It always puzzles us: how did such a “hated” song make so much money? It seems that week after week, the charts are full of songs that people complain about - so how do they get there?

It’s largely because of things like the spectacle involved in the music video, sex appeal, controversy, etc; but none of this would be necessary if there was no song to promote in the first place. This article will look at the musical and lyrical aspects of 3 of these “hated” songs and determine what it is that made them so successful.

Before I go on, I just want to clarify that I’m not necessarily saying that these songs are bad (I actually quite like one or two of them!), just that they were in some way received with negative criticism from a lot of people due to their simplicity and/or controversy.

“Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen

If you managed to avoid hearing this song, congrats! If you cast your mind back to 2012, you’ll remember that this song was quite literally everywhere. This song was disliked mainly for the fact that the catchiness of it really annoyed a lot of people; when you heard it once, you weren’t likely to forget it. Let’s take a look at why this was the case:

1.     Repetition – In my previous articles, I’ve talked about this a lot; repetitive songs are potentially successful songs. Both a musical or lyrical aspect can be repeated frequently to make a song catchy – and this song contains both elements. The chorus is short and sweet, and repeated so many times that it basically makes up the entire song. As well as this, the title “Call Me Maybe” is repeated throughout the song more times than I care to count. Seems to me that someone really wanted us to remember the name of this song...

2.     Simple rhyming scheme/phrasing

        Let’s take a look at the verse:

        I threw a wish in the well                                A

        Don't ask me I'll never tell                               A

        I looked at you as it fell                                   A

        And now you're in my way                             B

        I trade my soul for a wish                                C

        Pennies and dimes for a kiss                         C

        I wasn't looking for this                                     C

        But now you're in my way                                B

It’s so repetitive! The first three lines all rhyme, which starts the song off in a catchy way.

“Well,” “Tell,” and “Fell” are all direct rhymes, which makes the song accessible and easy to hear for the average listener.  As you can see, the success of this song boils down to one thing: simplicity.

“Judas” by Lady Gaga

One word: inappropriate! This song received a lot of negative criticism due to Lady Gaga’s brazen approach to a sensitive topic. In this song, she states “I’m in love with Judas,” which is obviously a risky thing to include in a song. In spite of this (or maybe because of this!), this song is well-known and enjoyed relatively good success. Along with the obvious controversy it instilled, there were a lot of other aspects that led to its success:

1.     Catchy Hook

The main hook in this song revolves around the title: “Juda-as! Juda-ah-as! Judas! Juda-ah-as,” which really makes the controversial lyrics much more obvious. Plus, the hook is very very catchy and is repeated an insane amount of times at various points throughout the song.

2.     Bizarre Lyrics

I have already mentioned that the lyrics of this song were the subject of controversy when the song was released – and in terms of songwriting, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just to be clear, I’m not recommending that you should write an offensive song, but bizarre topics and lyrics will often get a lot of attention. It can certainly be said that it worked and continues to work for Lady Gaga. Choosing a biblical figure for not just a topic of a pop song but also the title instantly makes for a different and unforgettable song.

“Bom Bom” by Sam & the Womp

It’s infectious. It’s annoying. It’s unavoidable. You either love it or hate it – and if you do hate it, you’ll still find yourself moving to it when you hear it. In other words, it’ not the type of song that’s easy to forget. Not to say it’s intentionally annoying, but it is intentionally outrageous. Unlike “Judas,” this song wasn’t at all controversial when it was released – it just really annoyed a lot of people. Here are some of the elements that make this song the glorious and irritating jumble that it is:

1.     Lyrics that make no sense

As I have already discussed, it’s sometimes a good idea to choose a strange topic for your lyrics in order for them to be memorable. However, it’s an equally valid approach to write lyrics that are about nothing in particular at all – and this is what “Bom bom” seems to do. Take a look at some of these lyrics:

       “I’m the cat with the bass and drum, going ‘round like bom bom bom!”

       “What’s grooving? I’m moving. I like your style of womping!”

       “I’ve brought a pie in my pocket, pie in my pocket, an eye in my socket.”

These lyrics are extremely strange and make very little sense – but they’re unique, and uniqueness is always important when writing a song that you want to be noticed!

2.     Strange Instrumentation

 As if the song wasn’t already strange enough, a large part of the song is dedicated to brass instruments. At the opening of the song, repeated low notes are played by a brass instrument, followed by repeated notes in a higher pitch as the verse starts. As the song goes on, a riff is introduced for these brass instruments, which is repeated during the song a lot. It’s a strange choice, but it works; who on earth could get that catchy brass riff out of their head?

As you can see, songs that reach the charts are often controversial, annoying, and hated for various other reasons. Keep this in mind when you’re writing a song; sometimes that annoying little melody or potentially controversial lyric that you think makes your song bad is actually what will make it memorable and create attention around it. After all, all publicity is good publicity!

Justin Ryan