This is our chance to create an unforgettable moment, A moment for the listeners where they go, oh my God, that’s amazing. Wow, I love that. Yes, I’m in the song, oh, that really got me. Or, yeah, that made me dance. Or yeah, that made me feel 10 foot tall and bulletproof. Or, yeah, that made me want to go and make babies. Whatever it is, it’s, if it creates that serotonin and dopamine rush in the brain, then we’ve done a great job. So, and we can do this with a variety of techniques that I’m gonna be sharing with you.
but one of the ways is, is in, if we’ve created our verses properly, using the right kind of melodies and the right kind of lyrics, then hopefully we’ve created tension. Now, I can’t talk about the verses and the pre-chorus ’cause we don’t have time today. This is all about choruses. But remember in your verses to try and create some kind of tension. think of it like a joke.
You know, if somebody was telling you a joke and they told you the punchline straight away, you’d be bored waiting for the punchline. ’cause you know what it’s gonna be. But what happens in a joke is that somebody sets you up and you’re going, oh, what’s gonna happen? What’s gonna happen? What’s gonna happen? And boom, they deliver the punchline and you laugh your head off, hopefully, okay? So think of a song a bit like that with the choruses, the bit that you are making them wait for. Don’t be afraid to make them wait.
So don’t give too much away in the verses that’s creating tension. And then when we get to the chorus, everybody goes, oh, that’s what I’ve been waiting for, thank you. And we do this, the very, very, we’re gonna talk about hooks later. I’m gonna go into more the detail, but this is where we deliver our killer hook, okay? and then we repeat our killer hook. I’m also gonna talk about repetition in this class because it’s so important not just to deliver one great line, but most of the time, and by the way, these aren’t blanket rules for every song you write, but it works so well if you’ve got an incredible line in a chorus to sing it twice.
And I’ll explain later why I always wanna rush ahead of myself. and of course, this is also where we tell our listeners the point of the song, why they’re listening to the song.
How many of you have been to open mic nights and you’ve listened to some pale teenager singing about God knows what, and then you go, I have no idea why I listened to that song of there’s no takeaway. Have you ever had that feeling where you just go, I’ve got no idea why I listened to that song. What am I taking away? Where’s what’s in it for me? It’s like these, I’ve watched a Bunch of movies recently where the, you know, those movies that just end and you go, hold on a minute.
Where was the story I was promised? They just, they’re just pieces of art and you have no idea why you watch them. They drive me nuts. and I don’t want my songs to be like that. I want people to listen to my song and when they get to the chorus to know what the song is really about, and to deep dig deep into that. So here’s a few just blanket tips, and I’m gonna go into a little bit more detail on some of these.
When you do deliver the point of your song, make sure it’s clear and that there’s just one agenda. Now, what do I mean by that? Let’s say that you are writing a song and you are telling your partner that you can’t be with ’em anymore. I know it’s a bit sad, but Happy New Year. So you’re telling your partner you can’t be with him anymore, and you get to the chorus and you go, I can’t be with you anymore because I want to see the world and travel, and I want to go to Afghanistan and and I want to go to Bali and I want to wherever it may be.
So suddenly there’s two agendas. Is it I’m leaving you or I need to travel and see the world? Which one is it? Now, you might be able to use the travel thing in the verses saying, Hey, there’s still so much more to do in my life, and I still love you, but I can’t be with you.
So boom, I’m leaving you one point in the chorus, one agenda only. Don’t give people too much to think about because people don’t like having too much to think about. It’s not dumbing it down, it’s making it accessible to people. There is gonna be some things that I say in this class where you may go, well, that’s just dumbing it down. No, it’s not. It’s making it accessible to everybody around the world so they can buy into your songs.
And trust me, I’ve been on the other side where I’ve written deep, dark and metaphorical choruses with multiple meanings. And guess what? No success with those songs. I’ve written hundreds of those kind of songs in my early years I did. So I’m speaking from a perspective of the successful songs that I’ve had. One agenda, okay?
So make sure that you have a killer hook in a song and make sure you repeat it. And I’ve already spoken about that, but we’re gonna go into a bit more detail about repetition and hooks. And here’s a nice little tip. I think something that it gets often overlooked if the chorus is lyrically positive, it’s just like, we can do this. Then if it’s a big exclamation of positivity, then try making sure that you sing on beat one of the first bar of the chorus so you can have this big explosion of feelings and words so people can just immediately buy into that feeling of positivity.
Because when you’re feeling positive about something, you are not waiting to tell people about it. You tell them straight away. So think of it like say it, sing it how you would say it and sing it with the passion that you would say it to people.
And the timing you would, you wouldn’t go and see your friend and then wait an hour before you say, oh, by the way, I’ve got some amazing news. I’m having a baby. You’d walk in the dog and go, guess what? I’m having a baby. Okay? So straight in with it. But if it’s more pensive, try it. You know, thoughtful, maybe a little heartbroken. Maybe leave a space to make people lean into your song before you deliver that thoughtful or pensive thing.
So they’re thinking about what’s gonna happen next. So that’s a couple of things just about timing, but we’re gonna talk a bit more about, this is called placement. and placement is which beat of the bar you begin your sentence on. Okay, now remember that because we’re gonna come back to that. another general tip for choruses that I’ve noticed. I’ve obviously, I’ve given appraisals on hundreds, probably thousands of songs, over the last seven years.
And one thing that I have noticed that people sometimes like to do is that Chorus One, they will deliver the chorus one. You go, that’s great. And then it gets to chorus two, and they’ve changed a couple of lines in it, and then it gets to chorus three, and they’ve changed a couple of lines in it. Now, I’m gonna caveat this before I say the point that I’ve just written a song where all of the choruses are deliberately different, but there was a reason for doing so, and I’ll tell you why in a moment.
But if you teach, think of this logically. If you sing someone your chorus, or if you play somebody your chorus, the first chorus, they go, I love this. I love this. I can’t wait till it comes round again, so I can sing along with it. Subconsciously, that’s what they’re thinking.
Then when it comes round again and you’ve changed it, then they’re gonna be, well, hold it. You’ve just tripped me up. Why you, they, they feel cheated. By the time you get to the third chorus, you have more flexibility with this. And again, this is something I’ve learned from working with many, many hit songwriters through the years. Many i, 99% of the time, chorus One and Chorus two are exactly the same.
And most of the time, chorus three is exactly the same, but sometimes we have a few little ad libs around it. We may play with a melody or just one or two words on it, but people love what we call repetition of form. You show them the form of a chorus, and then you give it to them again, and guess what? They can sing along. So that’s, that’s about, again, a, a different type of repetition.
but do make sure that you aren’t scared of using repetition in a chorus.
