What makes a good song?

There are many songs in the history of music that have become universally recognized as great. What is it about these songs that make them connect and touch the lives of many?

In this blog we explore the fundamental elements of what makes a song so popular, including melody, emotional impact, lyrics, rhythm, production, and arrangement. Whether you’re looking to improve your songwriting, or are starting out on your songwriting journey, studying the pillars of what makes a good song can help you to improve your craft.

Jump to these sections:

• Elements of a great song
• Melody
• Emotional impact
• Lyrics
• Rhythm
• Production quality
• Arrangement
• Defining success: popularity vs artistic merit in music

Start making your own songs using Komplete.

Elements of a great song

Every good song is made up of many outstanding elements. In order for a song to be considered great, there are many layers of a song that need to be excellent for the song to be truly exceptional. Read on to learn more about how each part of the songwriting process contributes to making a great song.

Melody

A song’s melody is one of the most important attributes of a song, if not, the most important. The melody is what you remember long after listening to the recording. The melody of a song is most often sung by the vocalist, but isn’t limited to the main vocal line. Many great songs include strong and uplifting instrumental melodies throughout the composition. The melody of a song is played overtop of a chord progression, and  either the melody, or the chords that make up the backbone of the song can be written first.

Try using Komplete and Native Instruments MIDI keyboards to compose melodies for your song.

Avicii – Wake Me Up

“Wake Me Up” by Avicii has a memorable lead vocal line, and well crafted melodies during the drop.

Calvin Harris – Summer

This timeless EDM classic has great melodies throughout, from the strings, to the piano lines leading up to the drop, to the vocal line and the drop synth line.

Tiësto & KSHMR feat. Vassy – Secrets

One of the best EDM songs of all time, with unforgettable melodies used throughout.

Emotional Impact

A great song needs to have an intended emotional impact on listeners, and move them in some way. It’s up to the songwriter to choose what emotions they’d like their audience to feel, whether it’s happiness, euphoria, love, sadness, the list is infinite. Songwriting with the intention to integrate emotion in music starts with a clear direction of the emotion you wish to convey. From there, every aspect of the song should serve to symbolize that emotion.

Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You

Written by Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You” was re-recorded by Whitney Houston. This song became an enormous success worldwide due to the emotional impact of the lyrics and Whitney’s performance.

RÜFÜS DU SOL – Innerbloom

Though every song by RÜFÜS DU SOL is beautiful, “Innerbloom” is a particularly heartfelt and poignant release.

Lyrics

The lyrics in a song can have a profound impact on the listener. The most impactful lyrics in a song tell a story, and convey one or more ideas. One of the keys with lyrics is to express in words what you wish to communicate to the audience, without saying too much. Depending on your writing style, you may or may not personally be the one writing the song’s lyrics. In pop and some electronic music, a song is sometimes written by two people. One person writes the chords, bassline, and creates the track, and the second The second, who is a topline writer, writes the main vocal melody and lyrics.

If you’re a producer who is writing and creating the entire track, you could be the one responsible for the songwriting, production, and the lyrics. But if you feel more confident creating melodies, reach out to find someone who can write lyrics.

Song lyrics don’t have to rhyme, however, if they do, this can help the song to have a certain type of charm. Writing song lyrics is a skill that can improve over time, although it does help if you’re poetic and divinely inspired.

John Lennon – Imagine

Here’s an example of a song with lyrics that have an important message for listeners to receive.

Elton John – Sacrifice

Composed by John Lennon and Bernie Taupin, this song’s lyrics are unique for a pop song.

Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence

Written by Martin Gore, this genius writer paints a vivid lyrical picture with rhyming phrases.

Eminem – Stan (Long Version) ft. Dido

Eminem is a master storyteller; the world will never forget Eminem’s stories.

Rhythm

A great song, especially in dance or urban music, is created with a rhythm that complements the essence of the song. The rhythm of a song can help to define its genre, and is one of the elements that creates the style of the song.

A house, techno, or trance song uses a four on the floor groove, while genres like drum and bass and hip hop use breakbeats. Reggae and dancehall use syncopation in their rhythms, which make the piece of music sound offbeat and give these styles their distinctive sound. Latin music uses syncopated grooves and percussion and from many styles, including salsa, son Cubano, samba, bossa nova, cascara, calypso, merengue, bolero, mambo, cha-cha-cha, tango, songo, and musical styles such as rumba and cumbia.

Afrobeats use polyrhythmic, which is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms. They also incorporate diverse rhythmic influences and combine genres like hip hop, house, jùjú, ndombolo, R&B, soca, and dancehall. Country and pop music rhythms are mainly in 4/4 time and tend to use more straightforward grooves.

Try out the Native Instruments Expansions or percussion plugins to find loops and grooves for your song.

Bob Marley & The Wailers- Get Up, Stand Up

Reggae percussion is a series of sparse accents that pop into the spaces of a groove.

HUGEL x Topic x Arash feat. Daecolm – I Adore You (Official Lyric Video)

Syncopated rhythms help to keep this beautiful masterpiece moving along.

Production quality

The production of a song defines the style and genre. A top-quality production can make a good song into a hit, and the opposite is true as well. While a well-written song has the potential to suit one or more genres, the production determines the final sound of the song. The production quality refers to the overall quality of the recording and the artist’s performance. At its core, the production is the intersection of a great performance with great talent, and a producer who uses plug-ins and/or equipment in a highly effective way.

A great production is often broken down into a few different stages, including recording, mixing, and mastering. These days many of these processes can be completed by one talented producer, or sometimes with a team of engineers. Many talented artists don’t have breakthrough success until they begin working with an experienced producer, and as a team create their best output.  If you have a great song, choosing the right producer to work together with to help to bring the song to life is critical. If you’re a producer yourself, you’re responsible for creating the sonics of the track. The production quality of the recording can either make or break a single, no matter how good the song is. Native Instruments and iZotope plugins will help you to create professional sounding, contemporary songs, no matter what genre or style your production is.

Arrangement

The arrangement of a song refers to how the song is structured, and the types of instrumentation used in each part of the song. Together these elements tell the story of the song, and unfold it for the listener. A well-planned arrangement that builds over time and is dynamic makes a song interesting to listen to. The song’s genre determines the style of arrangement that will best suit it. A pop song uses a standard arrangement that goes something like this: verse / pre-chorus / chorus / verse / pre-chorus / chorus / bridge / chorusAn EDM song uses something a little different different, based on pop arrangements but with a different structure. An example of an EDM arrangement could be: intro / verse / drop / verse / drop / breakdown / buildup / drop / outro

Study the songs that inspire you and analyze how they are structured and arranged. Use contrast and dynamics to create tension and release in your song.

Contrast is the variety of different sounds, textures, rhythms, chords, melodies, and lyrics to create variety and contrast in different sections of the song.

Dynamics emphasize the most impactful part of the song (the chorus or drop), while carving out space in the other sections so that each section has the appropriate impact. Transitions help to link each section of the song together. In electronic music, automation and effects are used to help the song sections flow from one part to the next.

Defining success: popularity vs. artistic merit in music

The success of a song (or any project for that matter) is a fairly subjective subject. A lot of what success means for your song depends on the goal you aspire to achieve. Finishing a song that you’re happy about could be a reasonable goal for an aspiring songwriter. If you’re ambitious, aiming to have the song recorded by a world class artist, released on a major label and played on mainstream radio may be a goal to work toward.

Today, success is often determined by streaming numbers and data, as the amount of plays and views a song receives is clearly visible. If a lot of people are tuned in and listening, the song is likely to be good. But don’t discount or write off songs with lower plays or streams as bad music. There are many smaller artists, perhaps with smaller promotion budgets whose songs may only reach a few fans. Yet these songs have the same potential to emotionally connect with listeners. If a song touches someone in some way, it can be recognized as an artistic success. From the creative perspective, a song that’s captured as a recording that clearly meets the original vision of the artist is a success. As a music producer, if you can effectively create the music that you hear in your mind (or dreams), the song has value and artistic merit. As success is subjective, it’s a good idea to think about your artistic goals when writing music. Whether it’s to write a song that will reach 100,000 people, to create songs that will leave a legacy, or simply to enjoy the process as you write new songs, the motivation you use to write songs is entirely up to you.

Start writing better songs

Now that you’ve learned the key ingredients of a good song, it’s time to start writing some of your own. Songwriting is often a collaborative process, and it may be helpful to seek out collaborators to work together with. When you’re songwriting, focus on the melody, chords, lyrics, and rhythm and then move on to production and arrangement. The more you write, the better at songwriting you’ll become.

Once you’ve sketched out your song idea, use Native Instruments software to produce and mix your track. Start writing songs today and soon you’ll be writing memorable tunes, collaborating with other songwriters, and creating your best work.