Power Ballad Pop
tagStarted 1983Peak 1986-1998Last big hit still active
The big-build slow anthem: a quiet, intimate intro on piano or clean guitar that detonates into a soaring chorus with crashing drums, layered backing vocals and a wailing climactic note. Grand, dramatic, designed for lighters-up arenas. The dynamic leap from whisper to roar is the whole point.
History
Born when 1980s rock and pop crossed power-chord drama with soft-pop tenderness, the power ballad became the defining slow song of the late 1980s. Vocal powerhouses such as Whitney Houston, Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion pushed it onto pop radio, and films like The Bodyguard, Robin Hood and Armageddon turned the form into blockbuster chart events through the 1990s.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Could_Turn_Back_Time
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Eclipse_of_the_Heart
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Always_Love_You_(Whitney_Houston_recording)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don't_Want_to_Miss_a_Thing