hey it would be really cool if u reacted to some King Gizard and the lizard wizard songs (mainly their songs catching smoke and yours) and psychedelic popcorn crumpets (mainly lava lamp pisco and dread & butter)
Interesting point! Is it modal interchange between Phrygian dominant and phrygian? Or is is it Spanish phrygian? Is it both? Which is the correct description?
@@andyk3451 I feel like it's probably interchange since it's kinda separated between the chords, instead of playing it as one scale. Either works though, I guess, it's not like you need to express an entire singular scale over a single chord. Since Spanish Phrygian is apparently an already defined scale, I guess it makes a lot of sense to lump this into that too, though the other way around, I'd say there's cases where it's clearly played as one scale and wouldn't be called interchange. (If I play a chromatic scale, that's not modal interchange between literally all modes, as an extreme example)
I always thought the spanish phrgian is just another name for the phrigian dominant, which is what he's mentioning in this vid. The minor 3rd is a bit of spice that goes well with the major flat 2 chord. As you have a spanish sounding name, i suspect that you've been practicing this scale in a cool authentic way!
In greek/arabic music this sound is known as hicaz. There is a sensitivity when using the minor vs major 3rds and 7s almost like cadences in western music.
@@dreamcatcherismylifesuppor2348 im not super familiar with balkan music theory terminology but i would assume so, as these are all areas that were affected by Ottoman influence
@@SammysCruisers except I'd say it's not a different scale, but more like a "makam" which are kinda like scales of Arabic/Turkish/Greek music. Hicaz is also a makam
Never heard this song before, but the harmony is kind of interesting and reminded me a lot like and Arabic/Hispanic sound (The feeling reminds me of “Toreros”, “Flamenco” and the musical “Carmen”)
I felt the Arabic side too. I didn’t associate this with Spanish, but I only really think of flamenco when I think Spanish and I’m not familiar enough with that. I get that Carmen was a Spanish setting, but I assumed Bizet was French based on his name. I guess he knew how to evoke a Spanish vibe.
it's because the first two chords of the phrygian mode *i* and *IIb* are only a half-step apart, which sorta mirrors the Db_maj and D_maj in the video also being a half-step apart. the spanish-ness is your brain recognizing the phrygian-ness.
I think a good reason that it can sound Arabic and Hispanic is because of the Arabic rule over Spain up until a few hundred years ago. They probably influenced each other, but Arabic to Hispanic more.
I hadn’t heard this song too much, but watching this video makes me realize how similar the harmonies are to Montero. Interesting how chords that aren’t traditionally standard in pop music catch on across the genre
It's because Pop overall is shifting to focus on dark, bass focused slow bump & grind tracks that could play at raves, in a club or just on the radio. It's popping off at parties and shit because it's more sexually focused than older pop tracks, following on from a lot of Lil Nas, Doja Cat and others while taking notes from Billie Eilish's production
Yes. Musicality is what makes you "want" to sing along. It isn't about being able to sing it, or it even being singable, or easy, or in a small range, or whatever, by most people. It can be insanely hard for the average person ( re: Hallelujah chorus ). I realized this when, on a single watch of Frozen, every 4 year old girl was trying to sing Let It Go even though it's basically impossible for them. But they want to, because it's catchy even though it's actually hard to do.
Yes thank you, I don't get why everyone says that melodies have to be singable to be catchy. If it weren't already catchy, you wouldn't be singing along in the first place, meaning that singability just can't be the origin of catchiness.
II do not like the song but I really liked it when it was played on the piano.'m no musician but I really like playing around the the two ideas in the song. Not exactly the same key but I do like the phrygian dominant scale. Just running up and down the scales sounds nice. Also, I to ii looping is perhaps my favorite chord progression (if you can call it that).
What got me hooked to this song above all other tik tok overused tracks is the harmony in the choir. I don't have the music harmony chops to analyse it but there's something incredibly haunting and evocative.
Amazing analysis. I’m not someone who believes that repetition = catchy. It’s a popular, reductive simplification to me (although repetition has some part in it). I think you’re right about the importance of a melody’s rhythm. The rhythmic units for this song are not simply repetitious-they’re intelligent, conversational modifications of expected rhythmic repetitions. It’s both predictability and interesting deviation from the predictable that explains, in part, why something feels catchy. Also, although the harmonic context is D and Db alternating I think a lot of the interest is in the way the melody differs from what we might expect to get in a major (or minor), diatonic context. Some of the lines surprise me in the way they return to major or imply a ‘minor’ scalar move. It keeps handing us back chromatically altered versions of what we expect that are (interestingly and intelligently,) “almost what we expected”.
@@rpavlik1 Adam’s cool. No doubt. “Repetition legitimizes” though is a statement with some truth and a pretty heavy dose of cynicism. I’m what you could call, like, a ‘moderate cynic’. Moderate. Sure! Something you listen to 18 times is more memorable after repetitious hearing than something you listened to once or twice. Makes sense to me… but that’s not the same as imagining melodic content to be like some kind of chump with a cornerstone-coffee-card hoping (via repetitions) to collect enough stamps to finally be awarded a free coffee: Legitimate at last! Some ideas just have a lot of, “innate legitimacy”, let’s say. They’re like _really good_ before they ever get a retweet. That happens. And this pseudo-neurological stuff of “the brain” ‘likes’ repetition, etc… the brain! The brain! I’m digressing. Look, I can remember (ish) hearing the Beatles song Yesterday for the first time. You get harmonically situated while Paul’s delivering that first reticent, wistful, reminiscent, brief word: Yesterday. Then he goes charging up (Bach-like) a totally different scale. Paul doesn’t have to wait in line to get his coffee card punched. It’s brilliant. All I’m saying is, there’s a felt, knowable, subjective difference between what’s “catchy” and something (like a phone number you repeat out loud not to lose) that’s just become “memorable” via repetition. Like I say, I’m moderate. I know there’s overlap between those categories but a musical person, even if they can’t explain it, knows what catchy is by experience and it’s not a shitty melody on frequent repeat that ‘the brain’ rubber stamps as good.
Heard this song on TH-cam first and instantly I liked it. It wasn't because it was played over and over. It's haunting and beautiful. I didn't know the lyrics but its musically gorgeous.
I think the repetition explanation can also be informed by studies that show that earworms come when a song is only partially remembered-not being able to finish it is key to getting it stuck in your head. So if the song can have an extremely memorable melody that gets reused in so many places that you DON'T have a single lyrical phrase to learn backwards and forwards, it's more likely to stick around
For some reason, your comment makes me think of hip hop samples eg Warren G and Nate Dogg sampling Michael McDonald’s ‘I Keep Forgettin’ (which happens to be the only the bit I like in the original) or Hilltop Hoods Nosebleed Section using ‘The People in the Front Row’. Hip hop artists in the 90s really knew their stuff - great jazz samples all over the place
I dont agree tho. I’m in love with it within the first phrase. The writing, the production, the performance, mixing. Everything just blends into each other so well
I had to pause this video and come back to it, and lo and behold, despite having never heard this song before, I am finding myself whistling the tune. The pop gods are truly powerful.
I have noticed, after listening to this song for a million times, that quite cleverly the melody right before the chorus has an interesting rhythm. It contrasts a 4:4 polyrhythm in one line with a 4:3 (in the “keep-your-bus-iness-clean” part). I don’t think it’s mind-blowing or revolutionary but I haven’t picked on it before (probably because there’s no other song I’ve heard so much lol)
I'm pretty sure the melodic line was lifted from a Middle-eastern folk song. I knew I heard it before this song came out, and has probably already been used in Arabian Pop or in film scores.
I was going to say this, this is also a reason I really love System of a Down, and a lot of other rock/metal bands "subtly" or very directly steal from Middle Eastern music. Just sooo incredibly beautiful and catchy. This song is definitely beautiful because of the arabic feel to it.
it's a super common chord progression, especially in kpop. it's a 1major 2 major phrygian/hispano-arabic scale. mayday (april), fire (exid), gratata (lapillus), and i could keep going. it's so overdone it hurts.
I was just looking at my music library and thought of something great that I think would be nice to break down. The version of Over the Rainbow that Pentatonix sang (from the album PTX, Vol. IV_ Classics) has some really great advanced cords the hole way through that really make it sound great.
I think it would be really interesting for you to breakdown the music theory behind electronic music. Specifically, one of my favorites (Aleksandir) has beautiful chord progressions and very interesting rhythms. He is classical trained on piano, and in my opinion you can totally hear that in his compositions. His songs "Lowdown" and "between summers" have some really pretty melodies and chords. Would love to see you breakdown music from this genre!
There is a name for this scale, it’s called the Klezmer scale, with the 2nd note getting the flat treatment. E.g. Db, Ebb, F, Gb, Ab. Very common use for middle eastern music, since the instrument are focused towards the scale.
Charles talked about that scale throughout the video, it doesn't fit the melody because it has an Fb or E natural. It's not a single scale, but an example of modal interchange between phrygian and phrygian dominant.
Notice it was produced by Ilya who is Swedish producer and one of Max Martin’s students He previously worked with Max on Ariana’s biggest hits So he’s following this Max Martin HIT FORMULA so that’s just enough answer for why it’s catchy ? why it’s everywhere? why it’s simple? why it’s repetitive blah blah blah everything falls apart after that Max and his crew (Shellback-Dr.Luke-Benny Blanco-Ilya-Rami Yacoub-Ali Payami-Oscar Holter-Savan Kotecha) have had a long history with bangers and hits that I cannot mention (seriously not kidding they’re over 100) so go check them Max Martin school is all about catchy melodies, simple lyrics, and boom they all hit at some point in time over the last 26 years there is no room for ballads, poetic lyrics, deep stuff that’s not his and crew specialist in 🇸🇪
Basically Max’s students are divided to each artist based on what they’re good at Max,Rami Yacoub did the Britney hits Max, Shellback did Pink’s hits Max, Shellback did Taylor’s hits Max, Shellback did Maroon5 hits Max, DrLuke, Benny did Katy’s hits Max, Ilya, Savan did Ariana’s hits Max, Ilya, Savan did Demi’s hits Max, Ali Payami, did Taylor’s hits Max, Oscar did The Weeknd’s hits And they don’t contrast for example Ilya is so good at these R&B sound that fit Ariana but not Katy or Taylor Shellback also is a mastermind at creating Pop hard four-on-the-floor beats so he fits more Pink and Maroon and Taylor Oscar is genius dealing with the synth’s so he was in The Weeknd’s After Hours project and Dawn FM
Classical earworms include Beethoven's 5th, Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Bach Prelude to first cello suite, Wagner Ride of the Valkyries, Dvorak New World Symphony (2nd movement), Rossini William Tell Overture, and Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Prelude. All of these pieces have the profile that you laid out--a simple idea that is easy for the ear to latch onto but is nonetheless unique. Thinking of something like this is an act of true genius because it is very difficult to come up with something that is both simple and original.
D Flat Phrygian Dominant sounds very close to mayamalavagowla ragam in South Indian Carnatic music except for the flat Ni/B note. This is the basic ragam/scale that everyone starts learning, and that’s why it sounds exotic!
Didn’t know this song. Just immediately thought the sound clip was catchy, looked at the lyrics and good grief no thanks 😳 BUT, YOU know your way around a piano. Incredible! I could just listen to you play these chords all day! You know your stuff.
Can you pretty pretty PLEASE do a reaction commentary to Dirty Loops? The tracks "Hit Me" and "Follow the Light" would be a good start. Some of the most insane musicianship I've ever seen.
I don't know why but when you break it down it starts to give me Prince of Egypt vibes. I'm assuming it's because it kinda sounds like the cord used it many "I'm stuck in the hot dessert" songs
My recent marching competitions we had a peice called con slancio which is Latin sounding and it throws the keys around and makes use of something similar to the frigiant dominant.
I think they were thinking in Phrygian Dominant but when they came up with that last part, they needed a better passing tone than F on Dmaj hahaha. As a producer, that makes more sense to me, but idk.
Please listen to the Master of Masters Theme from Kingdom Hearts. The theme of the track and the character together just screams "planned insanity" and I would love to see your take on the piece.
I think I hear it more as a repeating V-VI in a minor key with the 7th scale degree being raised until the end of the chorus when it walks down do-te-le-le-sol.
Its cool how it goes down in that bluesy tritone scale where its like harmonic minor then it uses the E note like the normal minor. It also happens on the unholy word which steps down down down in that kindof wrong brooding way. I dont like the song either but yea i like music so. And its not really a tritone i guess but it gives that effect. Which is why it has an Egyptian kindof sound but then has a bluesy kindof sound. I play this scale all the time. Pianists cant bend like a guitarist so they do a walk down a lot and make it wonky in the middle. Most people would say youre playing music WRONG. But its actually more beautiful and broken with resolve sometimes......like life.
I think it is catchy because it is good and tries to sit in the same memory bank in my brain as the Top Gun Anthem song with that similar melodic part that confuses my memory and makes me sing the wrong song but makes me remember it faster with the added old memory "of a similar song" that can help it stick to memory better. Old memories with similar melodies can probably trade short term memory with similar melodiy, creating a more catchy song. I'm saying depending on what memories you have you experience different songs to be catchy too you than to other people.
Not really. I bet you that he can’t. Not voluntarily. It might happen but it really is not an easy task. Doesn’t matter how much you study all this stuff.
I’m doing that annoying thing where I comment a few seconds into the video. But that’s just so I could share this organic realization without help from the instructor: this sounds just like Bacchanalia (sp?) from Samson & Delilah (always played it for the pops concert) it’s so catchy it’ll put you in a feverish dance trance. Perfection!
I think it can be easily explained using 5th and 6th chords of Fsharp minor with both harmonic and melodic minor elements depending on the trajectory of the melody.
I spent all of last year studying pop music another thing that makes songs catchy and once you pick up on it you’ll hear it every where, the rhythm almost is 2 or 3 of the same and then a 3rd or 4th repetition is slightly different
when you were talking about hearing a song over again, i remembered how I witnessed every single performance of the opera Rigoletto at the bregenzer Festspiele, because i worked there for 2 month, i swear i mumble every single line, hum every single instrument that you could hear well, it was so funny, when i am listening to the opera now and sing aloong, everyone thinks i am insane
![“อาร์ต พศุตม์” เกือบเอี่ยวทุกคดีดัง เอ๊ะไว้ก่อน ไม่มีอะไรได้มาง่ายๆ | แฉ 16 ต.ค. 67 [2/3] | GMM25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0Gx-0-kUBv8/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out the new vlog!! cornellmusicacademy.com/thesetbreak
Bro could you please review the Halo 3 ODST soundtrack? Especially “another rain” and “asphalt and abolition”
hey it would be really cool if u reacted to some King Gizard and the lizard wizard songs (mainly their songs catching smoke and yours) and psychedelic popcorn crumpets (mainly lava lamp pisco and dread & butter)
the chorus starts with F# and not F natural
The "spanish phrygian" (frígia española) has the minor and major third in it and suits the melody and progression perfectly
Interesting point! Is it modal interchange between Phrygian dominant and phrygian? Or is is it Spanish phrygian? Is it both? Which is the correct description?
@@andyk3451 i would have called it Phrygian dominant as the technical name for the mode but any name is fine
@@andyk3451 I feel like it's probably interchange since it's kinda separated between the chords, instead of playing it as one scale. Either works though, I guess, it's not like you need to express an entire singular scale over a single chord. Since Spanish Phrygian is apparently an already defined scale, I guess it makes a lot of sense to lump this into that too, though the other way around, I'd say there's cases where it's clearly played as one scale and wouldn't be called interchange. (If I play a chromatic scale, that's not modal interchange between literally all modes, as an extreme example)
I always thought the spanish phrgian is just another name for the phrigian dominant, which is what he's mentioning in this vid. The minor 3rd is a bit of spice that goes well with the major flat 2 chord. As you have a spanish sounding name, i suspect that you've been practicing this scale in a cool authentic way!
In greek/arabic music this sound is known as hicaz. There is a sensitivity when using the minor vs major 3rds and 7s almost like cadences in western music.
Isn’t that also Balkan music ?
@@dreamcatcherismylifesuppor2348 im not super familiar with balkan music theory terminology but i would assume so, as these are all areas that were affected by Ottoman influence
I feel like Sam Smith veers off the scale when we sings the words "something unholy". It's almost like he goes with a different scale
@@SammysCruisers except I'd say it's not a different scale, but more like a "makam" which are kinda like scales of Arabic/Turkish/Greek music. Hicaz is also a makam
I feel the tune more like maqam humayun, hypophrygian in byzantine
Never heard this song before, but the harmony is kind of interesting and reminded me a lot like and Arabic/Hispanic sound (The feeling reminds me of “Toreros”, “Flamenco” and the musical “Carmen”)
I felt the Arabic side too. I didn’t associate this with Spanish, but I only really think of flamenco when I think Spanish and I’m not familiar enough with that. I get that Carmen was a Spanish setting, but I assumed Bizet was French based on his name. I guess he knew how to evoke a Spanish vibe.
it's because the first two chords of the phrygian mode *i* and *IIb* are only a half-step apart, which sorta mirrors the Db_maj and D_maj in the video also being a half-step apart. the spanish-ness is your brain recognizing the phrygian-ness.
I think a good reason that it can sound Arabic and Hispanic is because of the Arabic rule over Spain up until a few hundred years ago. They probably influenced each other, but Arabic to Hispanic more.
I hadn’t heard this song too much, but watching this video makes me realize how similar the harmonies are to Montero. Interesting how chords that aren’t traditionally standard in pop music catch on across the genre
Yess!! I realised how similar it is to Montero after I looked up to chords to play it on keyboard
It's because Pop overall is shifting to focus on dark, bass focused slow bump & grind tracks that could play at raves, in a club or just on the radio. It's popping off at parties and shit because it's more sexually focused than older pop tracks, following on from a lot of Lil Nas, Doja Cat and others while taking notes from Billie Eilish's production
Yes. Musicality is what makes you "want" to sing along. It isn't about being able to sing it, or it even being singable, or easy, or in a small range, or whatever, by most people. It can be insanely hard for the average person ( re: Hallelujah chorus ). I realized this when, on a single watch of Frozen, every 4 year old girl was trying to sing Let It Go even though it's basically impossible for them. But they want to, because it's catchy even though it's actually hard to do.
Yes thank you, I don't get why everyone says that melodies have to be singable to be catchy. If it weren't already catchy, you wouldn't be singing along in the first place, meaning that singability just can't be the origin of catchiness.
Would be cool to turn that into classical piano masterpiece
I really want to see somebody do it
II do not like the song but I really liked it when it was played on the piano.'m no musician but I really like playing around the the two ideas in the song. Not exactly the same key but I do like the phrygian dominant scale. Just running up and down the scales sounds nice. Also, I to ii looping is perhaps my favorite chord progression (if you can call it that).
super excited about this track, because it seems to fulfill the late producer SOPHIE’s vision of what pop music should sound like.
Does It tho? Her work was a lot more challenging than this
can you elaborate this is interesting
???? Composers abs Folk Musicians have been writing music 10X more complex than this for 300 Years. Where have you been?
What got me hooked to this song above all other tik tok overused tracks is the harmony in the choir. I don't have the music harmony chops to analyse it but there's something incredibly haunting and evocative.
Yes, I would really like to watch an analysis of that harmony!!
Amazing analysis. I’m not someone who believes that repetition = catchy. It’s a popular, reductive simplification to me (although repetition has some part in it). I think you’re right about the importance of a melody’s rhythm. The rhythmic units for this song are not simply repetitious-they’re intelligent, conversational modifications of expected rhythmic repetitions. It’s both predictability and interesting deviation from the predictable that explains, in part, why something feels catchy. Also, although the harmonic context is D and Db alternating I think a lot of the interest is in the way the melody differs from what we might expect to get in a major (or minor), diatonic context. Some of the lines surprise me in the way they return to major or imply a ‘minor’ scalar move. It keeps handing us back chromatically altered versions of what we expect that are (interestingly and intelligently,) “almost what we expected”.
That said, I've heard someone once (or twice or...) say that "repetition legitimatizes" 😁
@@rpavlik1 Repetition Legitimizes.
@@JordanWeberMusic Repetition Legitimizes
@@rpavlik1 Adam’s cool. No doubt. “Repetition legitimizes” though is a statement with some truth and a pretty heavy dose of cynicism. I’m what you could call, like, a ‘moderate cynic’. Moderate. Sure! Something you listen to 18 times is more memorable after repetitious hearing than something you listened to once or twice. Makes sense to me… but that’s not the same as imagining melodic content to be like some kind of chump with a cornerstone-coffee-card hoping (via repetitions) to collect enough stamps to finally be awarded a free coffee: Legitimate at last!
Some ideas just have a lot of, “innate legitimacy”, let’s say. They’re like _really good_ before they ever get a retweet. That happens. And this pseudo-neurological stuff of “the brain” ‘likes’ repetition, etc… the brain! The brain! I’m digressing. Look, I can remember (ish) hearing the Beatles song Yesterday for the first time. You get harmonically situated while Paul’s delivering that first reticent, wistful, reminiscent, brief word: Yesterday. Then he goes charging up (Bach-like) a totally different scale.
Paul doesn’t have to wait in line to get his coffee card punched. It’s brilliant. All I’m saying is, there’s a felt, knowable, subjective difference between what’s “catchy” and something (like a phone number you repeat out loud not to lose) that’s just become “memorable” via repetition. Like I say, I’m moderate. I know there’s overlap between those categories but a musical person, even if they can’t explain it, knows what catchy is by experience and it’s not a shitty melody on frequent repeat that ‘the brain’ rubber stamps as good.
You don’t have to believe something for it to be true
Heard this song on TH-cam first and instantly I liked it. It wasn't because it was played over and over. It's haunting and beautiful. I didn't know the lyrics but its musically gorgeous.
@Vi714 yesss, her vocals are *chefs kiss*
I think the repetition explanation can also be informed by studies that show that earworms come when a song is only partially remembered-not being able to finish it is key to getting it stuck in your head. So if the song can have an extremely memorable melody that gets reused in so many places that you DON'T have a single lyrical phrase to learn backwards and forwards, it's more likely to stick around
For some reason, your comment makes me think of hip hop samples eg Warren G and Nate Dogg sampling Michael McDonald’s ‘I Keep Forgettin’ (which happens to be the only the bit I like in the original) or Hilltop Hoods Nosebleed Section using ‘The People in the Front Row’. Hip hop artists in the 90s really knew their stuff - great jazz samples all over the place
Truee
You should definitely do breakdowns on halo and destiny music. Nobody that does what you do has done a video on stuff like that. Loved the doom video.
This would be sick Salvitori and O'Donnell are masters of their craft
Agreed!
I think this song fits that 2000's trends of R&B pop with middle eastern-esque arrangements.
I definitely agree
Kind of like “Naughty Girl” by Beyoncé??
@@BracceG2 Yeah
Kelis' Millshake, Buttons by Pussycat Dolls, the list goes on...
I just recently finished watching all your videos! I'm a pianist and composer and love your content!
I dont agree tho. I’m in love with it within the first phrase. The writing, the production, the performance, mixing. Everything just blends into each other so well
I had to pause this video and come back to it, and lo and behold, despite having never heard this song before, I am finding myself whistling the tune. The pop gods are truly powerful.
i’m a sucker for choir stuff, since i sing in one, so this song’s in my head mainly for that reason.
I have noticed, after listening to this song for a million times, that quite cleverly the melody right before the chorus has an interesting rhythm. It contrasts a 4:4 polyrhythm in one line with a 4:3 (in the “keep-your-bus-iness-clean” part). I don’t think it’s mind-blowing or revolutionary but I haven’t picked on it before (probably because there’s no other song I’ve heard so much lol)
Never heard this song before, still interesting to learn how earworms can be created.
Its been fun watching charles become a capable business person, in addition to a talented musician
I'm pretty sure the melodic line was lifted from a Middle-eastern folk song. I knew I heard it before this song came out, and has probably already been used in Arabian Pop or in film scores.
I was going to say this, this is also a reason I really love System of a Down, and a lot of other rock/metal bands "subtly" or very directly steal from Middle Eastern music. Just sooo incredibly beautiful and catchy.
This song is definitely beautiful because of the arabic feel to it.
it's a super common chord progression, especially in kpop. it's a 1major 2 major phrygian/hispano-arabic scale.
mayday (april), fire (exid), gratata (lapillus), and i could keep going.
it's so overdone it hurts.
I was just looking at my music library and thought of something great that I think would be nice to break down. The version of Over the Rainbow that Pentatonix sang (from the album PTX, Vol. IV_ Classics) has some really great advanced cords the hole way through that really make it sound great.
Never heard of it before this vid. It’s sounds like Jack Marshall’s Munsters theme, which is one of the most awesome pieces of music ever!
I think it would be really interesting for you to breakdown the music theory behind electronic music. Specifically, one of my favorites (Aleksandir) has beautiful chord progressions and very interesting rhythms. He is classical trained on piano, and in my opinion you can totally hear that in his compositions. His songs "Lowdown" and "between summers" have some really pretty melodies and chords. Would love to see you breakdown music from this genre!
I love how I started watching your vine videos back in the day and cry laughing, and now Im learning so much from you. Thank you for all you do!
This video made me appreciate the song a lot more than I did originally to be honest.
There is a name for this scale, it’s called the Klezmer scale, with the 2nd note getting the flat treatment. E.g. Db, Ebb, F, Gb, Ab. Very common use for middle eastern music, since the instrument are focused towards the scale.
Charles talked about that scale throughout the video, it doesn't fit the melody because it has an Fb or E natural. It's not a single scale, but an example of modal interchange between phrygian and phrygian dominant.
Literally never heard this song before.
But now you can’t get it out of your head
Lmao same
Same
Same
I am proud of you
Notice it was produced by Ilya who is Swedish producer and one of Max Martin’s students
He previously worked with Max on Ariana’s biggest hits
So he’s following this Max Martin HIT FORMULA so that’s just enough answer for why it’s catchy ? why it’s everywhere? why it’s simple? why it’s repetitive blah blah blah everything falls apart after that
Max and his crew (Shellback-Dr.Luke-Benny Blanco-Ilya-Rami Yacoub-Ali Payami-Oscar Holter-Savan Kotecha) have had a long history with bangers and hits that I cannot mention (seriously not kidding they’re over 100) so go check them
Max Martin school is all about catchy melodies, simple lyrics, and boom they all hit at some point in time over the last 26 years there is no room for ballads, poetic lyrics, deep stuff that’s not his and crew specialist in 🇸🇪
Basically Max’s students are divided to each artist based on what they’re good at
Max,Rami Yacoub did the Britney hits
Max, Shellback did Pink’s hits
Max, Shellback did Taylor’s hits
Max, Shellback did Maroon5 hits
Max, DrLuke, Benny did Katy’s hits
Max, Ilya, Savan did Ariana’s hits
Max, Ilya, Savan did Demi’s hits
Max, Ali Payami, did Taylor’s hits
Max, Oscar did The Weeknd’s hits
And they don’t contrast for example Ilya is so good at these R&B sound that fit Ariana but not Katy or Taylor
Shellback also is a mastermind at creating Pop hard four-on-the-floor beats so he fits more Pink and Maroon and Taylor
Oscar is genius dealing with the synth’s so he was in The Weeknd’s After Hours project and Dawn FM
Classical earworms include Beethoven's 5th, Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Bach Prelude to first cello suite, Wagner Ride of the Valkyries, Dvorak New World Symphony (2nd movement), Rossini William Tell Overture, and Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Prelude. All of these pieces have the profile that you laid out--a simple idea that is easy for the ear to latch onto but is nonetheless unique. Thinking of something like this is an act of true genius because it is very difficult to come up with something that is both simple and original.
As you were unpacking the song and playing the scales, it started sounding to me like Hollywood/video game “desert/Arabic” music.
D Flat Phrygian Dominant sounds very close to mayamalavagowla ragam in South Indian Carnatic music except for the flat Ni/B note. This is the basic ragam/scale that everyone starts learning, and that’s why it sounds exotic!
Fan from 🇬🇧 thanks for your hard work. Love the videos. Music theory was always my favourite subject at school. 20 years later I still love it.
Great tips for ear training. Another super helpful video
This song has a very middle eastern chord progression in my opinion and it's beautiful! I hate they lyrics but melodically it's FIRE!
Charles! You Are The Champion… of the WOOOORRRRLLLD!!!
As someone who doesn't use tiktok, I've literally never heard this song in any other context, even on the radio.
Kinda weird how stuff like that can happen nowadays tbh, it’s the second most popular song in the US right now
This was NOT a video I was expecting from you, but seeing it in my notifications has been a really good spot in my day!
Didn’t know this song. Just immediately thought the sound clip was catchy, looked at the lyrics and good grief no thanks 😳 BUT, YOU know your way around a piano. Incredible! I could just listen to you play these chords all day! You know your stuff.
"HAHA, its not real!" - Lol, I recognize that "going crazy" musician feel
Rhapsody in blue has always astounded me, and is one of the unique pieces in the world to me. Could you do a video on it?
David Bruce has a very nice breakdown of Rhapsody in Blue: th-cam.com/video/vv6GcsLxMiQ/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for introducing me to the song I somehow didn't hear yet and will be repeating in my head for days now! 😂
Best regards from Croatia!
Can you pretty pretty PLEASE do a reaction commentary to Dirty Loops? The tracks "Hit Me" and "Follow the Light" would be a good start. Some of the most insane musicianship I've ever seen.
Work shit out is really a good one too
Thanks it's more in my head
Love these video's of yours makes me feel like I'm in music school again.
Interesting insights all over the place, satisfying our curiosity :)
I don't know why but when you break it down it starts to give me Prince of Egypt vibes. I'm assuming it's because it kinda sounds like the cord used it many "I'm stuck in the hot dessert" songs
I love hot desserts like lava cake.
I would love to see you dissect the new Louis Cole album. A lot of brilliant stuff happening on there
THERE'S A NEW LOUIS COLE ALBUM?
Thank you, internet stranger!!!
yeah well, i dont understanding a thing but im getting goosebumps as i herad that piano D-Major cord. Fascinating
Please check out the soundtracks to Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049.
Both as a tribute to Vangelis and just because the music is superb.
Its got a middle eastern vibe to it, especially when you play the full scale
I was literally just listening to it! I haven’t been able to get it out of my head lol
Thanks. Now it’s stuck in my head again.
This mode is known as Spanish Phrygian and it belongs in the Blues Scale II which also contains the Bebop Major mode which is very popular in jazz
My recent marching competitions we had a peice called con slancio which is Latin sounding and it throws the keys around and makes use of something similar to the frigiant dominant.
Hell yeah! I just started remixing this song so having a breakdown of the entire track will be a huge help 👍
I have heard it only as a new release recommended by Spotify. And it is so catchy I got caught and listen to it few times a day.
When you played it out at the end, I just got a flash of memory of the StarGate theme.
It plays to the middle eastern/ Egyptian cliches in our head.
Today I learned about Phrygian dominant...and that I like it very much.
First time I ever heard it was here, just now,
But now I have the Munsters theme song in my head.
I think they were thinking in Phrygian Dominant but when they came up with that last part, they needed a better passing tone than F on Dmaj hahaha. As a producer, that makes more sense to me, but idk.
Please listen to the Master of Masters Theme from Kingdom Hearts. The theme of the track and the character together just screams "planned insanity" and I would love to see your take on the piece.
its basically the stargate theme :D
The fact I was singing this song 5 seconds before I saw this video come up... GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!
I kept expecting you to insert a clip of Adam Neely when you were discussing repetition
Repetition Legitimizes.
I think I hear it more as a repeating V-VI in a minor key with the 7th scale degree being raised until the end of the chorus when it walks down do-te-le-le-sol.
Not all music is everyone's taste but that song is mind. That song is a banger.
I'd love to see you analyze the Firewatch soundtrack, particularly "prologue".
Its cool how it goes down in that bluesy tritone scale where its like harmonic minor then it uses the E note like the normal minor. It also happens on the unholy word which steps down down down in that kindof wrong brooding way. I dont like the song either but yea i like music so. And its not really a tritone i guess but it gives that effect. Which is why it has an Egyptian kindof sound but then has a bluesy kindof sound. I play this scale all the time. Pianists cant bend like a guitarist so they do a walk down a lot and make it wonky in the middle. Most people would say youre playing music WRONG. But its actually more beautiful and broken with resolve sometimes......like life.
Funnily enough, when i hear Unholy, my thought isn't "so catchy" but "jesus this production is good". Like the sound design is actually amazing
I've never heard this song before, but I have seen it on the new releases page on TH-cam Music.
Never heard this song before, but I guess it's catchy!
Hey Charles! I strongly urge you to make a video on the slime rancher soundtrack! Especially the song ranch night!
I was half convinced this was Adam Neely with the anti-clickbait title thumbnail combo
Adam Neely is basically a slightly altered version of Charles Cornell, I confuse their videos all the time lmao
this was lovely to watch two days after hearing that Thunder ticktok song that's STILL IN MY HEAD
There are two types of musicians
One who creates songs ( Original or not )
Other who play that song back and analyse
I think it is catchy because it is good and tries to sit in the same memory bank in my brain as the Top Gun Anthem song with that similar melodic part that confuses my memory and makes me sing the wrong song but makes me remember it faster with the added old memory "of a similar song" that can help it stick to memory better. Old memories with similar melodies can probably trade short term memory with similar melodiy, creating a more catchy song. I'm saying depending on what memories you have you experience different songs to be catchy too you than to other people.
Omg. Get to it!
thanks for the analysis, charles.
*Charles,* a stupid question: have you ever sat down to write a catchy Pop song? It seems like you could come up with ‘the Pop song formula.’
No.
Not really. I bet you that he can’t. Not voluntarily. It might happen but it really is not an easy task. Doesn’t matter how much you study all this stuff.
Brian Tyler’s formula 1 Theme is sooo catchy, you should break it down ;D
I’m doing that annoying thing where I comment a few seconds into the video. But that’s just so I could share this organic realization without help from the instructor: this sounds just like Bacchanalia (sp?) from Samson & Delilah (always played it for the pops concert) it’s so catchy it’ll put you in a feverish dance trance. Perfection!
Danse Bacchanale is what you're looking for I believe
@@erinic04 thanks. I may not know the spelling but i can still play my part from memory. My fingiez be jumpin when I hear it.
Chris Cornell: "Here's why you can get [song I've never heard of] out of your head!"
Me: Yes, I'm very interested.
I think it can be easily explained using 5th and 6th chords of Fsharp minor with both harmonic and melodic minor elements depending on the trajectory of the melody.
Exactly my thoughts lol. I was surprised he didn't notice something as simple as that
it`s so interesting to watch!
I spent all of last year studying pop music another thing that makes songs catchy and once you pick up on it you’ll hear it every where, the rhythm almost is 2 or 3 of the same and then a 3rd or 4th repetition is slightly different
Will there be something for black Friday in the course on Cornell music academy?
You played We are the Champions and my brain heard the Oboe part in "Rite of Spring" in fantasia.
Kim Petras is one of my favourite all time artists, so I'm proud as a fan that she has a #1 song, although mostly due to Sam Smith
Why?
@@CPez because it's Sam's song. She's just featured on the track
Maybe it's just me, but I'd personally analyze this as being in F# minor. I think it makes notation and everything much simpler
Yeah this song has been stuck in my head ever since i came out xD
Do a video on the song - "let's go to the valley below"!!!
I literally just had it come up on Spotify before this video came on…
Thank you!! I literally had a dream with this song in it
From learning piano, The Beatles were really good at using 3 repeating patterns. The songs I've learned are just 3 repeating parts.
when you were talking about hearing a song over again, i remembered how I witnessed every single performance of the opera Rigoletto at the bregenzer Festspiele, because i worked there for 2 month, i swear i mumble every single line, hum every single instrument that you could hear well, it was so funny, when i am listening to the opera now and sing aloong, everyone thinks i am insane
Tho the 2 chords used are major, the melody uses an F# MELODIC MINOR tonality with the raised 6th degree (D#) omitted.
Metal covers for this are pretty dope lol
could also be a F# minor scale with a focus on the V and the VI
This...I'm like "why has he gone this long and not once ever said the words "F sharp minor", which is WHAT THIS IS lol