Bro like I’m literally listening to your videos at work hiding my AirPods in my hoodie distracted cause I hate my job. Like videos like this inspire me and are way more important to me then crushing boxes. Love the content bro!!!
The importance of the second note really surprised me. Usually all you hear in songwriting videos is that you should go for the first, third, fourth and fifth but not the second... But I guess statistics don't lie. Really helpful video. Thanks for taking the time and analysing these songs!
I've been looking for a channel that does technical analyses of songwriting patterns for a while and I'm SO GRATEFUL I finally found one. Your breakdowns are the EXACT answers I've been looking for to some of my questions and your approach in collecting and synthesizing your data is perfect for the way that I learn. I'm really looking forward to your videos and implementing your insights into my own writing moving forward! Thank you so much for this!
I love your content, brother! I have been writing songs for more than a decade and seems like I couldn't break through with my compositions. Your advices here have been a path to growth. Thank you so much!
Wow - sooo useful. Bookmarked to re-watch when I'm feeling my chorus isn't strong enough - I'll bet that this is why. I can't believe you only have 169 subscribers. 170 now :)
@@daveannis2280 thanks for the feedback and support, Dave! Cool tunes btw. Feel free to share this video with any musically inclined friends! 🙌 ⛈️🪰 Ps what else would you like to see me make a video on?
I've recently found myself naturally drawn toward to a lot of Max Martin produces songs. This video is great insight, and I'm going to save it for later use.
@@philliprobertson1347 max is the man! And his team are also legendary. Thanks for the feedback, Philip! 🙏 What are some of your favourite Max Martin songs?
@@MelodyMathlete The Weeknd's "Save your Tears" and Taylor Swift's "Style" are currently my favorite songs produced by him. Many of his other produced songs with Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and The Weeknd, bring a nostalgia for me: Blank Space, 22, Cant Feel My face, Teenage Dream, California Gurls, Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F), Roar. Katy Perry's Teenage Dream album is especially nostalgic for me.
I am a new independent artist and have been running around trying to get my music out there and just realised the chunk I bit off trying to do this. I just can’t stop now either…I refuse to. But, the roller coaster can get lonely sometimes and not sure if I miss stuff along the way, this video was really helpful so, thanks dude.❤ If you are still doing personal sessions, I would love to hear more (if my budget allows it).😅 I’m based in South Africa by the way, but in the process of applying to immigrate to Canada.🍁
Hey Suzee! Great to see you again 🙌 I hear you. There is so much to learn and do as an artist and can definitely get lonely!! Hit me up at www.melodymathlete.com Hopefully we can work something out 🙏
This is actually really helpful, thanks! I hadnt really considered that the 1st 2nd 3rd and 5th would be what these popular songs had in common, but these patterns are interesting!
This is rocket chorus melody science 💫 thanx for sharing that fantastic work and insights ! I find it sad that now a days, most of hit songs come from so few people, like one said "creation's colors seems to fade to grey"
With the songs you mentioned, aside from the chorus - the verses also act like choruses. Think of I can't feel my face or Love me like you do, the verses have the same kind of repetition and could easily be choruses in a different song.
The second scale degree of the major scale is interesting, it is successively the 9th/sus2, the tonic, the min7, the 6th, the 5th, the sus4 and minor 3rd, depending on the chord, so it's always moving :)
Absolutely phenomenal video and so well explained. Which note to start the head and hook on is invaluable. I’d love to see a video on Max Martin’s melody shapes / patterns (ABAC etc). You have gained another subscriber in me!
Nice new channel, will be watching more! I'd say Can't Feel My Face chorus starts on a blues note, b3 in the major scale. Baby One More Time (and lots of other songs in a minor key) start on the 6 note if you're analysing in the relative major (which for pop usually makes sense). Wrecking Ball is a good example of starting on the 4 (over a Isus4 chord) but I'm sure there's good examples of hits starting on 4 when the chorus starts on the IV chord, and probably a decent amount of hits where the chorus starts on 7 if the first chorus chord is V, though would be interesting to further research this. My thoughts are the it's not choosing one of these notes that makes it a hit, it's just likely that the majority of songs fit this pattern, hit or not... it's just that these type of melodies come most easily when improvising melodies like most topliners do. Also I definitely think starting a chorus with a pick up is strongest in terms of overall hits, and starting after the 1 is weakest, but lots of hits in all categories (Baby One More Time starts after the one for eg as well).
As part of your research, I think it'd be interesting to correlate the chord progression alongside that topline note. Similar to "placement", I think it would be relevant to understand the tension / resolve relationship of the pitch and placement against the underlying harmonic movement.
Great and informative video. I'm actually just re-approaching learning an instrument and producing in a DAW-- just now coming to theory now that I am 20 but damn, this video breaks it down so simply. Well said stuff. Love the visuals too.
@@xx-hy4uy thanks for the feedback! Glad you found it helpful. Which instrument and DAW are you re-approaching? And what inspired you to get back into it? 🙌
@@MelodyMathlete Probably LMMS or Ableton because I bought an EWI!! The plan is to run it directly into a pedal and play it that way, OR into a DAW and run it thru plugins and then play that out into a mixer. Both I want to play my instrument through amplification so I want it to sound killer and I already write poetry. Do u know Alabaster DePlume or the jazz band 'Polar Bear'? Not trying to write stuff quite like that but I love those sounds. I'd like to write stuff more like Ted Lucas or Davey and the Chains-- but with way different instrumentation. I also play cajon but I'd like to start assembling a really cute 4-piece jazz and funk kit. 😸
Congrats on the new EWI! Sounds like fun 🤘 I just listened to Alabaster DePlume and Polar Bear and they are dope. Their artwork is beautiful too 😍 I look forward to hearing your music! May the Funk be with you 🙌
thanks for this amazing video. i guess the logic behind not starting the chorus after the 1 is that it lacks the urgency you need, particularly for that style of music.
As a guitarist, I tend to think of melodies in terms of how they relate to the underlying chords at any given moment. Do you find that your favorite melodies tend to emphasize or suggest a chord progression, or do you feel the chord progression plays a less significant role?
Hello! Thanks for watching 🙏 Great question. After analyzing my favorite melodies, I've noticed that the melodies tend to be similar, regardless of the chords. So from that perspective, I see the purpose of the chords to change the color of the melody. E.g. A strong melody with still be a strong melody with mostly major chords and still be a strong melody with mostly minor chords, however the color, emotion and feel will be different, which we can use to our advantage! Does that make sense?
@@MelodyMathlete how on earth can we become our own max martin if we live in a random country/town, writing songs, like put ourselves on youtube maybe showing our writings? I've got a few small writing credits with artists in the USA who do ok for themselves, from sending beats and including a vocal sample I did myself later on and they just use the melody or few of the lyrics, cool experience when they said to me we'll put you on writing credits too as I didn't even think about it at the time, now I'm mainly focussed on production but would love to enter the writing world along side it
I think the goal of this video was very interesting but feel the presentation was too quick and the rough chart were unhelpful. Maybe some tighter charts would help.
Hey again Carla! Thanks for watching 🙏 Great question "Don't blame it on the..." comes in before the 1 of the chorus. "Kids" lands on beat 2 of the chorus I think
Dude. If you've made songs that have generated 21 billion streams then (assuming most the streams are on Spotify - as they hold the majority of the streaming market share) then those songs have made four billion, seven hundred and sixty million US dollars (4760000000). I take it hundreds of thousands of dollars is the share you've taken. If not, you getting rinsed.
Hey dude! Thanks for watching and taking the time to write this comment... and to do all those calculations! I appreciate you looking out for me 🙏 If you're interested... About 12B of the streams are from China (which pays very little). A few billion are from TH-cam which also pays quite little. So only a small percentage is actually from Spotify... and the streams are from all around the world, so rates differ there again. And I only have publishing on these songs. The amount of $3-4k per million plays from Spotify you hear people talk about is based off the Master recording, which I do not own.
Bro like I’m literally listening to your videos at work hiding my AirPods in my hoodie distracted cause I hate my job. Like videos like this inspire me and are way more important to me then crushing boxes. Love the content bro!!!
BRO. This is such a wonderful comment to receive.
Thank you for watching. I appreciate you Viano Voltz 🙏
I believe in you 🙌
The importance of the second note really surprised me. Usually all you hear in songwriting videos is that you should go for the first, third, fourth and fifth but not the second... But I guess statistics don't lie. Really helpful video. Thanks for taking the time and analysing these songs!
I've been looking for a channel that does technical analyses of songwriting patterns for a while and I'm SO GRATEFUL I finally found one.
Your breakdowns are the EXACT answers I've been looking for to some of my questions and your approach in collecting and synthesizing your data is perfect for the way that I learn.
I'm really looking forward to your videos and implementing your insights into my own writing moving forward!
Thank you so much for this!
Subscribing because of this. I get nerdy and super analytical about my favorite artists’ music and I love seeing others do the same!!
By far one of the best songwriting videos I've ever watched.
Thank you Scott! 🙌
I'm curious, which part did you find most helpful? 🙏
I love your content, brother! I have been writing songs for more than a decade and seems like I couldn't break through with my compositions. Your advices here have been a path to growth. Thank you so much!
Wow - sooo useful. Bookmarked to re-watch when I'm feeling my chorus isn't strong enough - I'll bet that this is why. I can't believe you only have 169 subscribers. 170 now :)
@@daveannis2280 thanks for the feedback and support, Dave!
Cool tunes btw. Feel free to share this video with any musically inclined friends! 🙌 ⛈️🪰
Ps what else would you like to see me make a video on?
So interesting about the 2nd note use! Perhaps because it build's tension. The listener can anticipate a resolve
@@defbaby I know hey! Yeh, I agree about the use of the 2nd. I think you’ve nailed it there 🙌
I've recently found myself naturally drawn toward to a lot of Max Martin produces songs.
This video is great insight, and I'm going to save it for later use.
@@philliprobertson1347 max is the man! And his team are also legendary.
Thanks for the feedback, Philip! 🙏
What are some of your favourite Max Martin songs?
@@MelodyMathlete The Weeknd's "Save your Tears" and Taylor Swift's "Style" are currently my favorite songs produced by him.
Many of his other produced songs with Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and The Weeknd, bring a nostalgia for me: Blank Space, 22, Cant Feel My face, Teenage Dream, California Gurls, Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F), Roar. Katy Perry's Teenage Dream album is especially nostalgic for me.
@@philliprobertson1347 oh man, I love all of these songs! 😍
I've always loved the melodic math behind MxM's style, this was a fantastic thorough breakdown. Thank you Jean-Paul
Thanks again Hunter! MxM is the 🐐👑
I am a new independent artist and have been running around trying to get my music out there and just realised the chunk I bit off trying to do this. I just can’t stop now either…I refuse to. But, the roller coaster can get lonely sometimes and not sure if I miss stuff along the way, this video was really helpful so, thanks dude.❤ If you are still doing personal sessions, I would love to hear more (if my budget allows it).😅 I’m based in South Africa by the way, but in the process of applying to immigrate to Canada.🍁
Hey Suzee! Great to see you again 🙌
I hear you. There is so much to learn and do as an artist and can definitely get lonely!!
Hit me up at www.melodymathlete.com
Hopefully we can work something out 🙏
What a great lesson! Thank you!
Thanks Tom! 🙏
This is actually really helpful, thanks! I hadnt really considered that the 1st 2nd 3rd and 5th would be what these popular songs had in common, but these patterns are interesting!
Thank you so much! Glad it was helpful. Let me know if there is anything else you would like help with 🙏
@@MelodyMathlete will do
This is rocket chorus melody science 💫 thanx for sharing that fantastic work and insights !
I find it sad that now a days, most of hit songs come from so few people, like one said "creation's colors seems to fade to grey"
Thanks for watching Shannon! 🙏
Haha 'rocket chorus melody science' omg I love that 🚀
looking good...
cheers from Malaysia
@@AbiARDH.Official thanks! Love your music 🖤
This is great! Thank You!
Thank YOU GLDNSCTN! 🙏
First time watcher here. was not expecting a graph, but loved that part! Subscribed 😎
Thank you Daniel! Happy to have you as part of the community 🙏🩷
With the songs you mentioned, aside from the chorus - the verses also act like choruses. Think of I can't feel my face or Love me like you do, the verses have the same kind of repetition and could easily be choruses in a different song.
💯
The second scale degree of the major scale is interesting, it is successively the 9th/sus2, the tonic, the min7, the 6th, the 5th, the sus4 and minor 3rd, depending on the chord, so it's always moving :)
So cool! Thanks for watching and for your insight, Benjamin 🙏
Andrew Huang made a whole video about the 2nd note of the major scale, its wide use all around pop music!
@@krysisaverted love that guy! I’ll have to check it out. Thanks! 🙏🙌
And I don’t suppose you remember what the video was called do you? 🙌 @krysisaverted
@@MelodyMathlete It's called "Why pop music is obsessed with this one note" but you can just look up "andrew huang supertonic"
@@MelodyMathlete It's called "Why pop music is obsessed with this one note", but you can just look up "andrew huang supertonic"
Legend! Thank you so much 🙏
Supertonic forever
Haha yess!! 🙌
Awesome music btw. Those synths 🔥
Wow! Helps a Lot!
Happy to help! Thanks for the feedback 🤘
Great bro!
Thank you 🙏
Absolutely phenomenal video and so well explained. Which note to start the head and hook on is invaluable. I’d love to see a video on Max Martin’s melody shapes / patterns (ABAC etc). You have gained another subscriber in me!
Thank you The Key Change! 🙏
Oh yes, what an excellent idea 💡🙌
Nice new channel, will be watching more! I'd say Can't Feel My Face chorus starts on a blues note, b3 in the major scale. Baby One More Time (and lots of other songs in a minor key) start on the 6 note if you're analysing in the relative major (which for pop usually makes sense). Wrecking Ball is a good example of starting on the 4 (over a Isus4 chord) but I'm sure there's good examples of hits starting on 4 when the chorus starts on the IV chord, and probably a decent amount of hits where the chorus starts on 7 if the first chorus chord is V, though would be interesting to further research this. My thoughts are the it's not choosing one of these notes that makes it a hit, it's just likely that the majority of songs fit this pattern, hit or not... it's just that these type of melodies come most easily when improvising melodies like most topliners do.
Also I definitely think starting a chorus with a pick up is strongest in terms of overall hits, and starting after the 1 is weakest, but lots of hits in all categories (Baby One More Time starts after the one for eg as well).
As part of your research, I think it'd be interesting to correlate the chord progression alongside that topline note. Similar to "placement", I think it would be relevant to understand the tension / resolve relationship of the pitch and placement against the underlying harmonic movement.
@@LutherBaker hey Luther! great idea 🙌
Perhaps in one of my next videos. Thanks for watching and the feedback 🙏
This stuff is incredible man. Crazy cool breakdowns. I’d love to hear some kind of NF breakdown. I’m a big fan of him too.
Thanks bro! 🙌
Hell yes, what a great idea - I'd love to do an NF breakdown vid 🔥
Great video. I’d love to see you write a song trying to use thisz
Thanks Wade! 🙏
Yes, great idea. I'll have to do a realtime songwriting video or something 🙌
Great and informative video. I'm actually just re-approaching learning an instrument and producing in a DAW-- just now coming to theory now that I am 20 but damn, this video breaks it down so simply. Well said stuff. Love the visuals too.
@@xx-hy4uy thanks for the feedback!
Glad you found it helpful.
Which instrument and DAW are you re-approaching? And what inspired you to get back into it? 🙌
@@MelodyMathlete Probably LMMS or Ableton because I bought an EWI!! The plan is to run it directly into a pedal and play it that way, OR into a DAW and run it thru plugins and then play that out into a mixer. Both I want to play my instrument through amplification so I want it to sound killer and I already write poetry.
Do u know Alabaster DePlume or the jazz band 'Polar Bear'? Not trying to write stuff quite like that but I love those sounds. I'd like to write stuff more like Ted Lucas or Davey and the Chains-- but with way different instrumentation. I also play cajon but I'd like to start assembling a really cute 4-piece jazz and funk kit. 😸
Congrats on the new EWI! Sounds like fun 🤘
I just listened to Alabaster DePlume and Polar Bear and they are dope. Their artwork is beautiful too 😍
I look forward to hearing your music!
May the Funk be with you 🙌
@@MelodyMathlete Thank you so much my brother!! May the jams we make be tasty!!
Interesting analysis. Surprised to see the 2nd (or 9th) as a preferred interval as opposed to, say, the 4th or the 7th.
@@atarijam totally! Thanks for watching 🙏
thanks for this amazing video. i guess the logic behind not starting the chorus after the 1 is that it lacks the urgency you need, particularly for that style of music.
I think you're spot on there 🙌
This video is dedicated to @aRmusic09 🤘
As a guitarist, I tend to think of melodies in terms of how they relate to the underlying chords at any given moment. Do you find that your favorite melodies tend to emphasize or suggest a chord progression, or do you feel the chord progression plays a less significant role?
Hello! Thanks for watching 🙏
Great question.
After analyzing my favorite melodies, I've noticed that the melodies tend to be similar, regardless of the chords.
So from that perspective, I see the purpose of the chords to change the color of the melody.
E.g. A strong melody with still be a strong melody with mostly major chords and still be a strong melody with mostly minor chords, however the color, emotion and feel will be different, which we can use to our advantage!
Does that make sense?
Nice
Thanks Cheri! 🙏
Wait I had no idea Max Martin wrote those Weeknd songs - that's crazy
Haha yeh. Max has written so many songs it really is crazy!
@@MelodyMathlete how on earth can we become our own max martin if we live in a random country/town, writing songs, like put ourselves on youtube maybe showing our writings? I've got a few small writing credits with artists in the USA who do ok for themselves, from sending beats and including a vocal sample I did myself later on and they just use the melody or few of the lyrics, cool experience when they said to me we'll put you on writing credits too as I didn't even think about it at the time, now I'm mainly focussed on production but would love to enter the writing world along side it
🔥🔥🔥
🙏🙏🙏
How about the trend in scales?
Hey Travis! Thanks for watching and for the comment 🙏
Can you please elaborate on your question? 🤘
@@MelodyMathlete Sure, thanks for the reply. My question was about what keys do popular songs gravitate towards? Thanks again.
Thanks Travis! I can definitely look into this for you 🙌
🙌🙌🙌
Thanks Jose! 🙏🙏🙏
I think the goal of this video was very interesting but feel the presentation was too quick and the rough chart were unhelpful. Maybe some tighter charts would help.
“Don’t blame it on the kids”would land the chorus after…then??
Hey again Carla!
Thanks for watching 🙏
Great question
"Don't blame it on the..." comes in before the 1 of the chorus. "Kids" lands on beat 2 of the chorus I think
Dude. If you've made songs that have generated 21 billion streams then (assuming most the streams are on Spotify - as they hold the majority of the streaming market share) then those songs have made four billion, seven hundred and sixty million US dollars (4760000000).
I take it hundreds of thousands of dollars is the share you've taken. If not, you getting rinsed.
Hey dude!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to write this comment... and to do all those calculations!
I appreciate you looking out for me 🙏
If you're interested...
About 12B of the streams are from China (which pays very little). A few billion are from TH-cam which also pays quite little. So only a small percentage is actually from Spotify... and the streams are from all around the world, so rates differ there again.
And I only have publishing on these songs. The amount of $3-4k per million plays from Spotify you hear people talk about is based off the Master recording, which I do not own.
How to write a melody: use notes.
🤣🤣🤣
!
!
Pointless and cynical observations
I don’t think so actually. These are actually really helpful.
Lol. As though all the greatest artists didn't study the art that came before them.
9:35
Thanks for watching, Soham!
Great moment. I love that Weeknd song so much.
Loving your channel. Awesome content! If you have time please checkout the band would love feedback.
Thanks guys! I'm listening to your songs on Spotify now. Very cool stuff!! 😍
Is there anything in particular you would like feedback on?
🙌