Keep in mind when bridges in songs had been a factor? The place lyrics had precise meanings and the tune was one thing worthy of buzzing at work. Yeah, these had been the glory days of full-bodied, slow-burn songs. Ziplining to 2025, we live within the age of prompt hooks and 20-second bursts of dopamine photographs. These days, songs don’t develop on you; they ambush you.
Hooking on a Viral Feeling
“I nonetheless see creators making nice music that isn’t formed by Reels,” says Mumbai-based singer and freelance graphic designer Kelly D’lima. Artists are not crafting music meant to be savoured. As a substitute, they’re constructing catchy traps designed to maintain the listeners hooked. Producers and songwriters are not beginning with a narrative, melody, or setting the temper. They’re beginning with the second, that 12-to-30-second beat drop or lyrical hook that is going to spawn dance challenges and grow to be background music for make-up tutorials. “Traits come and go,” rues D’lima. “In a couple of years, artists will most likely must adapt to a brand new format altogether.”
Algorithms reward repetition, fuelling hype and letting customers remix sounds to swimsuit their reels, typically at the price of originality. “I’ll use a trending sound two or thrice, however after that, it feels overdone,” says Samitth Karnekar, who juggles content material creation along with his job as a service provider navy officer.
Enjoying It Protected
Hooks are frontloaded, choruses are chopped, and verses? Let’s simply say they’re on life help. Gone are the sluggish builds and refined reveals. Now, it’s all bang, no buildup. Let’s focus extra on construction. A standard pop tune would usually stream like this: verse/refrain/verse/refrain/bridge / closing refrain. Every part had a function—a spot to develop the emotion, story, or rhythm. The bridge particularly acted like a reset button or a reveal, a dramatic twist earlier than the ultimate hurrah. Singer and music composer Prithvi Gandharv is among the many few holding onto authenticity prefer it’s the final instrument left on a tech-saturated stage. “No, I sing my coronary heart out with out considering in any respect,” he says. “I by no means even plan what I’m going to sing—I’m going with what I really feel in the mean time.”
Now, it’s simply “Intro, hook, finished.” With shrinking consideration spans, singles and EPs rule, and narrative arcs are out, as a result of no one’s sticking round for Observe 7, Facet B anymore. “I’ve by no means averted artistic dangers simply because one thing may not work for Reels or Shorts,” provides Gandharv.
Consideration Spans
It’s not completely the musicians’ fault; listeners have developed a collective case of doomscroll. They need music that mirrors their feeds — flashy and forgettable. If a tune does maintain its grip within the first 10 seconds, we declare it lifeless. We relatively determined to ‘’get to the nice half,’’ remixed on CapCut. For D’lima, the important thing isn’t in resisting change however in utilizing it correctly. She sees tendencies and algorithms not as a artistic compass however as a advertising and marketing software. “Stick to creating music the way in which you’re most snug with. Let the tendencies show you how to market, not dictate what you write.”
Musicians now use this to research what lyrics stick and what beats don’t. Which lyric acquired clipped most in fan edits? Which beat drop went viral? Which 9-second snippet made it right into a meme? “Typically your content material doesn’t even present up until individuals seek for that particular sound,” provides Karnekar.
D’lima doesn’t see this shift as completely new. “I not too long ago noticed a video of Akon speaking about how he made his songs ‘ringtone-friendly.’ He knew a catchy 20 seconds might promote extra, so he constructed songs round that.” Whether or not it’s ringtones within the 2000s or reels in 2025, the medium could change, however the technique stays: make it snappy, make it stick.
A Chew-sized Reel
Karnekar has seen this shift play out firsthand. Typically the views spike simply due to the audio. However on the similar time, it’s restricted—your content material would possibly solely floor if somebody is actively trying to find that sound.’’
Social media reels had been the beginning of the 10-15 seconds increase, and unknown artists can now go from bed room to billboard with one viral soundbite. Genres like lo-fi, regional rap, and hyperpop have discovered huge world audiences they could by no means have reached by means of conventional routes. “No tune hits anymore—artists simply recycle one trending tune all season prefer it’s a blueprint,” provides Karnekar. An ideal instance? The haunting ballad Ranjha from Shershaah, after which a totally totally different Ranjha once more, utilized in Masaba Masaba. Similar vibe, similar temper—simply rewrapped for the subsequent wave.
Karnekar, who typically enhances his movies with VFX to create a extra immersive expertise, says the rise of algorithm-chasing and AI-generated edits is draining the soul out of content material. “Earlier, there was room to construct one thing distinctive—now all the pieces’s a race to duplicate,” he explains. The push for virality has flattened artistic danger. For creators like him, it’s not nearly views—it’s about preserving a way of authorship in a feed that more and more rewards sameness over storytelling.
Future Development
We’re not going again to the ’90s. The period of the sluggish, romanticized album rollout is behind us. However what we are able to hope
