"The pause makes you think the song will end. And then the song isn't really over, so you're relieved. But then the song does actually end, because every song ends, obviously, and THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL."Song pauses are something I never thought about before. But I've had that feeling before as I'm sure everyone has. When you think "oh the song is over now". But then it's not. It's sort of a weird experience and I never stopped to think why? But listening to songs and looking for pauses makes you understand why the artist would choose to do that. It makes such a difference. Who would have thought the absence of noise in a song would make it better but somehow it does.
Shake it Off, Taylor Swift’s upbeat and carefree song, has a
great song pause from 2:43-2:45. This song is fun and joyful, the pause giving
the listener a moment after the silly and carefree spoken section before going
into the chorus again, dancing and having a ball. I think this pause kind of gives you a moment to register what just happened in the song. The spoken section isn't really something you really expect in a TSwift song and that pause kind of gives you the chance to laugh at how weirdly awesome it is before throwing you back into the catchy chorus.
Skinny Love by Birdy shows a different way to use song
pauses. In this sadder pleading song, there are five pauses! (:39-:40,
1:02-1:03, 1:31-1:32, 1:53-1:54, 2:21-2:22) and each of the pauses seems like a
breath for the listener to take. There is one more last pause at 2:39-2:41 that
is the most interesting. If you listen
carefully, in the middle of this pause a single note is played on the piano,
followed by a squeaky noise that sounds like someone moving on a chair. This
adds such authenticity to the song, making it seem as though Birdy is in the
room with you, playing this song at a piano. When the song finally does end,
you almost think it’s just another pause and that the song could keep going on.
The pause in Cool Kids by Echosmith is by far my favorite.
It’s just so fun! And probably the most “classic” style of pause. The song
could have been over right there but after that two-second pause, suddenly the
chorus is back even more sing-able and dance-able than before. The pause has so
much power that a musical break doesn’t because there is this moment where you
think “is it over?” and you think it could be. But suddenly, almost instantaneously, the song is back
and that makes the catchy chorus seem even better than it was earlier in the
song. And once you know it's there it's even greater. You wait for the pause, and wait for the chorus to begin again and it just sounds right.
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