I’ve been thinking (amongst other things) lately about the defining characteristics of an intensely catchy song like Teenage Dream. I don’t care if you hate Katy Perry, if you despise her outfits, if you think she ugly, whatever. That song is catchy.
Ok here’s my musical perspective:
- In the verse, simple guitar voicing that has maybe two or three notes per hit as opposed to entire chords being strummed (Kelly Clarkson employs this a lot)
- Really nice flipping between head and chest voice gives her power when she wants it and soft dynamics on top
- Chord stabs in the chorus! I LOVE LOVE LOVE chord stabs, it’s hard to use it without sounding trancey though, hence the difficulty of creating a catchy song. I think it works because it’s syncopated.
- If you listen to the verse + chorus, the singing only varies between 5 notes (Bb, G, C D F). Contributes to singability and so the hook is simple yet compelling.
Pretty amazing stuff. I can’t speak for the lyrics because as previously mentioned, I don’t listen to words. The music communicates to me independent of what the writer wants – in fact I think the only words in the song I know apart from “Teenage Dream” is “skin tight jeans” haha. Ok bye!
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