⇐Home
- Writing
Anatomy of a Hit
Blog
Songwriter's Soapbox - Music & Songwriting Industry
Successful Alumni & Colleagues
Successful Colleagues
-
Cat's Biography
- Contact Cat
Anatomy of a Hit™
Cat Cohen's Hit Song Analysis
Cat analyses the top hits of each year dating back to 1999, reviewing the hits and delves into their anatomy to explain how they are structured and why they are today's hits (and may continue to be hits well into the future).
Carrie Underwood—Cowboy Casanova
Carrie Underwood outdoes herself with this sassy uptempo country rocker about a cowboy too hot to handle.
Owl City—Fireflies
Owl City offers up a refreshingly new youthful electronica sound with an intelligent earth friendly message.
Lady Gaga—Just Dance
Lady Gaga delivers a hot fun campy trip that grabs and keeps the dancer and dance music listener from start to finish.
Beyoncé—Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
Beyonce releases yet another lively single dance hit that goes all the way to the Grammys.
Michael Jackson—This Is It
A release from the late Michael Jackson archives shows how his writing and singing are still relevant some twenty-five years after this was originally recorded.
Leona Lewis—Bleeding Love
A powerfully soulful and emotional hurt love song that catapulted Leona Lewis to the top of the charts.
Katy Perry—I Kissed A Girl
Katy Perry’s rebellious cutting edge record about testing the waters of same sex affection.
Sara Bareilles—Love Song
On many levels Sara Bareilles delivers one of the best contemporary love songs of the past few years.
Read Why the song
Love Song
is a hit →
Love Song
is a hit →
Taylor Swift—Love Story
Taylor Swift’s song of young romantic desire twists the tragedy of the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet with a fairytale ending.
Plain White T's—Hey There Delilah
Plain White T’s uniquely written song of college romance has the intimate personal quality of a love letter.
Alicia Keys—No One
Alicia Keys blockbuster hit that many young (and not so young) couples may make their own special love song.
Amy Winehouse—Rehab
Britain’s bad girl takes us on a retro journey to a detox center with lots of attitude in this modern lounge lizard classic.
Mary J Blige—Be Without You
Mary J Blige sings her heart and soul out on this R&B classic song about staying with her man.
Nelly Furtado With Timbaland—Promiscuous
Nelly Furtado hip hops her way to a dance hit with clever lascivious playfulness and attitude.
Ne-yo—So Sick
Ne-Yo shows that not only can he write hits for others, he can do the same for himself with this romantic lament.
Brad Paisley—The World
In this uptempo country-rocker Brad Paisley values the woman in his life even if the rest of the world doesn’t see how special sh
Rascal Flatts—What Hurts The Most
This sad lament of lost love propelled Rascal Flatts to the top of the country charts and launched their career for good.
James Blunt—You're Beautiful
A simple touching song from a refreshing if one-hit wonder.
Green Day—Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Green Day releases a haunting record that dominates the charts and Grammy Awards in 2005 for good reasons.
Kelly Clarkson—Since U Been Gone
Kelly Clarkson sings young adult angst the way it needs to be expressed, honestly and with just enough edgy attitude that we really feel the chip on her shoulder, all her hurt and disappointment.
Mariah Carey—We Belong Together
Mariah Carey outdoes all her past performances with this hip written, styled, and phrased song of romantic regret.
Usher—Burn
Usher confesses truly from the heart and soul about the conflict of his emotions in one of his tortured love relationships.
Evanescence—My Immortal
Evanescence's moody teen angst recording hits the pop charts with its dark expressive classical rock music and somber theatrical lyrics.
Gretchen Wilson—Redneck Woman
Gretchen Wilson launched her career with this anthem-like hit for all rebellious country woman who refuse to be the southern belle stereotype, yee-haw!
Beyonce—Crazy in Love
Beyonce excites dance audiences with her playfully seductive and compelling case for being out of control over her current love interest.
Toby Keith—I Love This Bar
Toby Keith records a joyful rowdy ode to barroom customers everywhere complete with crowd noises and a colorful cast of characters.
Dido—White Flag
Dido takes her arty lyrics with attitude to a new commercial level with this determined to get over it love song.
Avril Lavigne—Complicated
Avril Lavigne turned this well written song into a breakthrough hit that crossed a touch of youthful punky attitude with middle of the pop.
Norah Jones—Don't Know Why
Norah Jones smashes her way onto the pop charts with this out of left field jazzy hit.
Eminem—Lose Yourself
Eminem takes the rap genre into a new crossover direction with this gripping and revealing story he recorded for a film.
Alan Jackson—Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)
In the wake of 9/11 this song was perhaps the most memorable and straightforward.
Train—Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)
Train's abstract arty and catchy initial hit broke many rules yet established this rock group's presence on the charts for some time.
Craig David—Fill Me In
Craig David takes his cutting edge house/jungle music meets R&B to the pop charts with this playful love romp.
Pink—Get The Party Started
Pink's classic party with attitude dance hit that propelled her to stardom.
Faith Hill—Breathe
Faith Hill's soft sexy ballad successfully crosses from country to pop and greatly expands her audience.
Macy Gray—I Try
Macy Gray's sassy R&B record updates an older style of soul music and brings it back to the charts.
Sisqo—Incomplete
Sisqo seemed to be just a hot flash in the pan with his "Thong Song", but this ballad of romantic regret shows he can really sing.
Destiny's Child—Say My Name
Destiny Child's cleverly conceived, written and produced dance hit blazes its way to the charts carving out new territory in pop and dance recordings.
Santana (featuring Rob Thomas)—Smooth
This hot flavored sensual dance record was an international hit that expanded Santana's popularity to a new generation of fans.
Ricky Martin—Living La Vida Loca
Ricky Martin's blockbuster dance hit successfully crossed over salsa and 60s rock to launch the first wave of the "Latin Invasion" of pop at the end of the 90s.