Vocal ANALYSIS of System Of A Down's "B.Y.O.B." leaves me utterly shocked!

welcome back to the charismatic voice BYOB to me means that there's a party somewhere and you're supposed to bring your own beer I'm a particular fan of Kilt lifter in case you were wondering but BYOB to System of a town means bring your own bombs and that subtitle instantly Drew my attention so we're going to dive in let's get to it from [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh my gosh uh this I think has the most incredibly striking beginning of a System of a Down song I've ever heard I really like System of a Down I've been really getting into them this is intense holy crap the extended vocalization the technique that is behind some of these harsh vocals is also really intense and then the shift in the the feel of the tempo at one point even the style that surge was singing in at another point oh my gosh like the video too whoa okay back to the beginning there's gonna be a lot of unpacking to do such an intense Tempo to start out in the first place [Music] wow wow [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] um it's gonna be hard to break down like there's so much it is happening back to back I think it's interesting how in that very first part it feels intense with just a little bit of instrumentation and then you really get hit by this sound and very disjunct it feels like there's some time signature shifting that's happening in there but then also Darren's vocalizations are just crazy this by die idea wow wow I guess buy a bomb and die from it is that where I think that's where we're going okay definitely brainwashed that sound you definitely sound like I felt like a low of a harsh vocal maybe more false folds but you can't do fries that are left [Music] [Applause] [Music] that sound from Darren is freakish right it sounds almost like a dying Pig it's so intense to before we even have any clean singing whatsoever have this sound come in and it feels like like nails on a chalkboard in a lot of ways I know that to make that sound there has to be a ton of constriction in the upper vocal tract and it's just it's very intense and how the sound is made period so it makes sense that it would create this really intense emotion as a response [Music] victorious victorious [Music] so in surges delivery here we have a lot of really ruled ours there's a there's something about its diction that feels kind of formal and snooty in some ways and even in the way he pops off of the melody makes it more like a holler that isn't particularly pitched or particularly sung it it feels almost out of place right after Darren scream it so um the two are just so conflicting which is why I think there's so many emotions that happen immediately not to mention all of the Motions associated with the instrumentation that's happening and the visualizations okay back one more time [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] from so interesting how much of this is sung versus not sung meaning clean vocals with a Melody versus not clean vocals we're hearing tons of things in here that have like a bit of pitch to them that are just more like elongated speaking or oration that not really truly holding one pitch for a span of time it's uh it's got so much expression in the delivery there and it's also got so much what's the word it's almost bringing irony or making fun of these words as well there's like so many layers to the expression that is happening okay I'm gonna go back one more time and then we'll keep going forwards because I feel like I could sit and analyze the just this section for an hour right [Music] you depend on our champion [Music] everybody's going to the party have a real good time [Music] [Applause] is whoa the contrast in this is brilliant you I I understand so well why it's BYOB it makes sense there's this idea of this party and sort of like a brainwashing element maybe a celebration element and then the terror of bombs of of War of death that's happening on the other side and this idea of I guess us the positive spin on War or the celebration that I've I guess is sometimes apparent oh my goodness like I said before never even got to this section there's a lot to unpack in this song back to this section [Music] [Applause] just contrasting this with the first part it's amazing how much more simple this part is musically when the singing's done here it's fairly straightforward we have an octave a parallel octave as far as the notes that are being sung so not any complex harmonies going on it's just kind of chill in the tone uh and then we've got a much more chill tempo as well and as far as any sort of fill that's happening from instruments it's just much more simple [Music] Serge feels like he's mocking something with those Lalas all right sorry just back to the section [Music] [Applause] dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine [Music] [Applause] [Applause] our inventions [Music] [Applause] [Music] from [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow oh my gosh Okay so we kind of went back to that first feeling of the very intense uh Tempo it's got a March feel to this one two one two one two so a very quick merch additionally even the way the voices are moving they're often moving here sort of In stepwise Motion next to each other so it reinforces that March idea um I also I just have to say Surge and Darren together they have so much similar resonance in their voices there's uh oh it's like a pleading but it's a desperation in their sounds um it really hits me there are sounds together are incredible there's sounds one-on-one are also or on their own are incredible it's just really really fascinating to hear them in all the settings I've absolutely loved getting to dive into their voices go back one more time listen to this how marching it sounds it's wow [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is why shop was singing in this too possibly [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah this is a really good example of two of hearing how search will come in and out of uh sound that is a clean vocal sound meaning he's creating a pitch right here with nothing else on top of it and then when he went up was it freedom he yelled out a sound that was much higher and there was a lot more disturbance in the sound that's definitely something that's happening above the vocal Fold level that's going to be uh essentially like a sub glottal or sorry supraglotto structure that will be diving and meaning that's above the glottis glottis is that space between your vocal folds so if you're above that and you do something to disturb the sound up there that means you're not going to be hurting your two vocal folds with that sound let's go back just a little bit again [Music] I love the way he expresses lies there [Music] [Applause] [Music] everybody [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh my gosh dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine wow the way that they sing those lyrics as if it was all smooth and okay this this song it was like such a gut punch oh my gosh [Music] [Applause] [Music] dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine all right there's something about this now that just makes me kind of sick to my stomach I think that that's what they wanted to actually make us feel like huh wow what a powerful powerful message and expression of it what a way to what a way to make a person just feel like you [Music] [Music] [Music] find open oh my gosh it's so Progressive and crazy and the thing that blows my mind is I understand that they have mainstream popularity and yet they're so Progressive in their music and it just it's going back and forth and back and forth in these crazy different areas of a journey essentially that's amazing to be able to take that and make it mainstream wow Darren's screaming here to me it definitely sounds like it's back in that for ice cream area again for ice cream is not the same thing as vocal fritters right vocal fry would be done much much much lower and with very little breath support um the fries cream the way it's up there lots and lots of constriction there and it sounds terrifying I'd even read this really cool research at one point that talked about how harsh or extreme vocals have this effect on the spine that it looks like people stabilize their spines to help create them there might be certain kinds you know we need to go a lot further with harsh vocal research we barely skimmed the surface you know it's like we've seen what happens in certain situations we can't really apply it hugely widely with any specificity at this point but that being said I think the idea of a spine stabilization with this kind of sound makes sense because it has so much aggression in it and it was theorized that the same way that animals might growl in preparation for some sort of attack a harsh vocal might have that same growl element that requires preparation in the body for some sort of attack and you can you can really hear the aggression in his sound here go back a little bit oh my gosh [Music] why [Applause] do we set the bar healing can I get my gut punched anymore like this is this is sorry this is jaw dropping and whoa um why don't president what's the word why don't presidents fight the war yeah why don't president's fight the war why do they always send the poor man like I guess that strangely true and I think back like oh a Washington thought that how recently have we had a president there I guess you know that has happened a while ago where we'll have a present who was fighting before and then came in but man I get the point I get the point and that's their point disturbing why do we always set the place [Applause] foreign sometimes you shouldn't sing to make a pretty sound and this is definitely one of those times when this should be an ugly ugly kind of sound the way they're leaning into nasality and harshness in the vocals it's just that is a perfect expression for what they're singing about [Applause] times [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] dancing in the desert blowing up the sunshine I feel like I feel like that section and the way they have people within it is somehow about conscription is that your interpretation too I'm curious to hear what your interpretations are of this uh I feel like it doesn't have as many wide spread interpretations as some songs do but I feel like they're making specific call outs to moments um in our history [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow it looks like brainwashing [Applause] time it's amazing how they made that quick switch this time the way it just is bursting into the sound and the this contrast between the chill and the totally not chill is uh it's brilliant this is a brilliant song holy crap [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] oh my gosh I'm gonna go back just a little bit notice the way that the shift of the overall pitch center of the harsh vocals was Raising at the end but the way that people just end up with these masks on it feels like like everybody's getting put a mask over their eyes and not able to see the truth of something [Applause] [Music] oh always the song had a strange upbeatness to it chill if I were to listen to just the music and have that sort of smooth feeling sometimes that wall of energy at other times I might have taken away an entirely different impression than when I look at the lyrics with that music System of Down has achieved something extraordinary here because instead of feeling kind of crazy and fun I feel really somber and thoughtful I think it's important to pay attention to what they've done this is really really impressive if you'd like to see some more analysis of their music you can check out this playlist over here and may you fall more in love with music every day foreign

Channel: The Charismatic Voice

Views: 1,283,685

Keywords: system of a down reaction, serj tankian reaction, daron malakian reaction, soad byob reaction, the charismatic voice

Id: 1RWmLo5KVJs

Length: 23min 10sec (1390 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 28 2023