I don't like Max's new pop song structure

[davpet]

I don't know whether this is Dr.Luke's influence, but have you noticed how the structure of Max's pop songs have changed.

For example the two Katy Perry songs "I Kissed A Girl" and "Hot n Cold" they both have two bar drum beat intro's and then they both have 16 bar choruses. "Since U Been Gone" also has a 2 bar guitar intro.

Nearly all Max's 90's hits usually had a 8 bar intro and 8 bar choruses. Which in my opinion are structurally more uniform and stronger on repeat listening.

The reason his new songs probably have no intro's. A little known fact that i've heard is that radio programmers, when listening to new songs will only listen to the first 20-30 seconds. Thus in order to try and attract their attention Max and co. have dropped the intros and tried to get to the choruses as quick as possible in order to get playlisted.

Why i'm dead against this. Imagine the greatest pop song in history "Billie Jean" only had a two bar drum intro and then the lyrics started. How would this suck the life from the song ?

From : http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=1777

"A major component of that personality almost didn't survive the final cut. "Billie Jean" opens with an unusually long bass-and-drums intro — Jackson doesn't begin singing until the 0:29 mark — that Quincy Jones wanted to trim but Jackson vehemently insisted be kept.

"I said, 'Michael we've got to cut that intro,'" Jones recalls. "He said, 'But that's the jelly!'" — Jackson's personal slang term for a funky beat is "smelly jelly" — "'That's what makes me want to dance.' And when Michael Jackson tells you, 'That's what makes me want to dance,' well, the rest of us just have to shut up."

[Unexpected]

Seriously I don't understand the 8 drum 12 drum thing , but for the intro thing I guess just to make the song appeal to the widest base as possible , personally when I'm hearing new song I skip to the chorus to judge it fairly , that's why they shorthening the intro to reaching the chorus faster

[Linda]

i completely agree davpet.

[Rebecca]

I don't know anything about song structure, I'm sure you're right about that Dave.

But Max's songs have always had catchy beginnings and he said himself in an interview something like that you have to get the listener interested straight away, eg "Baby One More Time" with that very catchy beginning. I read somewhere he learned that from Denniz who knew from being a DJ that people would walk off the dancefloor if the song wasn't catchy straight away.

Would the song "I Kissed A Girl" sound better with an 8 bar intro and 8 bar chorus?

[ahmed]

yeah in the old songs max had better intros

the intro for''overprotected'' after the word ''action'' i think this is a very great intro for a dance song,if it played on stage the audiences will keep screaming.

[Rebecca]

yeah in the old songs max had better intros

the intro for''overprotected'' after the word ''action'' i think this is a very great intro for a dance song,if it played on stage the audiences will keep screaming.

"Overprotected" has one of my favourite intro's. Also "The Call" with the phone call.

[Feelgoodlies]

He has so many great intros, "Don't Want You Back", "Oops I Didi It Again", and I looove "What You See is What You Get" although it isn't Max, but it is PURLY influenced by him.

The new intros don't bother me at all, I like them, yes we all prefer the old Max, and that's a fact.

[Tiiger]

*I* think it's great that Max moves on and isn't clinging on to the 90s and the way he wrote songs back then. It just shows what a brilliant songwriter he is, he isn't copying the same old formula over and over again.

So I... prefer the new and old Max.

[Raul_esp]

max martin old songs are better, the intro is catchy and repeats in the chorus , but some new songs have it too ,  the I'm gone I'm going's intro is very catchy .

[Rebecca]

I like the new Max too, but something I miss is how with a lot of Max's old songs there would be an almost second melody at the end eg BSB's "Get Another Boyfriend" where they sing "hear me out, you must know...", also Britney's "Ooops" and others. I love that.

[Alex Martin]

I love "Stay My Baby" intro............

Really really nice.

[turnaround]

I would love to hear a great counter melody, but they do not really fit the rock songs.

[Rebecca]

yes, a counter melody! I wasn't sure that was the word, now I know.

It's true, they wouldn't really work for rock songs.

[Raul_esp]

I like the new Max too, but something I miss is how with a lot of Max's old songs there would be an almost second melody at the end eg BSB's "Get Another Boyfriend" where they sing "hear me out, you must know...", also Britney's "Ooops" and others. I love that.

I agree with you , I lovee totally the second melody max martin did in the old songs.

[Decembersky1984]

Kind of harsh to criticize the guy lol.

First and foremost, it's his job, he needs to flow with the changing music in order to stay above the water. It pays his bills. If he stuck with old the old style and was currently releasing 90ish sounding music today, even though it was great, im pretty sure his business would get dropped by record labels.
Secondly, his clients, primarily, are now rock artists with a total different need in musical structure than a pop boyband. Where as a boyband can take an 8 bar chorus repeated at the end of a song 3 times (or 4), and do different ad libs, do different harmony's, change it up a bit, with one voice, its a lot harder to repeat a chorus without sounding repetitive and boring. I think thats why its probably easier, and safer, to write a 16 bar chorus for some songs.

And for all you know, this new max might be the legit "max". In the 90's, Im pretty sure he was following the styling and structure that Denniz Pop had already established.