It’s now 2026 and I’ve woefully underutilized my blog on my personal website. One of my goals this year is to write more. I want to submit some academic articles that have been stewing for far too long, but I also want to post some piecemeal analyses from time to time. Here’s the first in hopefully a long running series of analyses!
I’m choosing to start with “SOS” – Avicii & Aloe Blacc because I’ve thought about this track for far too much time to not write anything about it. I think by the end of this post, you’ll appreciate how interesting this 2:38-long track is!
In my opinion, Avicii was a brilliant Electronic Dance Music (EDM) producer. I also think that many of his tracks contained too much diverse musical material. Avicii was a master of creating catchy melodic hooks, but he often jumped between these ideas rather than synthesizing them together. (I should note, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I do think he left significant potential unrealized!)
However, all of those criticisms are not valid with his 2019 posthumous hit “SOS” which instead is a masterclass of subverting expectations through the careful deployment of Avicii’s exceptional hook-crafting abilities.
Video 1. “SOS” – Avicii & Aloe Blacc
Some Notes about EDM and Pop/Rock Song Form
There has been quite a bit of academic research on formal functions in EDM(-influenced) music over the past few years. However, there is a lot of conflation of terms that has unfortunately led to a very messy vocabulary to talk about different phenomena, including traditional formal structures (like pop/rock song form and verse-chorus units), sonic functions (as best formalized in Asaf Peres’s influential PhD dissertation), and timbral elements. I hope one day to help tease out the conflation of these terms, because I think it has become a detriment to interesting, successful analyses of EDM and EDM-infused pop music.
As far as I can tell, few people have actually thought of EDM and pop music as existing on a spectrum between two competing structural ideologies, that between traditional pop/rock song form verse-chorus units (VCUs) and between EDM’s sonic functions of setup→buildup→climax. Most of the focus has been on trying to synthesize these two ideologies into one, but for many EDM(-influenced) tracks I think there is more benefit in considering a track’s structure through both of these competing lenses by themselves before synthesizing.
For “SOS,” it’s incredibly important to think of the track through traditional popular song form, especially as described in Jeffrey Ensign’s PhD dissertation.
Let’s Talk about Hooks!
There are two main vocal melodies in “S.O.S.” Recently, I posted to both Facebook and Bluesky posing the following question: without any other context, which of these two melodies do you think is the chorus?
Of course, why would I ask such a question? Well, it turns out that both of them have some chorus-like qualities to them. For example, take a look at this first melody (Example 1). A few people who responded to my social media inquiry noted the “hookiness” of this melody. And in fact, it does feel very catchy and memorable. Additionally, it has a pretty clear call-and-response structure, where the opening two measures are left open (lingering on scale-degrees 3 and 5), while the consequent two measures are closed (ending decisively on scale-degree 1).
That opening melody is then immediately followed by the melody in Example 2. Several other people (and most notably my dissertation advisor), pointed out that this melody felt more chorus-like because of the opportunity for repeated lyrics (as indicated by the exact same notes/rhythm at the end of each phrase). However, one reason why this might not feel quite as “chorus”-like as Example 1, is that the rhythm is much faster, and (as you might be able to tell by the lack of slurs) there are many more words, which impedes memorability.
Now, why did I post these melodies without the lyrics? Great question!
Let’s Talk about Lyrics!
Lyrics are obviously important in helping determine the difference between verses and choruses. One of the most common ways to identify a chorus is to find 1) the titular lyric and 2) the lyrics that repeat.
Well, we don’t need to go far to find the titular lyric. It’s in the very first line!
Can you hear me? S.O.S.
Help me put my mind to rest
Two times clean again I’m actin’ low
A pound of weed and a bag of blow
So obviously Example 1 is the chorus. Right?
Let’s take a look at all of the lyrics.
| “S.O.S.” – Avicii & Aloe Blacc |
|---|
| Can you hear me? S.O.S. Help me put my mind to rest Two times clean again, I’m actin’ low A pound of weed and a bag of blow |
| I can feel your love pullin’ me up from the underground, and I don’t need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers I can feel your touch pickin’ me up from the underground, and I don’t need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers |
| We could be more than just part-time lovers We could be more than just part-time lovers |
| I get robbed of all my sleep As my thoughts begin to bleed I’d let go, but I don’t know how Yeah, I don’t know how, but I need you now |
| I can feel your love pullin’ me up from the underground, and I don’t need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers I can feel your touch pickin’ me up from the underground, and I don’t need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers I can feel your touch pickin’ me up from the underground, and I don’t need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers |
| (We could be) We could be more than just part-time lovers (Part-time lovers, yeah) (More than, more than lovers) We could be more than just part-time lovers |
| Can you hear me? S.O.S. Help me put my mind to rest |
Well, look at that…the opening lyrics don’t repeat until the end of the song (which is clearly an outro). But the lyrics that align with Example 2—those lyrics do repeat. A lot. And as it turns out, Example 2 is the actual chorus melody.
Why Does This Matter?
Some folks may know this, but one strategy that became popular in the 2000s in both pop and hip-hop is placing the hook/chorus at the beginning of the track. This was especially important to “hook” listeners in at the beginning of a song, which helped hiphop become one of the dominant genres of the 2000s.
Here, I suspect that Avicii was playing with our expectations quite a bit. By including the titular lyric “S.O.S.” in the very first line, in a very “hooky” melody, we are conditioned to interpret this section as the chorus. It’s very easy to sing. It’s memorable. It has all of the qualities that make a great chorus.
Except, it doesn’t repeat.
It isn’t until the lyric “I get robbed of all my sleep” comes in when anyone who interpreted the opening melody as the chorus gets thrown off. (Oh hi, that was me!)
I suspect that some people could correctly guess the verse-chorus structure of “S.O.S.” on the first listen. However, I suspect many other people experienced it just like me. For me, it’s this ambiguity that actually makes this song so enjoyable.
But, I think this reveals something important about EDM and EDM-influenced pop music. Many of the biggest EDM producers out there are exceptionally good at creating hooky melodies. For example, I think there are several vocal melodies in “Happier” by Marshmello ft. Bastille that are fantastically crafted hooks (not to mention the very hooky instrumental drop!)
It may be somewhat misguided to view a melody’s hookiness as a verse-chorus structure indicator in EDM, perhaps because EDM producers—especially those popular on the festival circuit—are both so good at writing hooks and also have greater incentive to write successful hooks to activate their large festival crowds.
Speaking of festival crowds…I’m sure they will become a subject of a future blog post. Stay tuned!