Ever tuned into His Radio (or a comparable Christian radio station), heard a contemporary worship song and felt like you’ve definitely heard it before? But also maybe not? Then this article is for you! Here, I’ve broken down and analyzed the basic components of the average His Radio track so you can finally understand why you can listen to a Christian radio station for a whole hour and feel as if you’ve been listening to a single, sixty-minute-long song.

So sit back and enjoy my scientific research of this musical phenomenon!

(Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, I know nothing about music, and I’ve only been listening to the radio in general for 3 years now).

Start with an ambiguously familiar melody. If you’re having trouble thinking of one, try messing around with the four chords of pop music (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I–V–vi–IV_progressio...) and churn out a character-less pastiche of an already character-less pop song. Then, start the track off with overlapping, hazy guitar renditions of the melody before moving on to your drum line.

Get a nice beat going: not too loud but also not too quiet. You want your audience to be vaguely aware of the drum line, but you definitely don’t want to draw all their focus to the beat (especially not at the beginning of the song). Basically, you’re shooting for the white bread of nondescript beats.

Now, bring in your singer. Here, you have two options: a gruff-ish, rock male voice (think: Mumford & Sons Lite) or a somewhat-pitchy, indie female voice (think: Ellie Goulding after she’s just run a mile). Either choice is fine. Ultimately, the singer doesn’t matter in the end because he/she is simply an instrument for the Lord and because the congregational singers in the final third of the song will drown out the main voice anyway. However, do make sure to start the singer with varying “ooo” and “aaa” sounds as the song begins, possibly mixing in “Thank you, Jesus” or a brief devotional or Scripture reading.

Next, let’s move on to the lyrics. This is a very important step to get right because you will repeat these lyrics over and over until your listeners aren’t sure if they were born hearing those very same lyrics or not. So choose your subject matter and phrasing wisely; stick to obviously true theological statements, modernized Psalms or allusions to classic hymns. Once you have a solid verse or two and a chorus, choose the phrase you wish to repeat and just go crazy.

Then, take a look at your overall structure. You want to follow a simple “first verse, chorus, second verse, chorus, key change and repeating phrase” structure. This format works without fail and can be slightly customized if you’re looking to compose something a little out of the ordinary: for example, starting with the chorus and then transitioning into the first verse.

Finally, you need to cultivate the general emotion of the song. Are you going to go full-on worship? Or quiet reflection? These are your two main options, but if you’re feeling adventurous, you can try mixing the two together or working off a sub-genre of either.

Congratulations! You’ve now mastered the art of creating and understanding the art of the His Radio song. Use your new-found knowledge wisely and get to writing some new Christian worship songs.