Sentimental ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.[1] Ballads are generally melodic enough to get the listener's attention.[2]
For the painting by Grant Wood, see Sentimental Ballad (painting). For information on the modified type of blues music in South Korea, see Korean ballad.
Sentimental ballads are found in most music genres, such as pop, R&B, soul, country, folk, rock and electronic music.[3] Usually slow in tempo, ballads tend to have a lush musical arrangement which emphasizes the song's melody and harmonies. Characteristically, ballads use acoustic instruments such as guitars, pianos, saxophones, and sometimes an orchestral set. Many modern mainstream ballads tend to feature synthesizers, drum machines and even, to some extent, a dance rhythm.[4]
Sentimental ballads had their origins in the early Tin Pan Alley music industry of the later 19th century.[5] Initially known as "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads", they were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera, descendants perhaps of broadside ballads. As new genres of music began to emerge in the early 20th century, their popularity faded, but the association with sentimentality led to the term ballad being used for a slow love song from the 1950s onwards.[6]
Power ballad
Early 1970s
Genres
Jazz and traditional pop
Most pop standard and jazz ballads are built from a single, introductory verse, usually around 16 bars in length, and they end on the dominant – the chorus or refrain, usually 16 or 32 bars long and in AABA form (though other forms, such as ABAC, are not uncommon). In AABA forms, the B section is usually referred to as the bridge; often a brief coda, sometimes based on material from the bridge, is added, as in "Over the Rainbow".[36][37]
Pop and R&B ballads
The most common use of the term "ballad" in modern pop and R&B music is for an emotional song about romance, breakup and/or longing.[22] The singer would usually lament an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.[38][39]