Don't be afraid to mess with the arrangement and the dynamic range of a song. After you finish writing a song and have done a demo to get your thoughts down or simply rehearsed it to death with your band... try not to suffer from DEMOITIS! Even if the "demo" or the current arrangement is great remember there is demo great and final product great. Explore new sounds, try a different drum pattern and alternate guitar line, etc.... YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK... If you don't have the luxury of a home recording system at least record your (band) rehearsal on your phone.. It is always different when you listen to your song later on and you are not in the moment just trying to play and/or sing your part. You will be able to pick things apart and analyze what you have done. Thats why athletes watch film of their games. They acknowledge the good and the bad, make corrections and recognize what is working.
A trend I've noticed with young acts is not falling victim to tradition song structure. I love that musicians are really pushing the envelope in this area. Why does every song have to be verse, hook, verse 2, hook 2, bridge, hook 3, done.. There are no rules, it just has to feel good and natural to the listener. So try and mess with the order of the song.. I like things like adding a B section to ONLY verse 2 to make it slightly longer than Verse 1. How bout Post Hooks? How bout NOT using a post hook on every hook!! Boring. Change it up.. how bout a a whole new post hook at the end of the song that was never in any other part of the song.. EXPLORE! Your audience will eat it up...
As for dynamic range, we live in an era of LOUD.. records CAN have dynamics.. even if you are a hard rock act! Dynamics equate to EMOTION to the listener. The general public doesn't understand chord progressions and even the crafting of a melody... they relate to music emotionally. Increasing the dynamic range of a piece can move the listener. Try a smaller Verse section with less information after the first hook.. maybe make the bridge of your song a lot more stripped down. There are so many ways to improve the dynamics of a song. One of my favorite ways to improve dynamic range is to NOT COMPRESS the hell out of every track! I guess if you are doing an EDM record or any other club record you wanna slam it. That said, good EDM producers create the dynamics in the arrangement. Drops, Filter Sweeps... you name it.. So push yourself! Don't settle and get feedback from other creative people you trust. Listen back to music you LOVE.. I will bet if you really listen intently you will notice the care and attention that went into it. It is easy to make GOOD music. It's really hard to make GREAT music...