What is a chorus in a song?
The chorus is the part of a song that comes back again and again with the same melody and, in a song with words, the same lyrics. It holds the hook, the line people remember, and it is usually the fullest, loudest section. The verses tell the story; the chorus is what the story is about. Press Verse into chorus to hear one arrive.
A chorus, in context
The second verse, then the second chorus. Press play for the whole song, or tap any section.
Write a chorus that lifts
Unit 1 of the course is free with a Google sign-in: the loop, the beat and your first beat on the grid. Verses and choruses are in Unit 7, Form and energy.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; song structure is Unit 7.
What changes when the chorus arrives
Not the chords: verse and chorus both run Am, F, C, G. Everything else steps up a level.
- The bass goes from two long notes a bar to driving eighths on each chord’s root.
- The piano goes from two chords a bar to a pushing 3-3-2 rhythm.
- The drums get a clap on top of the snare, louder hats and an open hat at the end of each bar.
- The melody changes from the verse’s quiet bell riff to the hook, a phrase and its answer, on a brighter lead.
That is the usual way: a chorus feels bigger because more is happening, more often, higher up. New chords help too, but they aren’t needed.
Chorus, hook, refrain
- The hook is the catchiest line, and it usually lives in the chorus. In hip hop the chorus is often just called the hook.
- A refrain is a line that repeats, often at the end of each verse, without a whole section of its own.
- A pre-chorus is a short lift between the verse and the chorus; it is a song’s build-up.
- In dance music, the drop does the chorus’s job: the section the track is built around.
The last chorus is bigger
A chorus comes back two, three or four times, so songs often make the last one bigger. Here the last chorus adds wide supersaw chords, sixteenth-note hats and a crash on its first beat. Other ways: double the vocal, move it up a key, or drop everything out for the first half and bring it all back. Unit 7’s project asks for exactly this: a whole song with a build and a bigger last chorus.
How to make a chorus lift
- Hold something back in the verse: a part, a register, a busier rhythm. The chorus is where it arrives.
- Make the bass and drums busier, as here, rather than only louder.
- Put the melody higher than the verse’s.
- Keep the hook short and repeat it. Two bars, said twice, is plenty.