Billboard's top 20 songs of the week and subject matter
1. THOMAS RHETT- DIE A HAPPY MAN. Love song to a woman
1. THOMAS RHETT- DIE A HAPPY MAN. Love song to a woman
2. SAM HUNT- BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN- about losing a love song with a woman. Light syncopated lyrics influence
3. LUKE BRYAN- HOME ALONE TONIGHT (Duet) Picking up a woman in a bar. light syncopated influence
4. COLE SWINDELL YOU SHOULD BE HERE. Appreciating life's moments and missing a woman who is probably dead.
5. CARRY UNDERWOOD- HEARTBEAT-A love song to a guy. Syncopatic lyrics.
6. KELSEY BALLERINI- DIBS. Current Urban female texting and love song to a guy.
7. BRETT ELDRIDGE- DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE- Love song to a girl. A little syncopated lyrics. How the guy is drunk on the love of the woman.
8. ZAC BROWN- BEAUTIFUL DRUG- love song to a girl and how she is intoxicating. How he is stoned on the girl's love.
9. KEITH URBAN- BREAK ON ME- Love song to a woman.
10. MAREN MORRIS- MY CHURCH- Song about singing and what country music does to her soul. Total Southern Gospel. Best of the bunch.
11. Florida Georgia Line- CONFESSION- Talking about a love song with a woman they miss.
12. RANDY HOUSER- WE WENT- OUTLAW COUNTRY- running off with a girl.
13. CHRIS STAPLETON- NOBODY TO BLAME- remorse over losing a woman. Swamp country. Traditional throwback.
14. RASCAL FLATTS- I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT- Love song to a woman.
15. OLD DOMINION- SNAPBACK- Love song to a woman. A bit of the rapid fire lyrics. All about the girl.
16. CHASE RICE- WHISPER- love song to a girl. Syncopated lyrics. All about the girl and what he wants to do with her.
17. CHASE BRYANT- LITTLE BIT OF YOU- Calling the woman for a late night booty call. Love song to a woman. All about the girl. Very rare to have two songs on the chart, particularly back to back.
18. DIERKS BENTLY- SOMEWHERE ON A BEACH- Down on the vacation. It is actually a continuation of the song "getting drunk on a plane. "Having a great time trying to get over the woman who dumped him on the way to their honeymoon. All about the girl.
19. LEE BRICE- THAT DON'T SOUND LIKE YOU- Missing the girl that left him who is thinking of getting back with him. All about the girl.
20. TIM McGRAW- HUMBLE AND KIND- Life lessons song ,about living a proper life. Tim and Kenny Chesney have been into the "Life reflections passing on positive messages for some time now. They are at that stage of their careers where they are looking back on everything and delivering moral messages.
OVERVIEW
Wes, there you go man. The top 20 songs from BILLBOARD, which is the ONLY CHART THAT MATTERS. The BIBLE for the music industry. The rest are cheap knock off's, Internet based, and have limited listenership and responses.
Ain't a "BRO-COUNTRY pick up, truck, party, out in the field, down by the river/lake/ocean buddy with my friends, how we roll, with the girl named GURL in short shorts, "song among them. Do you see any re-ocurring themes in any of them? EVERY ONE IS ABOUT FINDING, HOLDING ON TO, OR MISSING A MEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. If you continue going down to the top 25-35 (which are all that really count) you are probably going to find just about the same thing.
Ain't a "BRO-COUNTRY pick up, truck, party, out in the field, down by the river/lake/ocean buddy with my friends, how we roll, with the girl named GURL in short shorts, "song among them. Do you see any re-ocurring themes in any of them? EVERY ONE IS ABOUT FINDING, HOLDING ON TO, OR MISSING A MEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. If you continue going down to the top 25-35 (which are all that really count) you are probably going to find just about the same thing.
Country music is almost always about:
REALITY
CONVERSATIONAL LYRICS
REINFORCING MELODIC HOOK THAT DRIVES THE HOOK HOME CONTINUALLY AND IS EASILY SINGABLE.
Every song is:
REINFORCING MELODIC HOOK THAT DRIVES THE HOOK HOME CONTINUALLY AND IS EASILY SINGABLE.
Every song is:
MEMORABLE
SINGABLE
RELATABLE
SINGABLE
RELATABLE
Every song has CLEARLY STATED, EASILY, SEEABLE, AND MEMORABLE, LYRICS. They SHOW, DON'T TELL the situation going on. Clear language about easy to digest subject matter.
See, it's really easy to hear a couple of songs that fit your perception of what is going on in music and to try and think or write toward that. Start breaking them down and they are far from what you think they might be, particularly in the case of regional or local hits.
The only thing that is somewhat different than what I would suggest is rapid fire, syncopated lyrics in many of them due to an influence of hip hop. But we are in a more uptempo world, so that would play into how most people talk, think and act these days with all the information we are bombarded by constantly. I use it some but not as much as many because I don't like to force rhymes and being a big, belting singer, it gives me more room to sing and manipulate notes.AND I CAN'T REMEMBER ALL MY STUPID LYRICS!!!!!
And the rapid fire nature with most writers, particularly amateur and newer writers, is that usually the lyrics are so jumbled and poorly written, you can't figure out what they are talking about even WHILE they are singing about it. And if you ask THEM, a lot of time THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SINGING ABOUT. They are just following the rhyme.
And the rapid fire nature with most writers, particularly amateur and newer writers, is that usually the lyrics are so jumbled and poorly written, you can't figure out what they are talking about even WHILE they are singing about it. And if you ask THEM, a lot of time THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SINGING ABOUT. They are just following the rhyme.
If you study a bit of the track record of the past three-5 years, these are the names you see at the top of the charts, nominated and winning the awards, on the front of magazines, commercials, and doing the public conciousness big tour business that is the engine of the music industry. To be honest, I haven't heard of one of the artists you mentioned. Which is why I think they might be more Texas artists than you realize.
Sure you don't want to re-think all that "Bro-Country stuff?"
Skip all that nonsense and put a girl in it. You'll come away much better for it.
MAB
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