History and character
Electropop is pop built almost entirely from electronic sounds, with a sharper, more ironic or more minimal attitude than 1980s synth-pop. Its roots are in the synth-pop and electro of the early 1980s, but as a label it exploded in the late 2000s and early 2010s: Lady Gaga (The Fame, 2008, with RedOne), La Roux (Bulletproof, 2009), Robyn (Body Talk, 2010), Ladyhawke, Little Boots, Ke$ha, Marina and the Diamonds, then Grimes, Charli XCX, Lorde (Royals, 2013, produced by Joel Little with very few elements), Halsey, Billie Eilish with her brother Finneas (bad guy, 2019) and Troye Sivan.
Two souls coexist. The first is the bright, danceable electropop of the 2000s: electro house, saw synths, “fizzy” basses, Auto-Tuned vocals, a club aesthetic. The second is the minimal, alternative electropop of 2010–2020: lots of empty space, 808 subs, percussion made of finger snaps, found sounds and vocal chops, a whispered voice right up against the microphone, and productions often born in a bedroom (Finneas produced Billie Eilish's first album at home with Logic Pro).
Aesthetics: the electronic sound is shown off, not hidden; essential arrangements in which every element has a function; strong contrasts between nearly empty verses and choruses or “drops” built on a synth or bass riff instead of a full sung chorus.
Scales and keys
Natural minor (Aeolian)
- Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 (T S T T S T T). In D: D E F G A Bb C.
- Characteristic note: b6 (Bb): dark, sensual.
- Chords: i Dm – ii° Edim – III F – iv Gm – v Am – VI Bb – VII C.
- Use: i–VI–III–VII loops, 808 basses on the tonic and b6.
- Example: Lady Gaga — Poker Face (G# minor, minor loop over a synth bass).
- Mistakes: using too many chords: modern electropop sticks to 2–4.
Phrygian
- Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 (S T T T S T T). In E: E F G A B C D.
- Characteristic note: b2 (F): menace, tension, a “dark” flavor.
- Chords: i Em – bII F – bIII G – iv Am – v° Bdim – bVI C – bvii Dm.
- Use: bass riffs that touch the b2 (E–F–E), whispered vocal hooks, tense verses.
- Example: many Billie Eilish tracks and dark pop use the b2 as a color note in the bass lines; bad guy is in G minor with a chromatic bass line.
- Mistakes: dwelling on the b2 in the chorus melody: it makes the song sound “Eastern” instead of dark.
Harmonic minor and the blues scale as color
- Harmonic minor: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7, in A: A B C D E F G#. The major V (E) for tension and “sinister” bass lines (b6–7–1: F–G#–A).
- Blues: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7, in G: G Bb C Db D F. The b5 for “dirty” bass riffs.
Mixolydian
- Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 (T T S T T S T). In D: D E F# G A B C.
- Characteristic note: b7 (C): relaxed, “cool” major.
- Chords: I D – ii Em – iii° F#dim – IV G – v Am – vi Bm – bVII C.
- Example: Lorde — Royals (D C G, I–bVII–IV).
- Mistakes: inserting an A major chord (V) breaks the color.
Major (Ionian)
For bright electropop (Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX on her most pop tracks): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, in A: A B C# D E F# G#; IV–V–vi–I progressions.
How to choose
| Color | Scale | Signature |
|---|---|---|
| Nocturnal, sensual | Aeolian | i–VI–III–VII |
| Menacing | Phrygian | i–bII |
| “Cool” major | Mixolydian | I–bVII–IV |
| Euphoric | Ionian | IV–V–vi–I |
Decide the scale from the bass riff: in electropop it is often the main hook and it defines the mode.
Harmony
Function
Minimal harmony: loops of 2 or 4 chords, often implied by the bass and the melody with no pads. The bass often holds a pedal or a riff while the chords (if there are any) change on top. Tension comes from subtraction (I remove the chords in the pre-chorus and leave only voice and bass) and from timbre (filters, distortion) more than from cadences.
Typical techniques
- Riffs instead of chords: the drop or the chorus is a synth or bass riff (Poker Face, bad guy).
- Single-note chords: power chords, fifths, chords without the third for an “electronic,” ambiguous sound.
- Chromaticism in the bass: half-step passages between scale degrees (b6–5, b2–1).
- Slow harmonic rhythm: one chord every 2 bars in alternative pop.
- Mode change by section: minor verse, chorus in the relative major.
Voicing
Chords in the middle register with few notes (2–3); supporting pads very low in volume; short, syncopated stabs in dance tracks.
Typical progressions
| Name | Key | Chords | Degrees | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor loop | D minor | Dm Bb F C | i VI III VII | The foundation of nocturnal electropop; the major VII restarts the loop without a cadence. |
| Two minimal chords | E minor | Em C | i VI | Two chords are enough: the interest is in the beat, the bass and the voice (alternative pop). |
| Major electro | Ab major | Ab Fm Db Eb | I vi IV V | An electronic doo-wop progression for bright, danceable tracks. |
| Tense Phrygian | E Phrygian | Em F Em D | i bII i bVII | The oscillation with the bII creates a menacing verse. |
| Cool Mixolydian | D major | D C G G | I bVII IV IV | The Royals progression: sub and voice are enough, the bVII gives a relaxed color. |
| Pedal with chords on top | G minor | Gm Eb/G F/G Gm | i VI/i VII/i i | The bass stays on G (often a long 808) and the chords on top change: tension without movement. |
| Minor with major V | A minor | Am F G E | i VI VII V | The E major chord from harmonic minor gives a dramatic color to the last bar of the pre-chorus. |
| Relative major for the chorus | C major | Am F C G C G Am F | vi IV I V → I V vi IV | Same material, shifted center: the chorus “opens up.” |
Rhythm and groove
Two main feels. Dance electropop (2008–2012): four-on-the-floor kick or electro patterns (kick on 1, “2-and,” 3), a dry clap on 2 and 4, sixteenth-note hi-hats, 0–10% swing. Minimal/alternative electropop (2013–today): half time or syncopated patterns with lots of space, long 808s, finger snaps, claps and found percussion; the snare sometimes on 3; light swing (52–56%) on the small percussion.
Syncopation lives in the bass and the voice; rests (whole bars without drums) are a rhythmic instrument. Many songs use sudden stops before the drop and changes of feel between verse and chorus.
Drums
Kick
Dance: on every quarter note (steps 1, 5, 9, 13), short and punchy. Minimal: syncopated (steps 1, 4, 11 in sixteenth notes), sometimes replaced by an 808 with a clean attack. Sound: short (150–250 ms), click at 3–5 kHz.
Snare, clap, snap
Dry clap (not snare) on 2 and 4, or finger snaps; in alternative pop, snare on 3 (half time) or rimshot. Layers: clap + snap + noise (paper, foley). Ghost notes are rare, replaced by small percussion.
Hi-hat and percussion
Sixteenth-note hats with offbeat accents in dance; in minimal tracks the hats are sparse (eighth notes) or absent, replaced by shakers, clicks, mouth sounds, metronome “ticks.” Found percussion (phone recordings, objects, foley) is part of the sound (bad guy uses recorded sounds of objects and voices).
Interaction with bass and voice
The bass often is the kick (808 + click). The voice, very close, occupies the center: the drums leave the space between 1 and 4 kHz free.
By section
Verse: almost nothing (bass + click); pre-chorus: everything is removed or filtered; chorus/drop: the kick and the riff come in; bridge: change of feel (half time, a completely different beat).
Fills and transitions
Few played fills; more often noise risers, reverse vocals, half-bar stops, glitches (stutter of the voice or of the beat), pitch-downs of the beat.
Sounds
Dry, short samples, often saturated; tuned kicks and 808s; claps with a short tail.
Typical mistakes
Filling the space: minimal electropop lives on gaps. Continuous sixteenth-note hats that flatten the groove. Claps with too much reverb.
Bass
- Sound: saturated or distorted synth (filtered saw, square), 808 with distortion (alternative pop), the “fizzy” electro house bass of the 2000s. Two layers: clean sub + distorted mid.
- Register: sub 40–60 Hz, mids 200 Hz–1 kHz that can be heard on a phone.
- Relationship with the kick: discreet sidechain (2–4 dB) in dance; in minimal tracks the kick and the 808 are the same event, or the kick is only the click.
- Notes: root and octave, syncopated riffs, chromaticism (b6–5, b2–1), 808 slides by an octave or a fifth.
- Examples: Lady Gaga — Poker Face (repeated synth bass); Billie Eilish — bad guy (syncopated synth bass riff that is the hook); Lorde — Royals (sub under voice and snaps).
Harmonic instruments
- Saw and square synths with a filter: stabs, plucks, sidechained chord stabs.
- Minimal pads at low volume, often a single held chord.
- Piano (Lorde, Billie Eilish in the ballads) as the only harmonic instrument.
- Organ and sampled voices as pads.
- Guitar rare, filtered or sampled.
Voicings with 2–3 notes in the middle register; full chords are saved for the chorus.
Melody and vocals
- Melody: short, repeated hooks, often spoken-sung; verses in a low, whispered register, chorus higher or, on the contrary, a chorus without voice (instrumental drop).
- Vocals: lead voice very close to the microphone (proximity effect, audible breaths), tight or whispered doubles, very tight third and fifth harmonies in alternative pop (Billie Eilish stacks many harmonies); ironic gang vocals.
- Ad-libs: short, pitched, with effects.
- Effects: Auto-Tune as an effect (fast retune), octave pitch shift (“chipmunk” or demonic voices), formant shift, distortion, telephone filters, delay at 1/8 or 1/4, short reverbs or none in the verses.
Instruments
Lead vocal and backing vocals, drum machine and samples (808, 909, foley), synth bass and 808, synths (saw, square, pluck, stab), piano, organ, vocal chops, FX (risers, glitches, noise, reverses).
Drum patterns
Synths and sounds
- Korg MS-20 V — Distorted basses and leads: HP/LP filters with aggressive resonance, great for “fizzy” basses and screaming leads; use the high filter's distortion.
- Mini V — Synth bass: Saw + square, filter with a fast envelope for clean, powerful electropop basses.
- Jun-6 V — Pads and square: Square with PWM and chorus for minimal pads and arpeggios.
- Prophet-5 V — Stabs and plucks: Short, defined chords for dance tracks.
- ARP 2600 V — Basses, FX and synthetic percussion: Noises, sweeps and synthetic percussion for experimental pop.
- Piano V — Piano: Electro-pop ballads (Lorde, Billie Eilish): intimate piano, close mics.
- Vocoder V — Robotic voices: “Electro” hooks and backing vocals.
Song structure
| Section | Bars | What comes in/goes out |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | 2–8 | Riff or voice alone; on streaming the voice often starts right away |
| Verse 1 | 8–16 | Bass, click/snaps, close voice |
| Pre-chorus | 4–8 | Bass removed or filtered, higher voice |
| Chorus / drop | 8 | Kick, synth/bass riff; sometimes an instrumental drop |
| Verse 2 | 8 | + percussion |
| Pre + Chorus | 4–8 + 8 | |
| Bridge / beat change | 8–16 | New beat (half time, different tempo), often surprising (bad guy changes completely at the end) |
| Final chorus / outro | 8 | Return or abrupt ending |
Length often 2:30–3:15.
Mixing and mastering
Sonic goal
Strong contrasts and space: a very close, present voice, deep sub, little filling in the midrange. In dance electropop: a powerful low end, bright synths, constant energy. References: Billie Eilish — bad guy, Lorde — Royals, Lady Gaga — Poker Face, Robyn — Dancing on My Own, Charli XCX — Boom Clap.
Kick
- EQ: HP 30 Hz; +2 dB at 50–60 Hz; −3 dB at 300 Hz; click +3 dB at 4–5 kHz.
- Compression/clipping: clipper to define the transient; transient shaper +attack.
- Space: dry. Pan: center.
Clap, snap, snare
- EQ: HP 200 Hz; +2 dB at 1–2 kHz for the snap; −2 dB at 500 Hz.
- Compression: fast FET 3–5 dB or none.
- Space: very short room or none; longer reverb only as an automated effect.
- Pan: snaps and foley pushed aside (20–50%) to create space around the voice.
Hi-hat and found percussion
- EQ: HP 300–500 Hz; cut the resonances of the foley (high Q).
- Pan: scattered (30–80%); use panning to create “movement.”
- Saturation: bitcrusher or light distortion for character.
Bass / 808
- EQ: HP 25–30 Hz; sub 40–60 Hz; presence 700 Hz–1.5 kHz.
- Compression: opto 3–4 dB; clipper on the 808.
- Saturation: essential: distortion or saturation on the mid layer (Decapitator, Saturn, Fruity Blood Overdrive), clean sub below 100 Hz.
- Stereo: mono below 150 Hz.
- Sidechain: from the kick 2–4 dB in dance; in minimal tracks avoid it if the 808 and the kick are a single event.
Synths, stabs, piano
- EQ: HP 150–250 Hz; dynamic dip at 2–4 kHz triggered by the voice.
- Saturation: parallel distortion on the leads.
- Space: short reverb or plate; ping-pong 1/8 delay on the plucks.
- Stereo: wide if secondary, narrow if they are the hook.
Vocals
- EQ: HP 80–100 Hz; the proximity effect must be handled with a cut at 150–250 Hz; presence +2/+3 dB at 3–5 kHz; air +3 dB at 12 kHz.
- Compression: heavy (10–12 dB total in series: 1176 + LA-2A), to get whispers and full voice at the same level; careful de-esser at 6–8 kHz (whispers have a lot of S sounds).
- Saturation: light, for density.
- Space: nearly dry verses (very short room, 0.3–0.5 s), chorus with plate and delay; throw delay at 1/4.
- Creative effects: pitch and formant shift, parallel distortion, telephone filter in the verses.
Backing vocals and harmonies
Tight harmonies, heavily compressed, fanned out in the stereo field (e.g. 3 voices L 40% / C / R 40%), low volume: they should sound like a single “wide” voice.
FX
Glitch, stutter, reverse: on an FX bus with HP at 200 Hz.
Buses and groups
Drum bus with clipper (1–2 dB); vocal bus with 2 dB of compression and saturation; music bus almost absent (few elements).
Sidechain
Pads and synths from the kick 2–4 dB in dance; from the voice (1–3 dB at 2–4 kHz) in minimal tracks.
Master
- Chain: EQ → clipper → limiter (often the clipper and limiter do most of the work).
- Target: dance −8/−6 LUFS; minimal alternative −10/−8 LUFS (bad guy sounds loud but with a lot of perceived dynamics thanks to the space).
- True peak: ≤ −1 dBTP.
- Dynamics: PLR 8–11 dB.
Common mistakes
- 808 without saturation: it disappears on small speakers.
- Whispered voice not compressed enough: it gets lost in the verses.
- Too many elements: it ruins the “emptiness” that gives impact.
- Long reverbs on everything: modern electropop is dry.
Reference tracks for the mix
Billie Eilish — bad guy (2019); Lorde — Royals (2013); Lady Gaga — Poker Face (2008); Robyn — Dancing on My Own (2010); Charli XCX — Boom Clap (2014).
Reference listening
- Lady Gaga — Poker Face (2008)
- La Roux — Bulletproof (2009)
- Robyn — Dancing on My Own (2010)
- Grimes — Oblivion (2012)
- Lorde — Royals (2013)
- Charli XCX — Boom Clap (2014)
- Halsey — Gasoline (2015)
- Billie Eilish — bad guy (2019)
- Troye Sivan — Rush (2023)