How We Imagined Pop Music Would Evolve

so about a month ago I got a text from mohini day who I interviewed and she sent me this new track from Willow Smith I went to listen to it on Spotify first and I heard it and I was like oh my God this song is amazing and then she sent the link to Tiny desk cuz they had just done it a couple days before so I was like well there's no way that she could sing this song as well as it is on the record cuz it's so well sung and the song is amazing it's in seven it's a really sophisticated Melody let's check it out because it blew me away you'll see moini in here out [Music] of who am I if I could try to take you back I couldn't be fun 2 3 4 5 6 7 find St in feels that cover my mind [Music] wow is great see it inside with theal snake sheding skin life to begin and all you do has to transcend me virtue [Music] and Beauty see my eyes on Lower things when suffering is craving the light got to decide how we're going to heal it why my eyes on Lower things while beauty is a symptom of Life got to decide if I'm going to see it Fe my eyes on Lower things when the light got to decide how we're going to heal it yeah got tode how we're going to feel it okay this performance is phenomenal Willow is an amazing live singer now I want to go back and listen to the studio recording so you can hear that because that is so well produced it's got these really intricate voicings it's a really sophisticated track and I'm going to break get down a little bit and talk about some of the harmony Parts she's doing what the kind of chord movement is that's happening is and what's going on rhythmically CU it's fascinating okay so here's the track so here's the seven pushing and peeling myself out of my looking at you know I'm wondering who I'm all oh if I could try to take you back I couldn't be feeling ABS time KN all this decided there's nothing here left [Music] to the kick drum and drums sound amazing with the bass I mean it's so fat but the piano part is so beautiful at the beginning it starts out with this a minor with a Flat 6 got an F it's kind of like f add9 over a then it goes to a c add9 over F and then it goes to like a a minor 9 over G and then a d What I Call D Dorian voicing it's a cluster so it's really F through C and that resolves down to a major and that's particularly cool because that's a minor plal cadence simply D Minor to a major minor 4 to one but Willow ends on the note B on the 9th so she's singing this note she does not resolve that first phrase [Music] listen so then D [Music] Minor it's absolutely beautiful then the next [Music] phrase okay there's so many cool cool things that are going on here because there's all this chord movement that's happening let me just solo the piano part so I played the piano on this just to kind of give you an idea of what's going on let me put Willow's voice in there I isolated it right here listen there's your ninth and then looking at you now I'm wondering who so it's all these beautiful cadences you go from this D Minor to a major and then it goes to this a c69 chord which is really cool but the second time through when she goes to the G minor chord listen to she [Music] sings so that note with the piano you get this G minor du and she's singing the sixth on it which makes it like a g Dorian sound this is a really sophisticated Melody absolutely beautiful and it's in seven the prec chorus listen to this stuff here all is decided there's nothing here left to find the stories let me solo the piano and the voice so you can hear what's going on in the precourse it's going from F to B flat but it's got some beautiful dissonances in there [Music] there's nothing here to find stories all mying feeling the that cover my mind beautiful looking into the shadow now I no the just all those phrases are absolutely beautiful I mean it's really amazing let me go to the chorus next listen to the transition from 7 to 4 check it out don't know things beauty is a SYM of Life got to decide if I'm going to see in the suffering is C the light got to decide how we're going to heal it my eyes on know things while beauty is a symptom of Life got to decide I'm going to see things when suffering is great got to decide how we're going to heal [Music] it yeah got it inside we going to feel it [Music] okay now let me just do my little piano part that I had that goes along with the voice let's see what that sounds like some of the things in the precourse I changed some of the stabs there to go along with the voice better because the piano is off the drums a little bit but I did it just so when I solded it it would sound you kind of feel where the beat is but here's the chorus section leading in with the piano is a symptom of Life got to decide if I'm going to see it eyes on things when sing this CRA light got to decide we're going to heal it my eyes on beauty is a symt of Life got tode I'm going to see it next I want to play the transition from the chorus to the bridge because the change that happens it actually goes from this F major it's going F and B flat and then it goes to E minor to C it's a really cool modulation and and it just lifts the song [Music] listen in WoW back to the chorus I love that drum fill before that suffer in thiser life got to decide how we're going to heal it why and right there they have all these really incredibly dissonant chords it it's kind of like a dominant sharp nine chord right there really cool I got that C and C sharp in there it's like like a A7 sharp nine [Music] [Music] going to feel so [Music] good all the cords and the [Music] Bas so I was talking a few videos ago about and I don't want to make a comparison here but when I said in the last top 10 Countdown that I did from Spotify I talked about how Taylor Swift had the ears of of all these people but all she did was just release these kind of leftover bsides for this last record she did and she could do anything right cuz people are going to listen to it and in my mind it's like she could have done something like this that's incredibly Musical and advanced and modern sounding doesn't sound like anything but she chose to do this simple four chord songs again with the kind of lyrics that she likes to write and this is like Prague music meets pop music there's none of just simple four chord stuff that anybody can write this is really really sophisticated and difficult to figure out if I have to sit there and strain to actually figure these things out this is really something and it's melodic and it sounds like pop music of the future to me this is the future of pop music music like this that combines all these different genres together and the thing is that willo can play it live her band is incredible you got moini back there playing all these great baselines and everything really interesting drum Groove I mean to me this is kind of the height of pop music like I said this song is actually really hard to figure out unless you use my bat ear training course that you can get Link in the description love to know your thoughts hit the Subscribe button leave a comment thanks for watching

Channel: Rick Beato

Views: 464,038

Keywords: rick beato, everything music, rick, beato, music, music theory, music production, education, Willow, Symptom of Life, Mohini Dey, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiny Desk, Fusion Music, Pop Music, Empathogen, Will Smith, How To Play Piano

Id: _ziS2PbTIII

Length: 10min 47sec (647 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 17 2024