Pinpointed: Wait for it…

By: Bailey Tolentino

 
 

Pinpointed: Wait For It…

Sometimes we listen to certain songs just to hear that one part that really hits. Oftentimes, it’s the ending. In this edition of Pinpointed, I’ll be diving into how songs can be structured to lead up to a satisfying outro that listeners can look forward to. 

Featured Tracks:

  1. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

  2. BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish

  3. Free Now - Gracie Abrams

  4. The Bell Jar - Chrissy

‘All Too Well’ takes snippets from several previous choruses and sets them to a different, slower melody than the choruses (starting at 8:42). This results in a beautifully reminiscent and nostalgic outro full of moments that both Swift and her love interest remember all too well: “wind in [her] hair,” “[walking] down the stairs,” “[sharing a] sacred prayer”… and she ends by reminding us that “it was rare” and she remembers it all. These four lines repeat over and over until the song fades to a close, so as to give off the feeling of a memory slowly leaving one’s mind. In this instance, we see lyrics working with the reprising nature of the outro to bring a very long story into summary and leave the details behind.

‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’ utilises its outro in a similar way as it reprises previous aspects of the song; but this time, it is not the lyrics. It is the melody of the choruses (“I don’t know what I’m crying for/I don’t think I could love you more”) that is recalled. Eilish leads us into the outro with a scream: “til the day die!” (2:43-2:49). This almost has the effect of a serotonin release as the outro feels euphoric both melodically and lyrically; it is as if to say, “we’re finally here.” All the lyrics in this outro are different from the other choruses, and it has much more sonic complexity to it. We get several new vocal layers, there’s more percussion, and the melody of the verses is played by a synthesiser rather than sung. This ties together the whole song and feels more like reaching outward than reminiscing on the past, which works with the concept and themes of the song.

‘Free Now’ has two sections to its outro, unless we consider the first half (beginning at 1:45) to be the bridge. The increase in beats per minute makes that the climax of the song, so it might be safer to consider the slower second half  (which begins at 2:37) as the proper outro. Abrams impressively fits three very melodically and rhythmically different sections into a song just over three minutes in length. The final one, however, stands out as a call out to her love interest, “if you find yourself out/if there is a right time/chances are, I’ll be there/we could share a lifeline.” She also shows acceptance — putting to rest the angst of the verses and the reeling of the bridge — with the final line, “all I feel is free now.” Ending the song with its title makes it cohesive despite the fact that it is technically all over the place. 

‘The Bell Jar’ is a pretty mellow song, and its outro demonstrates how a song’s ‘big moment’ does not necessarily have to be larger than life or all-encompassing like those of ‘All Too Well; or ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’. This outro is more like a tangent, as Chrissy spirals in her head, ‘this sadness runs so deep that my feet can’t reach the bottom, dum, dum’… Those ‘dum dum’s fall right into the outro, which is almost sung as an exhale: “I’ll never let someone in again” feels like it swoops in from below to catch the rest of the song. There are no extra layers or changes in tempo, but the lines have fewer words in them, which slows down the quickness of thought that permeates the rest of the song. It’s almost like the overthinking of the rest of the song would have never stopped if the tangent of the outro never came in. 


Across these four songs, we encounter several ways that a song can effectively close itself out. Whether the outro serves as an epic reprise of previous occurrences in each song (like in ‘All Too Well’ and ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’) or as an unexpected resolution to an outpour of emotions (like in ‘Free Now’ and ‘The Bell Jar’), it is an incredibly valuable element to songs, leaving lasting impressions on both listeners and the songs themselves.