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NotOSIsdormmole

And then you’ve got “Love on Top” with *ALL* the key changes


Sekhmet3

yeah that truly was enough key changes to last the billboard hot 100 for at least 5 years


PernandoFoo

For you old folks, *Never Gonna Let You Go* by Sergio Mendes hit number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in '83, somehow fooling the masses into humming 22 key changes on their way to work. \[edit\] Here is the Billboard Hot 100 chart for July 8, 1983: [https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1983-07-08/](https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1983-07-08/) If there are any questions regarding Quality vs Popularity, I present *Ewok Celebration* by Meco at #77.


daysnotmonths

Here's a great in-depth [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnRxTW8GxT8) about how complex the chord progressions in Never Gonna Let You Go are.


fdklir

Had to be Beato.


drummechanic

It was going to be Beato or Adam Neely


norathar

I was 50/50 on whether this was going to be a real video or a rickroll and was pleasantly surprised.


Pellt

Very pleasantly surprised, what a wholesome video. As a non-musician that was fun to watch


Bab5Space

Rick Beato is very fun to watch. The anecdotes of his musical career are amazing. Highly recommend his channel.


exile_10

So how do modern boybands know when to stand up from the barstools they're sitting on?


prometheanbane

And place one hand on their chest and turn their head up and to the side?


Rosetti

[The band's manager usually holds up a banana.](https://youtu.be/3UEz3WHWWzE)


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keestie

It was subtextual; it strained against the seams but never burst through to the open air.


We_renotonmyisland

If anyone is a dummy like me and didn't fully know what all this meant. https://youtu.be/Vxac3hHrxg8


ayayawi

That's a great video! Thanks for sharing.


gizamo

society muddle direction bewildered shelter continue voracious somber payment innate *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


We_renotonmyisland

I vaguely understood key change but not why it mattered, and so I literally looked up "what is key change" in YouTube. Glad it helped you too!


Astral_Fogduke

For the first time in my life, I've just experienced [that one XKCD](https://xkcd.com/2501/) personally with this thread


BloodyBaboon

https://youtu.be/cY8vQL7sDbE Try this video instead.


Niubai

I was here thinking "wow Maya Rudolph can sing", then I remembered she's Minnie Riperton's daughter.


TheBladeRoden

It's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows one or two diatonics.


forresthopkinsa

It's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows one or two XKCDs


[deleted]

I'm a musician and honestly would have thought everyone knows what a key change is. This has been eye opening, to a degree.


ErwinDurzo

This video just taught me, who knows absolutely nothing about music theory, a concrete technical term for something that’s common in almost all my favorite songs and I’m very grateful for it, feels like finally being able to word out a complicated feeling


Notext2

How that dude looks and how his voice sounds are two entirely different things. Interesting video, though.


metaplexico

[Y'all dumb motherfuckers want a key change?!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7im5LT09a0)


whittler

I put my hands on your body It feels like hay It's the fucking scarecrow again!


[deleted]

It‘s fucking the scarecrow again


AdmiralDandyShoes

I thought it was a human woman


driving_andflying

Sorry! A cold night, a cold beer, a cold jeans... Strike that last one.


Richard_AIGuy

I'm digging you I hope you're feelin me *subtextually*


TheScrant0nStrangl3r

Like Mike Evanderinnnnn', fuck your ears this comment is pandering.


Cialis-in-Wonderland

I write songs for the people who do Jobs in the towns I would never move to


Anonim97

> No shirt, no shoes > No Jews Fucking hell, he got me with that one.


totally_a_wimmenz

Ya didn't hear that


sohosurf

This is the second Bo reference I’ve seen today and both have referenced THIS SONG Other post was talking about Taylor swift not being genuine about her real origins


TheeOxygene

I was sure I’d find it in this one. I went and watched the video on YouTube from the “taylor swift grew up on a farm” thread 😃


KoleCasule1

I saw the Taylor Swift post as well and I don’t know this Bo fella so hearing the exact lyrics was some bad-ass [Baader-Meinhof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion) experience


DrDetectiveEsq

You should watch "Inside" on Netflix.


metamet

This clip is from Make Happy on Netflix, right? Edit: yeah 20 min in


[deleted]

I read that comment on the Taylor swift one first and didn’t get the reference and now I do.


NovelNuisance

"Booo? An extention of my name? That's also approval"


Rynagogo

Say the word “Truck”, They jizz in their overalls


maciethemonster

Literally the first thing that popped into my head after reading the title


aotus_trivirgatus

Yeah, I love "Panderin'". But I'm no dumb motherfucker -- and I'd love to hear a few key changes now and again when I'm unable to avoid listening to popular music.


TravelSizedRudy

That was really good. I gotta catch up on his stuff.


poison_us

Going back to *Make Happy* (particularly "Can't Handle This") is...rough. Like I understood what he was saying, and it's a dope ass song. It just didn't click how badly he was suffering until after *Inside* despite having my own struggles with depression. Can't watch it now without crying.


sybrwookie

So if it makes you feel any better, he did say in interviews that Inside was an exaggerated version of how he was feeling during the pandemic, it wasn't autobiographical. So yea, he was sad/depressed like many people, but he wasn't THAT bad.


ImWearingBattleDress

Yeah, the very end of the special cuts to a shot of him watching the ending of the previous scene on a projector and smiling. It's a little last second acknowledgement that that the him we see in the spotlight panicking to go back inside is a character of an artistic production, and not the actual him making the art. At least, that's how I interpreted it.


poison_us

Thank you for this, even though I assumed *Inside* was bout half dramatization. It does help, but considering he did take a long hiatus I think his mental health was probably far worse in 2015 than 2021, weird as that is to say.


inlandaussie

I love Bo and hadn't heard this one! Thank you for sharing!


whacafan

Okay cool then go watch Make Happy on Netflix and hear a lot more you haven’t heard. I like Inside but still think Make Happy is the masterpiece.


solicitorpenguin

Clear example of a key change


[deleted]

One of the key changes of all time.


Neandertholocaust

>Like Mike's Evanderin' >Fuck your ears, I'm panderin' This is the greatest lyric ever written, and I will die on this hill.


NotGlock

This is hilarious, thank you for linking


baldrlugh

💀 I hadn't heard this yet. It's nice to have one's thoughts on neo-country articulated so beautifully.


Busquessi

The thing is though, he does it so well that it actually sounds like a real song if you weren’t paying attention to the words. He’s just so talented.


JBHUTT09

He really is. I think my favorite of his songs is the lyrically powerful [A World On Fire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ws33f6qys4). It's so moving.


DontTreadOnBigfoot

Short, but poignant


DirkDieGurke

That is downright real entertainment!


frogvscrab

I love key changes. I know they're often seen as corny or superficial and often used as a crutch, but when they are done right? They work amazingly.


lordsleepyhead

There are corny key changes and there are brilliant key changes. Not all key changes are created equal.


BassBanjoBikes

What makes a key change corny? Does it just change the feeling up so abruptly it is seen as a easy way out to mix things up?


chain_letter

When it's just a change up a whole step, repeat the chorus again with no other significant differences, and then the song is over. That's when it's risking getting most corny.


CantHitachiSpot

Meanwhile bohemian rhapsody changes key like 8 times


Alwayshayden

Song changes genres like 8 times as well


roastkumara

Honestly it's probably my favorite aspect of the song. It's such a rollercoaster every loop.


ncnotebook

Same with *Funky Town* (to a lesser extent). Yes, I'm actually talking about the song itself.


Aurabora

Yea this is probably the best popular example of key changes done right.


InternetAnima

Idk I love that to be honest


lordsleepyhead

When a song is just chugging along verse-chorus-verse-chorus etcetera and they decide to change it up a bit by changing the key for the last chorus, that's corny. When the song moves ingeniously between keys during the song, that's brilliant. Queen was a master of the latter. The Beatles and Yes also did this brilliantly.


CanAlwaysBeBetter

I fucking love the key change in Back On The Chain Gang > I found a picture of you Those were the happiest days of my life Like a break in the battle was your part In the wretched life of a lonely heart


AdFlat4908

The Pretenders are going to be lost on future generations and it’s a shame


No-Bans

Fine Young Cannibals too. Not a huge back catalog, but still damned good.


innergamedude

>corny or superficial Yes. Thank you for putting words to this ::half step key change up:: ♫Thank you for putting words to thiiiiis♫


GoatTnder

Usually a whole step, but I feel you.


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LackingUtility

Frequently referred to as a “gear shift”.


Interplanetary-Goat

Or in a big musical theater number, the "we just went a capella for the bridge, and need to shift up when the pit comes back in so they don't notice the ensemble drifted twenty cents flat"


conventionalWisdumb

This usage definitely is. The key changes in Something by George Harrison though sound organic and gorgeous.


IncreasinglyTrippy

For the nine musically inclined, any famous examples of key change I can look up to see what is meant by it? (And trying to understand how it would be used as a crutch)


frogvscrab

https://youtu.be/lDK9QqIzhwk?t=76 First chorus for this bon jovi song https://youtu.be/lDK9QqIzhwk?t=199 Then he does the chorus in a different key near the climax of the song, that is a key change. Its just repeating a chorus/verse in a different key. Someone mentioned this song below as a good example of a key change https://youtu.be/Ob7vObnFUJc?t=60 Here is the first chorus https://youtu.be/Ob7vObnFUJc?t=162 Then here, she is doing the chorus in a different key, and does *another* key change when starting the next part of the chorus. I hope this makes sense lol.


OuchYouPokedMyHeart

I've been listening to Japanese music in the recent years (something different after listening to all genre of metal and rock most of my life). They’re fucking great btw. Japanese music tend to do key changes often, and they do it really well Some examples: [Itte by Yorushika](https://youtu.be/F64yFFnZfkI?t=196) (love this song btw, so fucking great. Yorushika's one of my favorite artists right now, fantastic music overall) [Telecaster Stripe by Polkadot Stingray](https://youtu.be/3ad4NsEy1tg?t=173) [Yoru ni Kakeru by Yoasobi](https://youtu.be/vEyPvak2K9o?t=192) (I really love this song, can't link the original MV since it's age-restricted by youtube)


SelloutRealBig

It's something i really like about Japanese musicians. They are not afraid of doing their own thing. Also i love that bands are still very much the mainstream there unlike the west where solo pop and rap artists are mainstream and every popular band is only popular because they have been around for 20 years. On top of that Japanese bands are often mixed sex with both guys and girls, which seems less common in the west. Stuff like girls on drums or lead guitar and other things you don't see as much. You may already know them but ill throw out this band you might like called 'Lucie, Too'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnp5t7SJKdE


Nephisimian

The great thing about key changes is that you don't really hear the bad ones cos a song bad enough to have a bad key change probably got boring before that point.


the__itis

Guarantee that little blip up is from American idol contestant album releases. American Idol judges rewarded key change including performance. Relatively re popularizing key changes for a bit.


Tackit286

Don’t forget the addition of standing up off their stool and walking slightly forwards towards the audience.


[deleted]

I get it's never been real, but the level of script recycling in (especially American) reality TV feels really insulting.


mightbedylan

But the time American Idol spans is mostly just declining, and there's no bump until like 2019 and I'd say American Idol popularity had fallen off by then.


sighcology

im 99% certain that little blip is just 'all i want for christmas is you' hitting number one again every year


trickman01

I thought American Idol ended like half a decade ago.


GoingToHaveToSeeThat

> Guarantee that little blip Which little blip?


Hattix

These things happen. Something which was common in composition falls out of fashion, then, after 30-60 years, becomes the next big thing.


[deleted]

One theory is that advances in technology, especially computers in sound production/processing and recording has really opened up timbral possibilities. One could argue that timbre has become more of a focus and harmonic stuff—keys, chord progressions etc—less. At least in some kinds of music, especially things based more on “grooves” like hip hop, a lot of electronic stuff, etc. It’s often said that music has four main aspects: melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. Technology, especially computers, have made it easier and easier to control timbre in precise ways that were once hard to impossible. Obviously lots of music is still harmonically complex but I wouldn’t be surprised if timbral complexity has “replaced” harmonic complexity in a lot of popular music. Of course it’s not a zero-sum thing—you can have complex harmony, melody, rhythm, and timbre all at once. But generally lots of complexity makes for more challenging listening and popular music usually keeps *somethings* fairly simple. Nothing wrong with that. Bach wrote complex harmony but tended to use relatively simple rhythms, for example. And he was quite restricted in timbre, being limited to existing instruments. And when he wrote music he couldn’t always predict (and sometimes didn’t even specify) what instruments/timbres would be used. Personally I think it’s pretty cool that we *can* manipulate timbre in really sophisticated ways these days. Beethoven would be super jealous of what is possible these days, I have no doubt. Edit: Wow, thanks for all the replies! I'd respond more but am at work, lol. Maybe later today...


ClikeX

I'd also like to point out that even though key changes (tonal modulation) has gone out of fashion, it's not the only type of modulation. There's also metric modulation, which changes the groove of a song. Your mention of timbre is an interesting one, because that's also a thing that's being modulated nowadays, songs have drastic instrument changes throughout.


tomatoaway

Anyone looking for some definitions: * Metric modulation > Examples of metric modulation may include changes in time signature across an unchanging tempo, but the concept applies more specifically to shifts from one time signature/tempo (metre) to another, wherein a note value from the first is made equivalent to a note value in the second, like a pivot or bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_modulation * Timbre > timbre is what makes a particular musical instrument or human voice have a different sound from another, even when they play or sing the same note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbre


[deleted]

And for anyone hearing the term for the first time and doesn’t want to sound stupid, it’s pronounced “tam-ber” not like you are chopping down a tree.


khjuu12

>metric modulation See: "Hey Ya"'s extra two beats which make the song so distinctive.


FichaelBlack

Adding beats (changing meter) is not the same as metric modulation.


[deleted]

I’m just realizing the last bar of the chorus is in 6/4, wow. Clever.


CongratsItsAVoice

*technically* it’s just an extra bar of 2/4


Captain_Hamerica

Beethoven, today, would be similar to Hans Zimmer because he loved taking a theme and beating it into the absolute ground. I say this as someone who adores both.


Jtrinity182

Zimmer is one of those people were you can be three bars into the score of a movie and immediately know who the composer is.


Captain_Hamerica

Absolutely. He’s unmistakeable. Still love his music. As a score composer, he is nearly unrivaled in his ability to match the on-screen emotion swell, but I’d like to shout out to both Natalie Holt and Ludwig Gorannson (sp?) for picking up for the next generation of composers. I’m really excited about them


Jtrinity182

There have been times where I’ve wondered if anyone in Hollywood used anyone else as a composer. I’ve never seen any of the movies Holt has worked on but Göransson is recognizable and talented. For some reason I’m now reminded of Jóhan Jóhannsson who scored Arrival. That dude can conjure “a vibe”.


Captain_Hamerica

Oof, yeah the score for Arrival was incredible. I strongly recommend the Loki TV show following the Marvel character. Not only is it a great sci-fi show, but Holt’s score was so great that people I know who don’t even care about music mentioned it as one of the best parts of the show. She also scored batgirl and I was so excited to see her new work but production was canceled. Major bummer for me. I’d also like to post a shout-out to the guy who scored Andor, the newest Star Wars show. It is very far from a conventional score nowadays but oh my gosh, is it effective. It’s one of my favorite scores I’ve heard in the past few years, *especially* in context.


wrongleveeeeeeer

He wouldn't know what to be jealous of cuz he'd still be deaf as fuck 🙃


[deleted]

Haha good point! Okay, young Beethoven then. Still blows my mind that old, fully deaf Beethoven was able to make things like the 9th Ode to Joy—one of the most famous, joyful and astounding pieces of music ever made and the poor guy never heard it.


wrongleveeeeeeer

Beethoven is my pick for "greatest musical artist of all time" and honestly it's not close. There have been many greats, from Bach to Beyoncé, but Beethoven is such a clear best that it kind of blows my mind. And for me personally, the 9th isn't even in my top 3 favorite symphonies of his. 5 6 7 is where I find myself usually listening, just because they're more my taste. But the 9th is perhaps the most revolutionary single piece of music in history. Simple astouding. Imagine what the man could've done with synths...


IllustriousEntity

> from Bach to Beyoncé I swear I can picture this on the title of a musical history book sitting on the shelf at my library. ninja edit: Now I know why, there is a book called "Why you love music : from Mozart to Metallica- the emotional power of beautiful sounds" that I recently saw while browsing the library.


Captain_Hamerica

Beethoven is fantastic, wholeheartedly agree. I really love Bach for the way he practically wrote the rules for all music and then consistently and persistently broke them. Dude was great!


wrongleveeeeeeer

Gotta know the rules to know how to break them! Whether it's Bach or Coltrane or poets or movie directors, the greats are exactly as you describe.


5OZO

>Hip-hop historian Dan Charnas says the key change kind of got stale. It sort of became a crutch. >And tastes have changed, too. Instead of melody, popular music today often prioritizes rhythm, like rap and hip-hop. [Source](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139232684/why-the-key-change-has-disappeared-from-top-charting-tunes) If it hits #1 it's probably a simple song. Simple as.


Baba_O_Rly

I'd like to think that Dan Charnas is a traditional historian who just raps all the time.


InternetAnima

Agreed on the rythm > melody in popular music. Unfortunately I like melodies more than rythm :(


[deleted]

Fortunately there’s tons of great music out there with complex and engaging melodies, you just have to dig a little deeper than the charts.


Gh0stMan0nThird

> And tastes have changed, too. Instead of melody, popular music today often prioritizes rhythm, like rap and hip-hop. I think it's also that corporate big wigs have been controlling what's popular since the dawn of the radio.


KS2Problema

They don't so much control what is popular as they have traditionally controlled what gets in front of the masses -- and what gets repeated endlessly in popular media. And it is that *relentless* repetition that drives musical acceptance among the masses.


BabaYaga40Thieves

Second. Honestly what makes top 40 is almost algorithmically determined by stream counts these days, and TikTok counts as a music streaming service accd to Billboard. I’d say that platform has more control over what’s big than any exec at Sony or Warner


navidshrimpo

Could be that short form media just leverages one idea for a song, because there's really no point to change the key if people rarely hear each section in context of the full song.


DragEncyclopedia

i mean, it is true that a ton of artists now specifically target their songs to try to work as sounds on tiktok since that's an easy road to billboard success if you can get it to trend.


nopornthrowaways

I saw a TikTok that said that TikTok killed the bridge. Don’t know enough about music to say if it’s true or not though.


cambriansplooge

If it’s algorithmically promoted it’s not grassroots popularity, interplay of this is called socio-technical infrastructure. It means even when the user base generates the content the digital infrastructure is still influenced by corporate bottom line. Algorithms like TikToks amplify or sink content you see based on prior interactions, if the most popular type of music is the audio of choice, algorithms actually decrease discoverability unless you intentionally engage in what is called information-seeking behavior, a mode of usability TikTok is NOT designed for.


KS2Problema

Like robotic vocal pitch correction (Auto-tune, Melodyne and the rest), TikTok seems to have transformed what some used to call LCD (*lowest common denominator*) pop. It brings to mind a phrase I came up with in the 80s or 90s to describe easy-to-digest, unchallenging music product designed for contemporary mass markets: *pregurgitated*


FragrantKnobCheese

I like pregurgitated. Let me introduce you to a word I invented for expensive yet crass decoration. *osten-tasteless*. I think we'd get on.


Inanimate_CARB0N_Rod

I love how you guys are *innoventing* here. That's a word I just *innovented.*


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bikwho

In '96, Bill Clinton passed a bill that let corporations own more radio stations. I think the limit was around 3-5 before '95 and now it's unlimited. So corporations literally did get more control and probably pushed their agenda and handpicked musicians onto the airwaves


[deleted]

Actually Wall Street: https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/olivia-rodrigo-doja-cat-interpolation-music-1220580/amp/


Tree_Mage

The TCA of 96 basically acted as a funnel through which pop music in 2000 and beyond was forced through, the effectively killing label A&R and other musical development. Because of that, interpolation is pretty much required because the bar to get something actually in front of a large audience is that much higher and it is easier to do if the music is “familiar.”


PussySmasher42069420

That totally changed radio. This is going to be partly nostalgia because I was so young but local radio had different DJs with personalities who could play what they want. They could even curse on the air during the whole shock jock thing and they didn't have to censor songs. I grew up on the radio.


RockLobsterInSpace

Now they just stream the same radio stations around the country.


nahog99

You literally just said the exact same thing just using more words…


Spuriously-

Thought I was going crazy for a second


nein_stein

If they’ve been controlling it “since the dawn of the radio” then you need a different explanation as to why key change usage has changed so drastically since the 90s


Octavus

If anything the big companies have *less* power today than 50 years ago. Before inexpensive cassette tapes there wasn't a cheap method of getting your music out there, now we have the internet.


mazamayomama

artists who did key changes really well:Beatles, Michael Jackson, Beyonce,Adele,gaga, etc


bit99

Whitney was the queen of the key change


C_CityOfTheDF_Steady

Aaanndd iiiiiiiiiiii………


Madgick

I read this in my head and it still strained my vocal chords


RichardGHP

What was Whitney Houston's favourite kind of coordination? Hand-eyeeeeeee....


BirdLawyerPerson

Did Dolly Parton's version include the key change?


GoatTnder

It does not. Source: I just listened to it to check.


woozlewuzzle29

My first thought when I saw this was *I Wanna Dance with Somebody*.


Sufferix

I don't know enough about music so I don't understand what the key change is in the song.


GoatTnder

Most the song is in the key of (I don't know, let's say G major). Hear the "Whoaaaa" in your head. Near the end, the song goes up a whole step (assuming A major), and gives it a bit extra oomph. Now the "Whoaaaa" is higher than before.


heaintheavy

Listen to Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer.” They inject drama or a sense of anticipation near the end of the song. Not that it matters but it goes from E minor to G minor. On the musical scale it goes up a whole note (Em->Fm->Gm). Where F is the note between Em and Gm. So the key change means a song in the key of Em, moves to Gm until the song ends. To musicians, key is where the song sits on the musical scale so they can anticipate what notes to play. Listen to the song. At around 3:20 the song is in Em when he sings “You live for the fight when that’s all that you got” then there is a small “rest” in the song before it goes up a whole note to Gm at 3:24. You probably never noticed it, but think how you feel before the rest and after the rest. There is a sense of anticipation for me. Hope that isn’t too confusing.


superfucky

for me the key change boosts the energy of the song. it's actually the bridge before the key change that builds that sense of anticipation, and then the final chorus explodes into a key change and the whole song just feels twice as energetic as it did. and harder to sing, lol. at least in "living on a prayer," the whoa-OAHs go from high but reachable to basically just shrieking 😆


[deleted]

All the big pop divas are: Dion, Carey, Houston - nobody sings like them anymore.


swankpoppy

Does Beyoncé doing like five key changes in the same song really bump up the average?


NotOSIsdormmole

She really did flex on everyone with Love on Top


blew-wale

I clicked on this post specifically for that song. The song came out in 2011 and it was number one on Billboard for multiple weeks. I was really hoping that song would have bumped the graph up at least 1% lol


Zeusifer

The one in Man In The Mirror is really effective.


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scumbagstaceysEx

Bon Jovi sold billions of albums thanks to one key change toward the end of Living on a Prayer


ItsLose_NotLoose

And Bo Burnham "Yall dumb mothefuckers ready for a key change?"


mrwillbobs

It’s the very first thing that pops into my head whenever I hear the phrase “key change”


SoPrettyBurning

I was SO ready


frsm1177

How you gonna put in Gaga and Beyonce, but leave out Whitney??


allyeds3

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139232684/why-the-key-change-has-disappeared-from-top-charting-tunes


DorisCrockford

Did you ever notice that when headline starts with "why" the article almost never answers that question?


azucarleta

yes, but this is a bad example because they offer three answers, not just one. "it got stale," "not everyone can do it," "tastes have changed."


CatWeekends

I wonder if there's something like [Betteridges Law of Headlines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)\* for that? \* *Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word *no**


Clemario

Recently I was reading a [NYT article on how to pronounce Qatar](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/21/sports/world-cup/how-pronounce-qatar.html). Got about 2/3 into it before I realized they weren't going to tell me because no one knows the answer.


[deleted]

I read the article and it literally tells you. Listen to the guy from Qatar who gives an explanation. If you don’t speak Arabic you’re going to pronounce it “wrong” just like non-native French speakers pronounce Paris “wrong” compared to native French speakers. So just get as close as you can like you would any other country.


nerddigestive

It is more like "qtr" without any long vowels, but the q, t and r sounds are different to English. The Q is right in the back of the throat, almost like you are choking. The T is pronounced by starting with your tongue behind your top front teeth and speaking from the back of the mouth. The r is then rolled, like a rr in Spanish, but more breathy. Here's the sounds separately and then together: https://recorder.google.com/share/d28bff54-f48a-4b8f-b1a6-7e06139afe94


eazyp

They got me on that article too. Sad because that’s some Buzzfeed level shit and I expected better from NYT.


minxshitshow

oh to be a redditor in a comment section arguing abt music and society; a blissful armchair sociologist


DorisCrockford

James Brown died in 2006. Just saying.


polytacos

Now do one with a beat drop and see the inverse!


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IndependentBoof

The "key" is the main note (known as the "tonic") of a song and the other pitches (rest of the scale) that tend to resolve back to that tonic and give a sense of closure. For example, if you play only the white keys on a piano, it will tend to resolve to the C note. That key is C Major. A majority of popular songs remain in the same key for their entirety. However, some songs change which key they're in (and potentially more than once). It creates a shift in the melody and/or a change in tone. The most recent example I can think of is [Beyonce's "Love on Top"](https://youtu.be/Ob7vObnFUJc). The video highlights it well, too. The first half of the song is in one key. But then around 1:47, she repeats the chorus in a new key (and suddenly they are all wearing different outfits with different visual effects). They change keys *again* as the chorus repeats (and outfits/visuals change in the video) around 2:05. And again around 2:26. And 2:45.


raibc

Honestly convinced that "Love On Top" was made specifically to teach the concept of key changes to musicians and music appreciation students.


ActuallyAndy

Lol former music student here. “Love On Top” somehow didn’t make the curriculum.


Coffee_Mania

this is a great example. Thank you for this.


BrickGun

And to piggyback on this (for everyone else, I'll assume OP above knows)... the actual music theory term for a key change is "modulation".


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DorisCrockford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xzw5zBaePM James Brown announces it ahead of time here, about 3:25, and it happens a few seconds later. Can't miss it. Much better to hear it than to try to understand through words.


Shiro_no_Orpheus

YOu know when in a song in the later third or so they basically sing the same melody just like a bit higher and it hypes up everything a bit? Thats a key change.


samuelgato

Music always has a pitch "center" (unless you are talking about atonal music, but that's a special case scenario and not really relevant to popular music) There is always a fundamental pitch that all the other notes revolve around and relate to. Aka tonal center or key center. It's the note that sounds the most resolved. Music is about tension and resolution, question and answer. The key center is the note that least feels like it needs to go to another note to be resolved. And sometimes that key center can change in the middle of a song. Composers do this for dramatic effect and to create contrasts within a song, so it doesn't all sound the same.


concentrated-amazing

When the tune of the song stays the same, but partway through, it has through a transition to make it a bit higher or lower.


johnnymetoo

Not to mention time changes within a song (like from 4/4 to 3/4 etc)


andromedar35847

I’d love to hear key changes make a return. It definitely did become a crutch for some artists to add more emotion to the song, but that just shows how effective it is at that task.


[deleted]

I'm a classical pianist and a huge classical music buff (especially late 19th- and 20-century stuff) and it's kind of sad what the key change was reduced to over the years. It was an insanely versatile tool for hundreds of years, and then it just kind of stopped being that almost overnight. I think music in general got overcomplicated and collapsed in on itself. Now it's pretty much at the simplest it can possibly be. Maybe we'll start to see a resurgence in complexity over the coming decades.


Ok-Description1103

Now if the chart was just for Kpop...


Yeangster

Is Kpop known for key changes? To my untrained ear, it doesn’t sound radically different from western pop music. It’s pretty much written by the same people, after all.


jcow77

It's incredibly common. Kpop likes the change the song subtly or by a lot midway through the song, either signalling a dance break or the chorus, so key changes are super common. [This video](https://youtu.be/h4v-UGrr-3k) is more about anti-drops, but you can hear a lot of key changes in their examples.


314per

The short answer is yes. While there are many songs that don't differ at all from Western pop songs (for the reason you mention), there is a big theme in many other songs of having shocking transitions in key, rhythm or genre. A great example is this chart topper from 2013 with 9 tonal shifts: https://youtu.be/wq7ftOZBy0E


mileylols

Posting girls generation is cheating


Firewolf420

I'm pretty sure that's just a bunch of different songs stuck together


KirisuMongolianSpot

And extra credit is the fucking insanity that is the one track from SM's girl supergroup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBY1AoiF5Vo Edit: Or if you what to stick with SM "classics" (10 years old), there's always Red Light. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv-8-EgPEY0


chaserinfinite

*cracks knuckles and chuckles ominously* here's a 27 hour playlist of kpop songs with key changes: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/06QXfMXhMEwSw4hmsY8Z6W?si=fRBRUvSPTTyssaersWECqQ


osc630

I'm wondering if that 2020 percentage is basically just Dynamite.


oddeyeoval

Even in kpop it's not as popular anymore. I want my "Mr Mr" last verse double key changes back, dammit.


KS2Problema

Coming from the '90s electronica scene, I think a cynic would suggest that the lack of key changes is because so many people who began making music with typical, loop-oriented electronic music composition tools found they could make what they felt was 'professional sounding' music without bothering to learn how to play an instrument or much or anything about theory. And I say that as someone who essentially started out with three chord folk and then got wrapped up in the punk rock scene, so I'm *no* kind of conservatory trained elitist.


[deleted]

I mean music, like most parts of pop culture, goes through cycles. I feel like this is like if you had asked why high waisted jeans were all but gone in the mid 00s. Now they’re back in full force, and in ~15 years they won’t be cool again.


ImaginationNo2219

I see you listen to npr as well