Count it out. There's a couple two counts mixed in with the 4's. Which makes it somewhat authentic imo. It's a real country song. With dance-pop production. And it actually works. Can't recall anything that's succeeded in that respect. I hated Ashley McIsaac. And cotton-eyed joe. Hey Brother is actually a really good song. Good lyrics, good vocal performance, good composition.

I'm guessing it was a matter of deferring. Avicii probly let a real country songwriter write the song instead of butting in.

I'm trying to hum the song but can't be sure I'm getting it structurally right.....the key change in the verse....goes something like 'Oh if the sky comes falling down' part is a 3 bar phrase. And the main part of the verse is a 5 bar phrase. There are probably exactly zero other pop hits in the past 10 years with that structure.

Again....could be wrong here but from memory it's something like:

5 bars verse melody
5 bars verse melody
3 bars verse key change/bridge
3 bars verse key change/bridge
1 bar transition
3 bar chorus hook
3 bar chorus hook
3 bar chorus bridge

Back to the top.

That's pretty original. A real song on top 40 radio. What do you know?