“Jar of Hearts”, and the Art of the Long, Slow Build

Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle, and kick-start your songwriting career!
____________

Christina Perri’s single, “Jar of Hearts”, currently no. 19 on Billboard’s Hot 100, is a beautiful example of how to contour a ballad into a hauntingly beautiful musical journey. The secret to the song’s success lies in its subtleties. The song evolves over 4 minutes, providing a climactic moment that doesn’t blast through, but rather demonstrates that an even, slow build will grab listeners and keep them listening. She accomplishes this with melodic shape, harmonic progressions, instrumentation, and (of course) those amazingly poignant lyrics.

Arguably, the lyrics are probably the strongest aspect, though there’s nothing weak in this song at all. But the words are expertly crafted to touch even the stoniest heart. Again, it’s in the subtleties. The text, while emoting most of the way through, saves sterner words for later:

I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed
Cause you broke all your promises
And now you’re back
You don’t get to get me back

But even those words are careful, controlled, and measured. No screaming expletives here, just an out-classing of an old, failed lover.

If you want to keep people listening, you’ve got to do more than give good lyrics. The instrumentation (piano, strings) is exquisite, growing tantalizingly slowly, perfect for this song. In addition to a long, gradual crescendo, the arrangement makes use of strings in various octaves; lower at first, delicately high violins in the bridge, filling out again for the final choruses.

Chord choices in this song seem to focus on minor tonalities representing sadness, indecision, regret, switching to mainly major chords in the chorus when the lyric switches to bravado (“Who do you think you are”). Also tossed in are modal mixture chords (Abm at “tearing love apart”, and Fdim at the end) that convey a slight suggestion of regret.

The key to the song’s success, and the lesson that songwriters can learn, is that the long, slow build hooks listeners as strongly as any other kind of hook does.

In a typical 3-and-a-half to 4-minute song, you’ll get at least two chances to build song energy. Because “Jar of Hearts” uses a typical energy build in the chorus, it makes sense to allow energy to dissipate in the bridge that follows the second chorus, allowing you a second opportunity to gather momentum for a climactic ending.

If this were an 80’s ballad, you might expect the song to build to the point where reverb-laden drums kick in, but you won’t get that here; the key to success in this kind of song lies in subtleties, and those first-rate lyrics. In quiet, measured tones she completely destroys her former lover.

“Jar of Hearts” should inspire you to go back over the songs you’ve written recently, and try practicing the art of intricacy and nuance. Look for ways to contour your ballads carefully. With slowly paced music, gradual builds that last several minutes will often win out over songs that show a more erratic contour.

________________

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website
Follow Gary on Twitter for notification of website updates and daily songwriting tips

“The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle will show you how to write great songs, harmonize your melodies, and give you hundreds of chord progressions in the process.

PURCHASE and DOWNLOAD the e-books for  your laptop/desktop

or GET THE iPHONE/iPOD TOUCH APP

NEW: Advanced Chord Progressions in HD, with sound samples, for your iPAD!