Is TikTok killing off the pop music bridge?

It’s a trend that’s been spotted by everyone from Sting to social media users: the bit of a song between the verse and chorus is disappearing. Are short attention times to blame, or is this simply another evolution in songwriting?

Back in March, the Australian singer Hatchie tweeted: “Why are pop songs with a bridge a dying breed?” She wasn’t the only one pondering that question; it was a sentiment that would be echoed in a post by the TikTok musician Boy Jr in August, who – to the tune of Video Killed the Radio Star – told her 300,000 followers that the very platform she was posting from had, along with streaming services and algorithms, “killed the bridge in pop songs”. In another TikTok post that garnered 100,000 likes in November, user, R00keries wrote “shoutout to every artist that still writes bridges in their songs … they’re the best part and I hate that they’re going away”.