What Makes Songs Ubiquitous

Posted by: Catherine Strawn Filed in: news
4:00PM, Wednesday July 23rd 2008

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Do you recognize the name Daniel Powter? I didn’t. He was the guy who sang the song “Bad Day,” which you’ve heard everywhere in the last couple years (“‘Cause you had a bad day, you’re taking one down/You sing a sad song just to turn it around…”). Since Daniel Powter’s not really famous, and “Bad Day” was no “Umbrella,” what made it so popular? The BBC’s magazine investigated…

There’s very little detail about the “you” in the song. He/she stands in line for coffee, and goes for a ride, and that’s about it. This makes it universal.

It’s about a sort of bad day, not one that involved people dying or not having money to buy food.

The song structure is extremely simple, and the lyrics use “we.” Both of these are things that attract advertisers to a song for use in commercials.

And that’s about it. I apologize for getting the song stuck in your head. [BBC]