Sorry if this is a bit of an odd question, but it's something I've been struggling with a lot. I make pop music and I've been trying to understand how chords fit into everything and it's not clear to me. On the other hand, the other parts are super clear to me:

The vocal is the melody. The kick is the beat. The snare/clap is the engine/counter-point. The hi-hat is the constant. The bass compliments/follows the kick. Minus the melody, all the other aspects form the groove of the track.

Chords on the other hand ...I'm not sure what their role is in the overall composition. A large part of this is that I see chords as being optional, while I don't see the bass, kick etc. as being optional to a composition. A lot of pop music simply relies on the beat, and the only time I generally see chords being used is during the Chorus to create more energy.

This is why in my mind, the closest relation to chords I can think of is the bass. In the sense, that it's something that helps create variety and which follows the kick.

Of course, maybe chords fulfill multiple roles at once? Would love to hear additional input to this.