Anatomy of a Pop Song: Intro

Like novels and films, all pop songs have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Oftentimes a song will begin with a verse. Sometimes a song will begin with the chorus. Those that begin with anything but a verse or a chorus begin with what I like to call an “intro.” Not every song has an intro.

Now, an intro can be constructed from the same chords as those of the verse or the chorus, but it must be distinguishable in some way, usually by its lack of vocals.

An intro can also be constructed from the same chords as those of the bridge, or it can be constructed of a completely unique chord progression altogether. Intros constructed from unique chord progressions, relative the rest of the song, can even include their own unique vocals.

Intros can vary, dynamically. They can be consistently loud or consistently soft, or they can get louder or softer as they progress.

Intros can also vary greatly in length. In fact, a relatively long intro, particularly one that progresses gradually over time, can create a lot of suspense in a song, making whatever follows it proportionally more of a release.

These highly variable qualities make an intro one of the most flexible parts of a pop song. They are ripe for creativity. The only two things that really define an intro are its position at the beginning and its distinguishability from other parts of the song.

Each song calls for its own approach, but one of my favorite compositional tricks is to take the chord progression from a song’s bridge, drop the vocals, and stick it at the beginning of the song as the intro. This accomplishes a few things:

1. It allows me to recycle an existing part and experiment with the song’s structure, while avoiding the risk of overusing the chord progressions already used in the verses and the chorus.

2. It foreshadows the bridge. If the foreshadowing is too obvious, it can be made more subtle by varying the loudness. Maybe the “intro” is loud, but the “bridge” is soft, for instance. They’re built from the same chords, but they maintain individuality through their dynamics.

3. It gives the first verse “structural contrast” that the verses are less likely to experience elsewhere in the song. For instance, most verses will be followed by a chorus or a pre-chorus. Many verses will follow a chorus, or nothing at all. Fewer will follow a bridge. A unique intro can spice up the first verse simply through its adjacency to it. This gives the song structural diversity and can make it more engaging to listen to from beginning to end.

Because it’s often the first part of the song a listener will hear, an intro has the potential to determine whether or not someone will stick around for the whole experience. Though it might not end up in every song, an “intro” is an important tool for any songwriter to keep handy.