Do Max Martin and Swedish songwriters use more complex chords than Americans?

[fantasyvn]

May I ask this question?

In general, do Max Martin and Swedish songwriters use more complex chords than American songwriters?

It seems to me that recent pop songs on American charts use relatively few chords. I have not looked at it closely, so it is unclear whether this also includes songs by Swedish songwriters.

When we say Swedish songwriters tend to be more melodic, does it also mean they use more complex and interesting chords than American songwriters?

Thank you

[AlexanderLaBrea]

I don't think so. I mean, basically you're right since during 2015 a lot of the Billboard Hot 100 has been dominated by simplistic hip hop and such, but the "Swedish" way of writing seems to be pretty straight forward. 4 chords, not that many colored chords and so forth. Maybe a 7th here and there. Whereas most of RnB and Soul-pop is written by american writers, and contain more "unorthodox" chords (by pop-standards that is).

During the Cheiron years though, they experimented more with, maybe not odd chords, but cool combinations of chords in a way.

That's my 2 cents in the middle of the night anyway

[bugmenot]

Zedd does. Deadmau5 does. Coldplay does. Swedish does not, sometimes they using not 4 but 3 chords for a whole progression.









Only Shellback not so ordinary



I personally noticed that recent pop songs on American charts start using two or even one chord for the whole intro and verse







source

[SongsByGROVER]

I think of the swedish/european style as having classical song structures, ie one set of chords for the verse, then a change into the prechorus, and another change into the chorus. Often they'll be the same chords but they'll switch the order instead for each section. Either way, it makes the sections well defined and they don't have to rely on production tricks as much to keep the tracks getting boring. And these types of songs sound good to sing with just piano and vocals... ie melody driven.

To me, the american pop sound is to loop one chord sequence throughout, almost always 2, 3 or 4 chords, in a constant loop and the song is written around that loop. The way the sections are made to sound separate is with dynamics (the standard is of course "quiet verse, crescendo prechorus, loud chorus"), and this makes great instantly accessible radio songs, but also they need a lot of production wizardry to keep them from getting boring. These songs usually sound boring when done with just piano and vocals (unless the performer is especially gifted).

I think what's happened with Max Martin et al is they've gradually become more americanized and nowadays fall somewhere between the 2 categories.

I don't think the older jazz style (classic american songwriting) is really all that evident anymore in the mainstream, except the occasional hit here and there.


In terms of chord choices, they probably arent deliberately chosen with theory when speaking about artists like taylor swift etc... when people write pop music on guitar or piano i doubt they think in terms of music theory but rather move their hands around til it sounds good. Pop piano especially uses a lot of pedal tones (eg keeping the right hand still while changing bass notes with the left hand). This technically makes "complex chords" but actually makes it more simple to play than if you were playing standard 1-3-5 chords.


And I'm pretty sure producers like deadmau5 dont think in terms of chords at all but rather they pick a bassline then build layers of simple melody lines on top that give the effect of complex chords (similar to the way one writes string arrangments).


I can't think of any recent pop music I'd describe as having an especially complex chord sequence... they all tend to be based around the standard major or minor scales, and the occasional jazz extension doesn't sound particular groundbreaking. Substitutions and modal stuff are where things start to get technical and complex sounding IMO, and the further in time you go back the more of this you hear in mainstream music... Maybe "pop" has been gradually dumbing down to the lowest common denominator, but i suppose that's what pop is by virtue. There's certainly still room for artistry at least