Today I’m breaking down a song I wrote a couple of years ago called Lovedrug.
This track is a good example of how simplicity in songwriting can be extremely effective when the core ideas are clear.
It uses one of the most common harmonic patterns in popular music:
I – V – vi – IV
(If you haven’t read my earlier post on chord relationships, I recommend starting there for a deeper explanation of why these chords work so well together.)
Let’s jump in.
Key and harmony
Although the song is often described as being in D♯ major, the more standard and readable key name is:
E♭ major
All of the chords in the song are diatonic—they belong naturally to the same key. There are no borrowed or outside chords. This is one of the main reasons the harmony feels so stable and familiar.
Verse progression
E♭ – B♭ – Cm – A♭
Functionally, in E♭ major:
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E♭ = I
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B♭ = V
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Cm = vi
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A♭ = IV
So the verse follows:
I – V – vi – IV
Chorus progression
E♭ – Cm
Functionally:
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I – vi
Reducing the harmony in the chorus helps make it feel more focused and emotionally direct compared to the verse.
Making the song easier to play on guitar (capo approach)
These chords are awkward to play in open position. To simplify things, I place a capo on the 8th fret and use open chord shapes.
With the capo on the 8th fret, I use:
Verse shapes
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G major → sounds as E♭ major
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D major → sounds as B♭ major
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E minor → sounds as C minor
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C major → sounds as A♭ major
Chorus shapes
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G major → sounds as E♭ major
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E minor → sounds as C minor
This allows the entire song to be played using familiar open-position shapes while sounding in E♭ major.
Why I chose this key
The reason I chose E♭ major (capo on the 8th fret) is simple:
it fit my voice best.
Choosing a key is often more about the singer than the instrument or the theory. A song can feel completely different when moved up or down by only a few semitones.
During the writing process for Lovedrug, I also experimented with the song in G major and B♭ major before settling on this final key.
Trying different keys is a great way to:
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find a more comfortable vocal range, and
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discover new melodic ideas.
Song structure
I would categorize the form of this song as:
A – B – A – B – C – B – B – C
Where:
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A = verse
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B = chorus
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C = instrumental break / interlude
I originally labeled the “C” section as a bridge, but functionally it behaves more like an instrumental interlude. The harmony and overall feel remain very similar to the verse and chorus, and the main difference is that the vocal melody is replaced by a guitar riff.
So the structure is best understood as:
Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Instrumental break → Chorus → Chorus → Instrumental break
Emphasizing the chorus
My favorite part of Lovedrug is the chorus. Since the melody is especially catchy, I wanted to make it the emotional center of the song.
To do that, I simply made the chorus the most prominent section by:
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repeating it more than any other part, and
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placing it close to both the middle and the end of the song.
Lyrics and theme
Here are the lyrics:
Verse
I love to watch you squirm
Every time you lie
Feel the way it hurts
Chorus
You get me high then you bring me down
Don’t know why I ever stick around
Hate to say, hate to say it now
Just a drug, just a drug, just a drug to me
Verse
Why did the fire die?
I want to watch it burn
Every single time
Chorus
You get me high then you bring me down
Don’t know why I ever stick around
Hate to say, hate to say it now
Just a drug, just a drug, just a drug to me
Lyrical idea
The song is about staying in an unhealthy relationship and becoming emotionally addicted to the constant highs and lows.
A line like:
“You get me high then you bring me down”
directly mirrors that emotional cycle. The language is intentionally simple and repetitive to reinforce the feeling of being stuck in a loop.
For this song, clarity and emotional directness mattered more to me than metaphor or complexity.
Melody-writing approach
The melody started with a very simple idea:
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on the word “high”, the melody walks up the scale,
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and on the word “down”, the melody walks down the same scale.
After that, I experimented with many variations of this idea until I found one that felt natural and expressive. That version eventually became the verse melody.
From there, I created small variations of it for the rest of the song.
In practice, melody writing is often just:
trying twenty different ways to sing the same short phrase, and keeping the one that feels best.
Final thought
Lovedrug is built almost entirely from:
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diatonic chords,
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a very common harmonic pattern (I – V – vi – IV),
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and a simple melodic idea.
If you take one thing away from this lesson, I hope it’s this:
simplicity can be extremely powerful when the core emotional idea is clear.
It’s very easy to add too much. Sometimes the strongest songwriting move is knowing when to stop adding and let the song breathe.