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What happened to bridges in pop songs?

bluhaven boulevard

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Today I'm deep diving into a recent shift I've noticed in pop song structure - the lack of bridges and full-length songs. How common is this trend? Why is it happening, and where might it go? Let's talk about it.

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0:00 - Intro
1:35 - Bridges falling down
7:07 - Bridges rebuilt
12:02 - Bridge-like outros
15:24 - Putting it all together
19:39 - Final thoughts

#popmusic #musicanalysis #sabrinacarpenter #bensonboone #pinkpantheress #billieeilish #charlixcx #tyla #katseye #taylorswift #brunomars #lisa

20 Comments

@LemonPouchy 1 year ago

Bridges are usually my favorite part of the song

@NawiTheCore 1 year ago

Bring bridges back, bring instrumental solos back, bring intros and outros back, bring dramatic key changes / modulations back! Just make songs fun again!

@thespokanehomeguygroup 1 year ago

This explains why I've felt like so many songs are "missing" something

@kiracerastius6609 11 months ago

Bridges add so much interest to a song, and without them the whole thing feels more repetitive and makes me get tired of hearing it way faster

@1gniel 11 months ago

So THAT'S why modern songs often felt a bit lackluster compared to what i used to listen pre-2020.

@deathoftheendless8565 1 year ago

I love the bridge in “Good Luck, Babe”

@Dogleb 1 year ago

Great that Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo are still doing the bridge so well.

@xoxolovejas 1 year ago (edited)

I love it on Justin Timberlake’s “I’m bringing Sexy Back” Timbaland literally said in the song-
“Take it to the chorus”
“Take it to the bridge”😂❤

@ShumShins 1 year ago

From a personal standpoint, writing a bridge is fuckin hard. It’s not an easy endeavor to make a totally new idea fit within the confines of a predefined song. It says more about us as songwriters and how lazy we’ve gotten to please the Almighty Algo.

@DYSTOPIA-A1 10 months ago

God that’s why I hate modern music anymore, it’s just so ‘samey’

The bridge was there to stop it from feeling ‘samey’

@charliet9456 1 year ago

6:33 Shrinkflation is reaching our music now 😭

@7PurpleSkittles 1 year ago

A bridge is what makes the song. Songs feel so anti climatic without them, like something is missing. It’s a shame there’s so much focus on streaming and going viral - you don’t need to cut the bridge to achieve it, if a song truly is good, people will listen

@edgaradriantorres8564 1 year ago

I think it's funny how Sabrina Carpenter is on the thumbnail, but Espresso is literally her only popular song without a bridge. It just happens that her biggest hit is the one without a bridge 😭

@CharlestonTracy 1 year ago

5:09 This is because of streaming they get credit if someone listens for 30 seconds. The chorus includes the hook and that’s what everyone will sing to before changing.

@MiggsonMonday 1 year ago

I love bridges, key changes, and things like that. I miss longer songs too. Even with a chorus at the beginning or and extended final Chorus at the end songs are still getting shorter. I found a song recently that has the traditional format but still just barely reaches 3 minutes. It's like every song nowadays legally can't be longer than 2:35. Bring back 3 and 4 minute songs.

@georgeA-j7q 1 year ago

Honestly it felf so good listening to Mayhem by lady gaga where all the songs where over 3.5 minutes. They get to create an experience. 2.5 minutes is simply not enough.

@Idawut 1 year ago

Now I realize just how many hits nowadays bore me after a while.. the lack of bridges make me tired of them after a lil while. But songs with bridges are the ones I keep going back to, it’s always been my favorite part of the songs I’ve listened to, without knowing the structure of songwriting.