Pop Ballads

• Pop ballads


  • 1970s-1990s
• Features of pop ballads

  • 4/4 slow tempo
  • verse-chorus
  • often includes piano/ electric piano
  • sustained lush chords in instrumental accompaniments
  • accents beats 2 and 4 on snare drum
  • vocalist can express through rubato, ornamentation and melisma
  • singer uses ornamentation and melisma at climax
  • inversions
  • usually has a increase in instrumentation and dynamics
  • romantic/ sentimental lyrics
  • often lots of reverb added to voice
• Artists


  Elton John

  Bette Midler

  Take That
• Anthem


  A song or piece of music that stirs the listener's emotions and even inspires them to join in
• The pop ballad of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s is usually a slow song, with sentimental or romantic lyrics
• Key features of a pop ballad

  • Usually in 4/4 time
  • Slow tempo
  • Often includes a piano or keyboard
  • Sustained 'lush' chords in the instrumental accompaniment
  • Drum pattern usually accents beats 2 and 4 on the snare drum
  • Opportunities for the vocalist to express emotion through rubato, ornamentation and melisma
  • The lead singer often provides ornamentation and melisma at the climax of the song
  • Diatonic chords
  • Chord inversions used to create a rising or descending bass line
  • Build up in texture with increases in instrumentation and dynamics towards the climax- final chorus or middle 8
  • Sentimental or romantic lyrics
  • Heavy reverb on the vocals (especially 80s ballads)
• Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' (1973) was written in memory of Marilyn Monroe, and adapted for Princess Diana's funeral in 1997
• Bette Midler's 'The Wind beneath my Wings' (1988) uses the electric piano and heavy reverb, typical of pop music of the 1980s
• Take That's 'Back for Good' (1995) was written and co-produced by Gary Barlow
• In the 1990s, the main strands running through pop music included rock, dance, rap and electronic music, alongside more conventional pop music
• Music videos had become as important as the music itself, with MTV becoming increasingly popular over the decade
• Digital technology was well established by now, with digital effects often being added to instruments and voices. By this time a lot of music was recorded on computer sequencers (such as Pro Tools or Cubase), allowing producers much greater control over their music
• Technology you may hear in 1990s music

  • Sampling
  • Drum loops
  • Reverb/echo (though not as much as 1980s recordings)
  • Overdubbing
  • Filters like the telephone effect
  • Autotune