Anatomy of a Pop Song: Bridge

At some point in a typical pop song, the listener is bound to grow weary of the alternation between verse and chorus.

A good songwriter will recognize this as a ripe moment for the “bridge.”

Almost always occurring only once in the song (if at all), the bridge fulfills two structural roles: relief and tension. First, the bridge is a new part usually found in the second half of the song. It might share certain characteristics with other parts of the song, like key or time signature, and it might even share its chord progression or melody with another part, like the “intro,” for example. But in some way, shape, or form, the bridge will be fresh and unique to the listener, which, in contrast with the repetitiveness of the verses and chorus, will give the listener a sense of relief. Second, the bridge will almost always precede one or two final parts of the song, though technically a song can end with the bridge. But even if a song ends with the bridge, it will tend to feel like it is taking us somewhere. As listeners, we’ve heard a couple of verses, and we’ve heard a couple of choruses. Maybe we’ve even heard a pre-chorus or two. The bridge shows up, and we know we’re nearing the end of the song. It’s a signal that the story has been told, and it’s time to make a final statement. Even lyrically, many bridges fulfill this second role. A bridge will often be the most intense part of the song. It might reveal clues that clarify the chorus in a way that the verses weren’t able to do. But ultimately, the bridge acts not only as relief from the played-out parts of the song, but also as a way to set up the song’s ending, a way to build tension. There can be more than one iteration of the bridge in a song, though more than two tends to start to feel like the chorus. There can also be no bridge at all, though this is more common in certain types of songs, like repetitive folk songs with several verses and no real chorus, for instance.

Bridges can be long or short, loud or quiet, fast or slow. They make for one of the best opportunities for a songwriter to get creative.

One of my favorite songwriting techniques is to use the bridge as an opportunity to sneak in a key change. Because it’s already a fresh, new part to the listener, he or she is less likely to notice, especially if he or she is someone who lacks experience with music theory. It’s more difficult to find a key change that sounds good between a verse and a chorus, for example, because these parts of the song are more repetitious and tied to one another, often both lyrically and tonally. Bridges tend to be neglected by many songwriters. They aren’t as fun to write as the other parts of the song. The chorus, for instance, really needs to grab the listener, so a songwriter might pour a lot of his or her time and energy into making it perfect. But many songwriters reach a point where all that’s left to write is the bridge, and they get lazy. Whatever they come up with starts as a placeholder and just never really evolves into anything more substantial.

One of the most exciting and interesting things you can do as a songwriter is to experiment with different techniques. I would encourage anyone looking to spice up their songwriting to try writing the bridge of a song first. It will feel awkward, because we tend to base our bridges on aspects of other parts of the song, like the key, the tempo, the lyrics. But ultimately, it can make the music more enigmatic to build it around what is often the most unique part of the song. It tends to make it more difficult for the listener to place how we got from the verse to the chorus and ultimately to the bridge, and that will hopefully engage their attention in a positive way. I hope this clarifies what a bridge is and how it serves the typical pop song. Keep it handy next time you sit down to write!