What Makes A Great Song? 4 Things That All Great Songs Must Have

Each day thousands of aspiring artists attempt to make it big in the music world, but do they really understand what it takes? Maybe, maybe not; it's hard to say. As music bloggers, we listen to music all day, some great, and some absolutely terrible. DrippedDaily takes you through the top 4 things that all great songs must have to, well, be considered "great."

1. Bangin' Lyrics

Have you ever listened to a song and just thought to yourself, "this song totally just changed my life?" Probably not, but I do bet you that you have thought to yourself, "wow these lyrics have great meaning" or "damn, that rhyme was killer." The truth is, in order for music to be considered quality, it must contain lyrics that resonate with its listeners. Take someone like The Weeknd for example, bitches absolutely love him. They're wet as soon as his voice takes off in songs like "The Hills" or "Earned It." Why? Because all he raps about is sex! I don't know about you, but we all, for the most part, love sex. The same could be said about rapper Drake, who sometimes replicates The Weeknd's style and slowly raps about sexual intercourse or any other sexy thing that can capture someones attention.

Lyrics allow the listener to fully engage with the piece they are listening to. This is true for songs across all genres, excluding the less popular genres such as Trap and Future Garage, which sometimes only contain dope beats and not lyrics. But hey, they're less popular for a reason! These genres do not contain lyrics, therefore listeners cannot resonate with the music, making them less liked and popular throughout our generation. 

Take someone like Chief Keef, for example. Let's listen to his new song, titled "Doctor" below and evaluate it in order to further prove my point.

Did you understand absolutely anything that he was saying? Because we didnt, and if we had to fill out a lyric sheet for "Doctor," we could only fill out a couple verses because the guy makes absolutely no sense.

Bottom line: Lyrics are important in a song because they allow listeners to connect with the metaphysical and emotional significance behind them, creating another dimension and deepening the value of the music piece. Thus, listeners will become more engaged with a song if meaningful lyrics are used to portray some kind of message.

2. Beat

The beat, or the backend of the song, is extremely important when judging a musical piece. The beat has everything to do with BPM, or beats per minute, which can either get the whole crowd bumpin' or relaxin' reading a book. The higher the BPM, the more energetic, wild, and upbeat the song generally will appear. Whereas lower BPM songs are those that are super chill, like in HUCCI x OZZY's "IDNY/ICE."

However, BPM is not all that matters. There needs to be a balance in the beat, not too fast or slow, but just right. Not to mention, it needs to make sense. A beat can't go from a high pitched noise to a low thump, there needs to be some happy medium. Let's look at the song "CoCo" by O.T. Genasis, for example. The lyrics are garbage, but the song offers listeners a million dollar beat, which is why the tune went viral.

Bottom line: Like we said in Part 1, lyrics allow listeners to resonate with a piece and find a deeper connection. However, lyrics can be overridden with something that offers a great beat, allowing listeners to dance, chill out, or advocate some kind of activity (Mary Jane, or "CoCo" in this case).

3. Advertising

Where would the world be if we didn't have advertising? Somewhere else, that's for sure. The United States specifically relies heavily on advertisements to dictate culture, values, and more. And what screams culture more than music? Nothing! Music IS culture.

In order for a "good" song to be considered "great" it has to be listened to first and shared before it can become viral. For example, A$AP Rocky's new album "At.Long.Last.A$AP" (stream it here) was being advertised everywhere before its initial release. And the product of all this advertisement? A whole 'lotta hype. With hype comes great responsibility, young padawan. Just remember, advertising is just part of what makes a song "great." You need listeners in order for songs to become big and get noticed.

Bottom Line: Advertising builds a community for an artist to channel his/her work. Without advertising, a song cannot go viral and be endlessly shared.

4. Branding

Every artist has their own branding, or niche. From The Weeknd, with his soft R&B style, to Dr. Dre's partnership with Monster for Dr. Dre Beats, every artist has their own mark on the game. Branding allows artists to grab the attention of a certain audience. For example, someone like Billy Joel is branded much differently than someone like Lil Wayne. Nonetheless, each have their own audiences to appeal to.

A song can be great if it meets the branding of a specific criteria and audience. You can't make a song great if nobody likes it!

Bottom Line: Branding allows artists to appeal to a specific audience and help it become shared among the music community.