How’s the Top 10 Shaping Up in 2020?
This week, Hit Songs Deconstructed will publish its mid-year trend report, The State of the Hot 100 Top 10, which takes an in-depth look at the compositional trends related to songs that land in the Hot 100 Top 10, as…
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Techniques Spotlight: Blinding Lights’ Motif Reinforcement
We are thrilled to announce that we’ve added a brand-new technique category to the Hit Songs Deconstructed Techniques Library – Motifs. To kick things off, we’re featuring a song that uses motif reinforcement to great effect, The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights. This song’s all-star team of…
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Stupid Love: Hook MAXimization
Lady Gaga's Stupid Love is a hook-filled hit co-written by an all-star team of hit makers including melodic math master Max Martin, Bloodpop, Tchami and Ely Rise. The result of this collaboration is a song that is so hooky, it’s almost impossible to get it…
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Dance Monkey: Maximizing Engagement through Arrangement
Dance Monkey’s instrumental arrangement is in and of itself a masterclass on how to capitalize on trends, achieve a unique yet universally appealing vibe and create a dynamic and engaging listening experience that keeps the listener hooked and wanting more. In this article, we look…
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Techniques Spotlight: Don’t Start Now’s Intro
A methodically thought out intro can achieve so much more than just grabbing the listener’s attention. Whether it adheres to trends or goes against them, heightens familiarity or does the unexpected, a highly effective intro can help prime a song for maximum impact right out…
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Highlights from The State of the Hot 100 Top 10: 2019 in Review
In 2019, there were 58 songs, 57 credited performing artists, 236 credited songwriters, 90 credited producers, and 14 record labels that landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.While in 2018 the vast majority of #1 hits were…
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Truth Hurts’ Lyrics & Rhymes
Truth Hurts is a love/relationship, empowerment and boasting-themed song about a protagonist (Lizzo) who is demoralized through a failed relationship but ultimately emerges confident, empowered and ready to move onto bigger and better things. The narrative is conveyed in a…
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Technique Spotlight: Bad Guy’s Prosody
Bad Guy is the fifth single released off of Billie Eilish’s debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The song quickly became the edgy Pop princess’s most successful single to date, landing in the Top…
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Spotlight Series Interview: Chris Sampson
In this episode of Hit Songs Deconstructed’s Spotlight Series, we sit down with recording artist, performer, producer, songwriter, author and educator: Chris Sampson. During our talk with Chris, we discuss how he found his “niche” in the music industry, his…
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