Originally Posted by tore

I think sometimes, it's simple and sometimes it could be hard.

Let's say you have a great composer and their task is to make a hit pop song. In other words, the task is to make a song which should be popular with a lot of people, most of which know little about music or are not really serious music consumers. Obviously, the song should be in traditional time, or else these people will get confused. It needs a few hooks - some simple melody that gets stuck in your head. It needs to be familiar so as to not throw people off - probably the standard verse, bridge, chorus setup. But, a really good pop song also has a slight edge - something new, like a new sound, something that will pique people's interest and make it stand out (but again not enough to confuse them).

All of these things could come together relatively easy because the composer just happens to get a great idea. Or it could not. But even though it could be hard to make these things come together, it's pretty clear that there are some constraints you need to keep in mind when making pop music. It has to be catchy, it currently has to be in traditional time and you basically can't stretch the formula too much. So, pop music is not necessarily simple to make, but the musical toolbox that you can use to make it is certainly smaller.