The first song I’m going to analyse is ‘idontwannabeyouanymore’ by the artist Billie Eilish. This song was produced in 2017 in a bedroom studio by her brother, and is a pretty typical pop song.
Firstly, the song follows a pretty standard pop song structure of Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, End. This piece starts in the time signature of 4/4, which is often used in all varieties of popular music as it is easy to follow for listeners, but then switches to 12/8 when the first verse comes in. This isn’t an uncommon time signature, and gives the song more of a pop ballad feel.
Another point is the song’s instrumentation. It consists of a standard pop band setup; Electric Guitar, Drums, Keys, Bass and Vocals. In addition to this, the drums are electronic rather than acoustic, which is much more typical of a modern pop song.
The song itself is short and sweet, with a catchy vocal melody line for the chorus sections that match the name of the song – another typical aspect of a pop song. The tempo of this song is fairly laid back, and again easy to follow which is another reason why this is so catchy.
The rhythm of this song is very straight and on the beat, especially on the keyboard’s part, which again is typical of a pop song.
The vocal lines follow a repetitive melody for each section of the piece, with backing vocals in parts as well to build up the texture of certain parts. This further adds to how catchy the song is, making it’s melodies memorable, much like most pop songs these days.
Something more interesting this song does that isn’t very typical of a pop song is during the final chorus. In this section the chords change from being standard generic major chords, to being major 7th chords. Not many pop songs tend to do this as 7th chords are more typical of styles like the blues or jazz for example, but this small change makes a nice harmonic change in the song and reinforces the texture of the final chorus.
Ultimately, this is probably as typical as a pop song can get, and very clearly fits into that one genre.
The second song I’m going to analyse is called ‘Doria’ written by Olafur Arnalds. This was released in 2016 as part of the album ‘Island Songs VII.’
This piece of music can fit into a multitude of various genres due to it’s unorthodox sound, however I would argue that it fits most into the styles of Experimental or Ambient music. I would also say It definitely takes a variety of influences from genres such as classical music and minimalism.
The first notable difference from the from the Billie Eilish track above is the instrumentation. This piece consists of all acoustic instruments; Piano, Violin, and Cello mainly. Another point in regards to this instrumentation is that these are often used in classical orchestras, which is what makes the classical influence most noticeable in this song. There are also no lyrics or vocal melodies in this piece at all, which is again not typical of a pop song.
There are multiple pianos in this song, and they are controlled remotely from a controller on the piano that Olafur Arnalds is playing. This is an incredibly uncommon thing to do, further adding to this song’s experimental sound
This piece is also in 4/4 time signature, so it can be followed by an audience relatively easily much like a pop song. There are no drums in this song at all however, so from the start this can by a little unclear, which I think gives the piece that experimental type of sound.
The piece starts of with a repetitive piano melody that plays at semiquavers, making it sound quite fast, and this melody loops round for the whole song. I feel as though this gives the piece a kind of minimalistic influence due to the fact that this just loops constantly for the entire duration of the song, and also adds to the ambient vibe it gives off.
The structure of the song I would say is in two parts, with an A section and a B section. This structure is often referred to as binary form, is fairly uncommon in modern music, and is more typical of a classical piece.
The song builds up all the way through by adding in the string section playing long held note melodies at first until we get to the second section. The second section is made clear as some loud repetitive piano chords come in and the string section builds up further. The song then ends by the various parts dropping out, leaving just the final chords on one piano to end. This overall really gives off a feeling of ambience, and I would argue makes this song fit into this experimental genre.
Overall I would say this song is much more complex in the way it has been written than the Billie Eilish track, and fits most into the ambient or experimental genre.