Jazz Pianist Reacts to Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles

why do they have to why can't it just sound like that okay yesterday Harry Styles released a new music video called watermelon sugar and today it has let's see just twelve and a half million views I mean that's incredible that's I can't do that see but I just I can't help but just notice a couple of things now as you may have gathered in my last video I am not in the business of carrying down music that probably a lot of people like I mean that I don't even necessarily dislike I think a few of you said on my last video I'm not mad I'm just disappointed it might be a little more than disappointed here I don't understand why things continue to get made that don't make sense that blatantly just don't really sound that good but it's almost like we just say yeah well we're close to the deadline it'll work it'll be fine I don't know maybe that's exactly what happens is it really that much just purely about money I would like to think you know it's probably a huge part of it but maybe not all of it and here's the thing I'm not ragging on Harry Styles here cuz there's plenty of talent there and plenty of music that does sound good you got your reason though that you try to deflate No that's why it leaves me so frustrated when I hear things like this let me explain so this song is pretty standard I mean it leaves you a little bit going for somebody that has had so much success with one direction and just as himself and as an actor and dunkirk was phenomenal believing is kind of wondering why make something how do I say this without sounding too harsh so musically useless you know I did it I sounded too harsh I'm sorry but like this is a person that can literally do anything he wants you could explore all kinds of different genres and people are gonna check it out maybe not twelve and a half million overnight but probably a lot of people would be interested in any musical endeavor he wants to pursue this song starts out pretty expectedly it's pretty much par for the course and a lot of people love that sound and you know what I don't necessarily dislike it's not necessarily my bag but hey there are some great pop songs out there [Music] by the way this isn't I don't get into lyrics cuz I'm not a poet I don't know how to write lyrics I have no authority to talk about lyrics but watermelon on the table tastes like strawberry okay alright so you know pretty simple so it's in C right the song is in C we start on the four we go up to the minor six and sounded like it was it's the one chord but I think it was the five in the bass and then to the actual five [Music] something like that I think so far not bad all right you know I just I just already get the vibe that this is a totally fabricated this was going to be the summer hit as we enter you know we're approaching the end of May June 21st first day summer we got to have a summer hit right I mean what summer 2020 without without a without a summer a good summer hit quarantine I guess this is this is this is where I start to have an issue okay so we're constantly coming back to this ninth as a melody no okay now the problem I have with it is this melody who just feels like somebody came up to Harry with a hat and written on little pieces of paper in the Hat are the notes of the major scale they just said hey Harry pick five okay hmm I don't know here okay sounds good we did we have an order for this no order doesn't matter got it alright there's your melody Oh done the whole thing that's it because this melody just feels like you can just pluck random notes from the C major scale and okay here we go Wow we're gonna you know we're just gonna keep using this ninth as a as MOT but the problem is is like half of the lines in here just they don't make sense and this is another thing we talked about this in the last video where it's like is it technically correct I mean sure in that the notes are not necessarily outside of the notes that will work with the chords you're using but are they in maybe in sequence or I don't know how else to put that but basically in such an order so as to make a melody that is not completely devoid of definition and that's sometimes the problem with melodies like this is that they're absolutely not memorable in any way shape or form again nothing fundamentally wrong are they particularly good choices not really I mean we're going from the from the the third to the second or the ninth and then we land on the sick fine no nothing wrong with that [Music] this is the line that I probably have the biggest issue with because that F doesn't it just doesn't sound like it fits there it doesn't sound wrong because it's technically not really wrong it just doesn't really serve any purpose it doesn't lead us anywhere it gives us no information it's just kind of there it's the movement from F to a minor because we're going [Music] it's not so defined as to say it's wrong because this note is wrong and that note is wrong cuz like I said I mean do all the notes fit in the chords that they're supposed to be in yeah but do they sound good in sequence no there's something missing with it that's making it not work to me you so the obvious reason that sticks out is being like kind of not a great melody note choice there is because you're using you have this this this C major chord with no alterations it's just pure just C major and our melody note is now an F and the the natural four over top of the major chord just you just doesn't really work that well that's why in jazz when we have a major chord like that even if it has a little more content we're talking about upper extensions and stuff we're gonna fill out the chord more we still do not use unless specifically intended to do something it's just in general on a major chord we're not really gonna use that that natural for we're gonna use the sharp four because it sounds so much smoother it's so much better it just has such a more pleasant quality than if I go that it just doesn't fit in the cord so even on just a straight C major chord we still have that same problem right so it's that F that's kind of just out of place it doesn't really doesn't really work there it's not wrong because it's a C major chord C major scale contains F sure does but in the context of the melody it's just not it's just not working so like how would that work is there a way to make that work well sure I mean if you're if you're gonna take that chord you can make it work if you don't hold so like if they had just kind of lifted off of that defined C major right there it would have worked much better because if I keep that root note going but I will my chords up in the top to shift with my melody now that works fine [Music] no problem and it works because even though I kept that base C going I let my my right hand because we're holding our accompaniment is staying on that C major that note just falls flat it just doesn't work it sounds awkward it sounds weird and this is why it's so frustrating to me because it is such a simple thing to not only fix but to hear and go it says a little awkward can we make a change to that okay it's a we wanted to keep that that that that's solid C major going in the base how could we change the melody so that it works so we're trying to land on this so how could we get there so [Music] maybe I don't know [Music] why not you know what I mean like that I think works better of course other people might hear differently but to me that just works so much better these are those simple things where it's like it doesn't make it not pop it doesn't magically turn it into jazz or something that's more complicated or less consumable or less marketable it's just a simple thing that costs nothing that that can sound a little better sound a little more you know complete a little more sensible and this is this is part of the things frustrating too is like it would be easy for me to sit here and if I didn't think that Harry Styles was a capable singer or a capable musician or a capable songwriter or anything you'll be easy for me to just sit here and and say oh it sucks it's no good but like you know but but I don't think that and that's why it's like what what are that simple things that could be done here to just make it work a little bit groove is fine you know again I think like the last the last video it's it's good dig a little deeper into it but a for the purpose of the song this sort of summary kind of feels sure it works great you know I have no problem with it I like how I say I have no problem like I'm some authority on any this is the nobody cares if I have a problem with it [Music] this is gonna be mean I'm sorry like I really don't want to be mean I'm just the melody reminds me when I used to teach like little kids and their first book they're like level one lesson book would have it's just what it sounds like to me I'm I'm sorry I did it's just it's just kind of like what I was saying where it just feels like somebody told them to pick C major scale notes out of a hat and they just kind of threw them all on a board and said alright cool this will work like it feels random it feels pointless it doesn't say anything it does it's not memorable it's just like it's just a combination of notes that work with the chords you know and I'm sure they probably started with the chord progression and then they said we want this to be a song about summer about you know just like a feel-good kind of summer song and like sure you know that works that's fine and then when it came to the melody I mean I don't know if the lyrics were written first or whatever but it's just like what but I don't think there's a bridge no I think that's it okay so you know hey four chord songs not a new thing it's totally okay there's plenty of four chord songs out there that are incredible I have no problem with the chord progression it works it's fine it's classic sure but yeah I don't know it's just when I when I saw this I'm trending and I was like geez ten million views in a day well now well more than that I was just I found myself going why why why does it sound like this it doesn't have to sound like this I guess you guys summed it up the best I'm not mad I'm just disappointed hey real quick I wanted to point this out I got I got something in the mail from from one of you that I thought was really really cool this is from Ben Keating Ben from Illinois sent me greetings from the middle of Illinois place you'll most likely never visit for any reason ever been I'm from a place just like that so I feel you I've transcribed your jazzed-up coffin dance because what else is there to do in quarantine keep making music Ben Keating Ben Yura legend my friend look at look at what Ben did Ben literally trans crime and wrote out my coffee dance video that is so cool you gotta understand like that for me just as a bit like that's super cool I don't know I never thought that that somebody from Illinois would send me a package containing my own transcription that they went through and put in the effort to track that is just super cool Ben thank you I really appreciated that is awesome yeah if you guys see if you guys want to write a letter say hi or whatever I do have a peel box it's in the description right down below I would love to hear from you it's so it's so cool to hear from you guys so thank you too then and thank you guys for watching this video be sure to subscribe if you haven't already apparently like 70% of people watching these videos I've not subscribed please subscribe if you enjoy I'd very much appreciate it thank you to everybody who already has done so and thanks for watching we'll see you the next [Music]

Channel: Charles Cornell

Views: 1,740,247

Keywords: Charles, Charles Cornell, Charles Cornell Studios, Studios, Cornell, Piano, Piano Covers, Piano guy, Harry, Styles, Harry Styles, Watermelon, Sugar, Watermelon Sugar, Harry Styles Watermelon Sugar, One Direction, Harry One Direction, Harry Styles One Direction, Watermelon Sugar Video, NPR Tiny Desk, NPR

Id: SVOPh8gbjLY

Length: 14min 12sec (852 seconds)

Published: Wed May 20 2020