerius]

Originally Posted by jdsowa

A successful pop song must:

1) be sung by an attractive person aged 18-24.
2) have production that references to a great extent other top 40 hits from the last 6-8 months (anything too foreign will scare away the teenagers).
3) usually include some pop culture references and urban phraseology that will confer hipness in the eyes of your adolescent listenership (drunk off patron, buy the bar, tonight we're going hard, club can't handle me, swag, ice'll blind you) or talk about how rich you are and how tough it is to be young and rich and how haters are trying to hold you back but you just won't stop cause you're just doin your thing, livin your life, mane as if that's some profound statement.

U absolutely sure about all that?
Adele and Gotye Top Mid-Year Sales Charts for Albums, Digital Singles | Music News | Rolling Stone

Regards /Bo

[jdsowa]

Originally Posted by danerius

U absolutely sure about all that?
Adele and Gotye Top Mid-Year Sales Charts for Albums, Digital Singles | Music News | Rolling Stone

Regards /Bo

Sure, sure.. You can set out to make quality melodic music, but it's more of a long shot. If you want the odds on your side, Better to play it safe.

[andrea19837]

a sexy chic, money. 1073

[KRStudio]

Memorable vocal line
Memorable music line

[ksandvik]

Anyone could sing the melody in the shower.

[ecolleno]

It is not possible to have control what will happen with your "great song". The artist must have relations with many people, be in a movement, in a town, in a country.
Sometimes, people can say that you are not original, but for many people "original" means "mad or insane".

In Spain, Madrid, in early 80´s, there were a movement called "Movida Madrileña". A lot of the songs who have been composed in that times are considered "great songs", and they were really mediocre songs. The people who makes really good songs in this movement are consider now as genius, Genius? of course,In that case I know a lot of genius. The reasons of that movement, is the big political change in Spain in that times, democracy comes and people was happy and i want to do what it was forbidden.

You can be different, but not too much different. Is is not different the traditional japanese? but it is not inside the rules.

[lovenara]

a great songwriter

[AcoosticZoo]

I guess no one really knows how to write a hit every single time.

That's the beauty of art.

[Rockinrob]

Good stuff, but everything you have here sounds like something that has already been done before. Don't jump on the bandwagon and try to sound like everything else, artists that have a uniqueness to their sound are the ones that create the waves not try to ride them. And what makes a good pop song?? THE HOOK, THE HOOK, THE HOOK!!! PS, stop over using Autotune, that will leave your songs very dated.