2014: when songwriters burned the chorus and built the bridge

Pop’s rules are being rewritten by producers such as Avicii and Zedd, who are downplaying the once sacrosanct chorus – and Katy Perry even dared to do without one at all

For decades in the church of pop, the chorus has been the altarpiece, the focus for all those who worship there. It’s where songwriters install their most beautiful, affecting work, and the contrast between it and the relative plainness of the surrounding verses only enhances its dazzle. “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!” Berry Gordy once joked, understanding that this is what listeners truly gather around.

In 2014, there were plenty of excellent choruses: some songs, such as Sia’s Chandelier, are so impatient to get to them that, in their haste, they cut the second verse in half. But pop’s architecture is being radically altered by modern songwriters, with more and more of them either removing vocals from the chorus, or getting rid of it altogether. Instead, emphasis is now placed on the bridge – the bit of the song that links the verse to the chorus – and on ravey instrumental breakdowns.

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by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian