How to Make a Hit Single

Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" is a good example of how to make a hit single.

Most hit songs don't happen by accident. They are usually the end result of much collaboration, marketing and creativity. Despite this, there is no guaranteed formula for success. If you take a look at the construction of Lady Gaga's hit song "Poker Face", you will see that several rules of thumb apply to making popular music.

Instructions

1. FIND GOOD PRODUCTION, because the first thing people usually pick up on is how a song sounds. Having solid production can turn almost any song into a media sensation. Poker Face's instrumentation is very strong, very catchy and has a lot of variation in it.

2. CREATE A GOOD SONG CONCEPT. Poke Face does this and more by using the concept of a poker face as a metaphor for sexuality and deception. Songs with thought behind them tend to have a lot more staying power than their competitors.

3. WRITE A CATCHY HOOK. This is critical to making a hit song, because the chorus, or the hook, is usually the first part of the song that people memorize. In the case of Poker Face, the hook is catchy because of the stutter-like manner in which it is delivered.

4. HAVE STRONG LYRICS. Strong songwriting is mostly to appease musical critics. Most pop music fans could careless about the words in the song, as long as they are catchy. Lady Gaga's lyrics in Poker Face are surprisingly strong for such a poppy record.

Tips & Warnings

• Versatility goes a long way in making a hit song. The more demographics of people you can reach out to in a song, the more staying power the record will have. For Poker Face, it has the potential to be played in clubs, on the radio, during commercials and so on.

• Experimentation may also lead to a smash out hit song. Popular music has a tendency to all sound alike, but if you can create a sound that stands out from the clutter on the radio, you have a good chance of making it big.