Music
With 18 songwriters and producers teaming up to write and record a killer pop song on the latest series of The Cut, we ask two experts, Jetta and Darkchild, how exactly you put a song together.
With the latest series of The Cut challenging more randomly paired songwriters and producers to write a pop banger in just ten hours, we asked serial collaborators Jetta and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins exactly how it's done. How do you write and produce a pop hit?
Darkchild's knack for sculpting a hit is undeniable. He's responsible for producing and co-writing songs including It’s Not Right But It’s Okay by Whitney Houston, The Boy Is Mine by Brandy & Monica, Say My Name by Destiny’s Child and Jenifer Lopez’s If You Have My Love. And Jetta – a fast-rising UK singer-songwriter from Liverpool, UK – is lucky enough to call him a mentor.
Together, the pair jam and write together at Darkchild's home studio in LA. But it's not just Darkchild providing the magic. The daughter of an a cappella singer and a sound engineer, Jetta knows a thing or two about songwriting herself. Her self-produced 2018 EP Tonic, full of gritty electronics and rich atmospherics, set her alt-soul world in motion, while her latest track Livin, with its UK garage influence and bold electronic production, has cemented her as a hot prospect.
With all that songwriting knowledge between them, we asked them to breakdown how exactly you write a killer pop song.
Watch episode one of The Cut US in the player below:
36 min
A passion for the sound
S2 E1 – Songwriters and producers get randomly paired up in a challenge to create a completely original track.
Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the music action on all your devices! Get the app here.
It's all about the melody
For Darkchild, a banger always begins with one key element. “I think what really defines a hit song is a melody,” he says. “The one thing that shines, in every hit record you've ever heard, is melody. Melody to me is the most important aspect of a song; it’s the notes that have everyone singing along, even when you can’t understand the lyrics or make out what the person is saying.
“I start most of my songs at the piano; just sit down and play progressions, humming melodic ideas. I always believe the simpler it is, the better. That connects with everyone. If you really break down hit records in their barest forms, you'll see it's very simple. A lot are very simple melodies.”
He points to the choruses on some of the huge hits he's had a hand in, like The Boy Is Mine and Say My Name, as examples of how to nail this simple yet effective piece of the puzzle. “I can add all the shiny things over the top of it later, with the production,” he says. “But the basics of a song, for me, starts with the melody.”
If you really break down hit records in their barest forms, you'll see it's very simple
Jetta, whose mother runs an a capella choir, agrees. "When I was first teaching myself production, I would start by layering vocals and harmonies, because that's what I was used to, it was my childhood growing up," she says, explaining how she then picks vocal lines to imitate synths, basslines and snares. "That's something I still incorporate now – a lot of harmonies, a lot of lines. They’re never really embedded in the track – they're always up front." She likens her approach to classic '60s vocal troupes like The Supremes and describes how watching her mum’s choir reimagine pop tracks by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake influenced her.
"People love a good beat,” she adds. “But I tend to leave drums until last. A lot of people start with them, but I'm really into cinematic, instrumental music, so I like to paint a musical landscape with synths and things first, and feel my way around the track, sing on it, and then find a rhythm that works the way that it's going."
Interestingly, this is the same approach Darkchild takes, despite so many other hip-hop and pop producers starting the other way around – beats first. The main point, really, is that you need to find a starting point that works.
Get your head in those books
A pop banger wouldn’t be, well, a banger without lyrics to sing along to. Words that everyone can sing and feel. Says Darkchild: “When you marry melody with the right lyric, the right concept, and that resonates with people all over the world, to me that equates to a hit record."
"Open up a dictionary,” he adds, stressing how important a varied vocabulary is for killer wordplay. “You can say one thing, but it might mean something different; so always challenge your own words – how can I make that better or more clever? Thesauruses and dictionaries are my go-to.”
“For any type of songwriter, it's also good to study hip-hop tracks and rappers. They have a gift for wordplay and metaphor, like no other. It's good to have incredible metaphors and catchy wordplay. Knowing how to say something in a different way.”
That doesn’t mean abandoning simplicity, though. While verses allow for lyrical dexterity and nimble writing, for a killer chorus, Darkchild and Jetta both like to strip things back. Just listen to certified pop banger The Boy Is Mine – a track Darkchild produced and co-wrote.
"That is so simple. Four words, four simple notes, that people will forever remember." The same can be said of 1999’s Say My Name, which he also produced and co-wrote: "Three simple words. We think things need to be complex, but when you break it down, it's just simplicity."
Watch episode two of The Cut US in the player below:
31 min
Mixing styles in the studio
S2 E2 – Songwriters and producers collaborate in the studio to create a brand-new track.
Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the music action on all your devices! Get the app here.
Then build on those solid foundations
Once the core elements of melody (or beats) and lyrics are covered, Jetta and Darkchild like to move onto the finer details – song structure, mood and production flourishes.
“I love intricacy, and all the incrementals and attention to detail,” explains Jetta. “Being able to go back to a song and discover new things every time keeps a song exciting – that’s really important for me. And of course, no-one can deny a big drop! Keeping things exciting and going to places people might not expect you to go. My Current track Livin starts a capella – you have no idea that the beat's going to drop. I like that, it's a bit of a twist. And I'm into twists in music, film, in anything."
Darkchild agrees that this is the most enjoyable part of building a banger. “That’s the fun part for me, when it gets to the production,” he says. “Now you can take a song any which way you want to go. Do I want them to cry? Then musically, I'll go in a more sombre mode. Do I want them to dance? Then I might add a little bass and drums that make you wanna move. Do I want to make them cry and dance at the same time?? I'll give you movement but make sure the production has an emotional element. It's almost like scoring a movie – the music controls so much of of what the dialogue is doing. If you watch a movie with no music, you don’t get the emotion.”
Study hip-hop tracks and rappers – they have a gift for wordplay and metaphor like no other
Jetta talks about creating a pool of sounds that are ready to dip into whenever required – a sort of goodie bag that can add a twist of whatever flavour you want.
"What I've done over time is build a bank of favourite sounds," she explains. "I’ve played with them and manipulated them to be my own. It’s mainly synths – arpeggiated synths, really long synths, siren sounds, twinkly sounds, so many different textures and characters. They're where I've had the most flexibility and I like those whimsical, magical sounds you just throw on top when a track’s finished. It's the fairy dust at the end."
Don't stop listening
Jetta and Darkchild both emphasise the importance of being constantly awake to other sounds in order to write killer tracks. Don't switch off to the sounds around you, because you never know what will inspirations will rear their head when producing.
“I’m inspired by stuff from the past, and I listen to records from all over the world,” explains Darkchild. “Japanese soul, music from Italy, France, London… all the different ways that people approach and listen to music, I'm a student of that. I listen to so many different sounds and textures and what makes things unique – and that's all added into what I do. I've done that my whole career.”
As someone who’s built her songwriting and production skills from scratch, DIY-style, Jetta still sees herself as a student. “I think being self-taught in terms of production, I have my own way of doing it,” she explains. “When I was teaching myself, I listened a lot to Gnarls Barkley and Adele – I like the syncopation she uses when she sings to the piano, she kind of fights the beat, fights the rhythm, and weaves her way around it. I loved listening to that; breaking the rules, not doing what you'd expect."
Timbalaand and "funnily enough, Darkchild", she says, were her go-to producer heroes when developing her craft, too. "They both use syncopation, all those little polyrhythms, and it's just so exciting to listen to."
Harness the chemistry
"This is so important,” says Jetta, referring to the most intangible element of banger-crafting: chemistry in collaboration. “It's funny, it's not just about how you get on as people, it's about how you hear things, how you see things. I find it hard to explain what I want in terms of music, I find it easier to just do it. That’s why production works for me rather than just writing. But sometimes you get that spark when you’re working with someone, when you don't even need to say anything – the other person just gets it."
I like those whimsical, magical sounds you just throw on top when a track’s finished; it's the fairy dust at the end."
She points to her experience working with Jim Elliot (M.I.A, Ellie Goulding, Kylie Minogue) on her Start A Riot EP as an example, and, of course, her and Darkchild's like-minded approach.
"It's so, so important. Usually I can tell quickly in a session whether it's going to be a great session or an 'interesting' session,” laughs Darkchild. “The chemistry has to be there in order to have true success. With all the great songs that come out, the ones that are hits, I can honestly say those were really great sessions. The energy was special. Thats why they became what they did.”
