The Anatomy of a Pop Song

The vast majority of music, particularly pop music, is organized according to a structure comprised of smaller parts, which are sometimes called things like “verse” and “chorus.” These smaller parts each fulfill some role in the song as a whole.

As a bedroom producer, one of my most important goals is efficiency. I have a life outside of the studio, after all.

By categorizing these smaller components of a song, I can better keep track of my work throughout the production process, particularly the composition stage. When the song doesn’t feel quite “right,” I can refer to these categories for guidance.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll name each individual category, define it, and talk about the degree of variation within each category, so that you can more deeply understand my approach to putting together a pop song that is both familiar and intriguing.

A pop song is generally made up of the following components: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, and outro.

Some of these components are more defined by their position in the song as a whole, while others are more defined by their relationship to the other components, or even to themselves.

As I’m building the song, I often consider what defines these categories so that I can both “follow the rules” and be innovative within their constraints.

“Is there always a pre-chorus?”

“Does there always need to be more than one chorus?” “Can there be more than one bridge?”

These are some of the questions I’ll try to answer as I go through each component. Stay tuned for the first entry in this series on pop song “intros”!