Pop Culture | 90s | Music

5 Essential Things You Will Definitely Find In Every Pop Song From Your Childhood

The music from our childhood was pretty much the best. You can try to convince I am wrong, but you will fail. There is just something about them that makes every single song an absolute jam, even if it's not by your favorite artist. It didn't matter if you claim you weren't a Britney Spears fan or a Backstreet Boys fan, because I bet you still know almost all of the words.

But how does this happen? It's some kind of magic right? Have all the lyrics just been implanted in our memories in some kind of secret government experiment? Are all the songs just reading our minds and creating exactly what we think it is? There has to be some kind of pattern right?

Well, of course there is! As we with anything, there is always a perfect formula to make something successful. While it might not be 100% accurate, I think we can all agree that these are the basic components you would need.

1. Start off with nonsensical phrases that some how make sense to us

You're going to have to find a phrase that sounds like it should mean something, but then make sure it's a little bit confusing. For example, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" could have just said something along the lines of "come back to me" or "I want you back" but they didn't.

Think about it, almost all of your favorite artists are guilty of the nonsense lyrics. "I Want It That Way" means what exactly? Which way do you want it? "MMMbop" is not a real word. I think they use it as a measure of time, but really it wasn't necessary to invent their own unit.

2. The word "Baby" or "Love" must appear at least 5 times

Bonus points if you get it in the song title, but at the bare minimum there should be one in the chorus and at least two in the verses. I mean, how are they supposed to know that you mean it if you don't call them "Baby"?

Those aren't the only ingredients of a successful song...

3. A key change or temporary tempo change

If you don't slow down the song, how will you know when it's about to get really powerful? You had to slow it right down, or in Britney Spears's case just yell "STOP" before the music would drop and pick back up with a little more intensity. I guess it's a good way to remind people to pay attention.

4. An accompanying music video complete with a specific dance routine that everyone must learn

Pretty much all the best songs had dance routines to go along with it. Whether you were telling people to "Stop right now, thank you very much" or "everybody, rock your body," everything in our childhood needed some kind of dance craze to go along with it. If you don't believe me, think about the Macarena. You probably didn't understand a word they were saying, but you still know the entire dance.

5. Add some Oohs and Aahs

Sure, a lot of people can sing, but not everyone can be confident enough in their ability to randomly yell out "Ooooh" to fill in the instrumental moments. Whether it's the elaborate scales of Christina, or the breathy tones of Britney panting through her dance moves, every successful song seems to need some filler.

Can you think of anything else that happens through all the pop songs from our childhood?  

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