Bossa Nova - Structure

Structure

In the early bossa nova recordings, in terms of lyrical themes and length of songs (typically two to four minutes), bossa nova was very much a popular-music style. However, its song structure often differs from European and North American popular music's standard format of two verses followed by a bridge and a closing verse; bossa nova songs frequently have no more than two lyrical verses, while many lack a bridge. Some of João Gilberto's earliest recordings were less than two minutes long, and some had a single lyrical verse that was simply repeated.

Certain other instrumentations and vocals are also part of the structure of bossa nova:

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