One technique which I think is a great little trick to keep your listeners coming back to your songs is to establish a catchy hook throughout your song, and then at the very end of the song, cut that hook short and leave them wanting it. I learned it from Jay Frank who wrote the book, "Future Hit DNA."
The best example I can think of this happens in the song, “We Are the Champions,” by Queen.
The chorus repeats three times in this song. The first two times we hear the chorus, it ends on Freddie Mercury singing the phrase “… Of the world,” after singing the line “We are the champions.” In the last chorus, at the very end of the song, that phrase “of the world” is omitted and the song ends on “We are the champions.”
I remember hearing this song when I was younger. It would get to the very last line in the song and it would end without the line “Of the world.” It would drive me crazy. I’d wonder why the song didn’t the song end on that line. It was in the previous choruses, so why wasn’t it at the end? I needed to hear that line. I couldn’t take the way it left me hanging. So what would I do? I’d play the song again. I’d get my fix at the choruses in the middle of the song, but then I’d get to the end. Again, I was left hanging. By simply omitting that line, they made me want to hear that song over and over again.
Pretty cool stuff.
