Sting’s True Opinion on the Nature of Modern Songwriting: “Structure Is Slightly Simpler Now”

Music before 2010 and after 2010 is drastically different, and there are a plethora of reasons as to what makes it different and why it became different. Following 2010, tastes, tendencies, and listening behaviors changed drastically. Thus, the product, the music, had to change as well. Frankly, some may argue that post-2010 music might be the biggest tonal shift in the industry since the 1960s, and not necessarily for better or for worse. Rather, it has simply changed. One renowned musical individual who agrees is Sting.

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We all know Sting as one of the most monumental musicians of the 20th century. Thanks to his hits “Roxanne”, “Every Breath You Take”, and “Englishman In New York”, Sting remains not only one of the most successful musicians of all time, but also one of the most successful songwriters of all time. However, the way he created hits is not the way hits are being created now, and he attested to that fact in a 2021 interview with Rick Beato.

A Monumental Shift—How Sting Believes Songwriting Has Changed

While Sting was incredibly complimentary about modern music, he did point out some qualities that could be interpreted as redundant and overly simplistic. Of course, music is music, and it is up for interpretation. Although per Sting’s comments, it seems this new school of thought has eliminated some of songwriting’s richest facets.

“There’s some great musicians, and great songwriters, and great music out there,” Sting told Rick Beato. “What I have noticed, though, is structure is slightly simpler now. It’s minimalist. […] The bridge [of a song] has disappeared. For me, the bridge is therapy.”

Subsequently, Sting went on to divulge how important the bridge is to a song, as it allows for the big tonal reversal. In other words, it is the very thing that can make a completely sad song into a more bittersweet piece.

“In modern music, most of it, you’re in the circular, you know, trap, really,” he continued. “It just goes round and round and round it goes. It fits nicely into the next song… but you’re not getting that release. That sense that there is a way out of our crisis. Music needs to show us a way out, and modern music isn’t doing that at the moment.”

How profound. Sting did not condemn modern songwriting, but he did point out a major flaw in it. A flaw that lacks one of music’s most important attributes: catharsis.

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