“When you're making a singular pop song, you don't really need any subject matter. You just sort of say, "Uh, I love you." And then you try to figure out some rhyme for that, and there never is one.” TryingSongLove YouRhymePop Song Author:Stephin Merritt
“Yeah, except that when I write pop songs I have pretty strict constraints that I impose on myself. 69 Love Songs is a constraint. That the titles have to begin with "I'"s is a relatively strict constraint. Charm of the Highway Strip is all travel songs. And I am free to change the plot slightly to accommodate something that happens to rhyme conveniently.” WritingSongRhymePop Song Author:Stephin Merritt
“Well, there are certainly original things to say. But I'm not sure that a pop song is the appropriate format to say them in.” SongNot SurePop Song Author:Stephin Merritt
“Well, things hold up even if they sound dated. It can be very difficult to listen to 80s pop songs with really, really gigantic smashed drum sounds. You just want to turn that gated reverb down on the snare. It sounds wrong now. It sounds amateurish. And ugly. But at the time it sounded state-of-the-art. So yeah, I think it's important not to sound state-of-the-art in a way that anybody else is going to sound. Or you'll quickly sound like yesterday's state-of-the-art.” ThinkingImportantSongDifficultUglyPop Song Author:Stephin Merritt
