What Makes This Song Great? Ep.101 Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone”

hey everybody i'm rick biatt on today's everything music it's what makes this song great episode 101. the artist is kelly clarkson and the song is since you've been gone coming up next since you've been gone was on kelly clarkson's second studio record entitled breakaway which was released in november of 2004 the song was written and produced by max martin and dr luke and in my opinion is one of the finest pop rock or rock it's really a rock song one of the most probably one of the best written rock songs of all time i mean it is really a masterful song and i'm gonna explain to you why i think that is the case actually i'm gonna go right up front and say ridiculous vocal performance great arrangement unusual phrase lengths in it a lot of hidden dissonances great drum track there are so many great things about this but the vocal performance of kelly clarkson is absolutely outstanding we're gonna listen to it and talk about it and i was thinking that american idol should have just called it quits after the first year since as far as i'm concerned the best singer they ever had was in the first season so let's take a listen to the beginning of the song [Music] okay so right off the bat let's talk about the guitar line so the guitar line is just two notes at a time just thirds this is implying a g major chord g b then a minor you have a and c and then you have e power but it's implying e minor so you have the one chord two chord six chord and then the first dissonance is here [Music] this is a little tritone here on f so this is the flat seven chord but it's acting as a four chord because you have the sharp four so it's like a lydian and then back so that's the first dissonance your ear hears in the guitar part but even before that [Music] we have that distance there on the a minor chord so it walks down on the g uh right from the fifth down to the third and then starting off friends you hear this distance between the c and the guitar and the b so this is really like an a minor 9 sound and it resolves down listen here's the thing grabs your ears and then and right there on the f chord when when she's singing oh pretend right the sharp four results to the third and the f major so both of those things both those parts of the phrase grab your instantly [Music] even there since you've been gone [Music] on the e minor chord since you've been fifth to the fourth you're just a little drop down to the fourth to give it a haunting sound at the end of the phrase right those are things that people always kind of forget about [Music] right listen [Music] second phrase base centers [Music] not only is the base center there base is playing eighth notes check it out [Music] that's a base plate with the fingers through an amp we also have this the two guitar parts there's a second guitar part slightly distorted the enters and the left speaker listen that helps give it a stereo image there so at the beginning you have the guitar in the right speaker the main guitar and then halfway through the verse the bass comes in with that second guitar and creates the complete stereo image we also have the drum loop that's going on at the beginning it sounds like this and listen put it in with the bass it the amazing thing is that this isn't perfect right it's actually it's probably dr luke playing it this is just played by humans right that's what's a really great thing about it so the second half of the verse comes in does this listen melody's very similar [Music] well we also on the e minor chord we have that that ninth on that chord too the f sharp over the e minor d that resolves up to the g to the third the flat third on e minor halfway through the verse we have a double that comes in check it out and all you'd ever hear me say really it's how i picture me with you and then the echo part that comes in right there right bounces between the two different speakers and then the swell with the beeping sound check it out right here [Music] a lot of producers will use these kind of swells in songs i use them all the time anytime you want something to kind of suck down into a an important break like where the hook enters right there by itself so we have all these little dissonances that are happening you're thinking oh this is a really simple song g a minor e f no those subtle distances are constantly grabbing your ear really every bar there's something there's the guitar dissonance that happens that grabs you those those ninths all those upper extensions are in there next we have the hook or the chorus or you might call it the pre-chorus in chorus you have a six bar phrase and then a four-bar phrase but it begins with the hook line since you've been gone let me play along with it [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay so the first time [Music] when he goes to d there the bass actually goes up to the third goes up to f sharp and then to the two chord back to g the one chord okay so let me count the two phrases for you check it out [Music] six then the four of our phrase one two three four two two three four three two [Music] okay so what is what is unusual about this well the two phrase blanks are unusual the chorus has a book-ended hook right since you've been gone at the beginning since you began at the end which is just brilliant songwriting but it's really going if you think about the song in the key of g you've got the three chord four chord one that's actually really unusual then it goes six four one then two six five two since you've been gone that is a really unusual chord progression you know all the pop songs i say nowadays they're all one four five and six this uses the three chord uses the two chord i mean it really makes use of the key of g including in the verse using that flat seven f chord right so right off the bat it's harmonically really interesting let's examine some of the individual performances uh part by part okay here's the drum solo bass [Music] next the heavy guitars in the chorus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the course we have a couple different sets of guitars here's one of them you don't even notice that in there right then you have these ones here [Music] if i add them together those two groups once again it's like this let me add the heavy ones in [Applause] now all of them together [Applause] right there you hear that big d major chord right well that d major chord is really made big because the major third interval [Music] [Applause] you don't hear it there but when i add in this [Applause] you're that third in there or this one [Music] [Applause] okay i'll add this one that gives the chorus guitars that wall of sound vibe let me play the guitars and bass together [Applause] [Music] [Applause] reading the drums you can hear when the bass goes up to the f sharp the third or the first inversion d major chord that that really lifts the song in the chorus next let me solo the chorus vocals [Music] the effects that are on the track i actually put on there because i just have the pro tools session for the song that's not actually the mix the song was mixed by serbian ghania and serbian i don't know anything about him actually he mixes all these famous pop songs and has for 20 years and there's no pictures of the guy on the internet or anything and anyway so i'm just approximating what the vocals would have you know if they had reverb and delay because that's what i have on them which i assume that's what he had i'm trying to approximate what the sound is in the mix okay next i want to look at the vocal doublings in the chorus there's vocal doublings on the lead vocal and on the harmony vocals now this is very common in pop music rock music everything the beatles doubled their lead vocals so did nirvana soundgarden allison chains and the choruses and they would double their harmonies too well pop music many times you'll have multiple doubles like in this song if we look at it we have the lead vocal up the center says zero right that's that's dead center and then you have two more vocals hard panned so it's three performances singing the main lead you also have the harmonies panned similarly but not exactly in the same place right so that gives it this massive sound there are let's see 2 4 6 8 10 12 vocal parts in the first chorus here including the lead vocals and the harmonies okay let's check out the second verse there's a second guitar part that happens against the main one and the other speaker at the beginning of the verse yeah yeah the second verse vocals in addition to the main lead we have a high double check it out how can i put it you put me on i even fell for that stupid love song and then you have a couple of harmony bits how can i put it you put me on i even fell for that stupid love song then there's another harmony right here since you've been gone now what's cool about that one is that it's the ninth of the chord the sus two same thing that she did earlier when she's singing that f sharp on the e minor chord like that since you've been gone and then how come i never hit you double there's some extra echoes so you hear these echoes here they're they're fading and they're moving panning left and right now in this break there's actually a little guitar that pans left and right distorted guitar check it out [Applause] really cool listen that gives movement to the mix there on that break plus with the vocal up the center and you have the guitars panning hard panning on each side it doesn't actually interfere with the vocals listen again so this chorus is basically the same as the last one [Applause] [Music] again so the bridge vocals are really really great let me just solo them and play them you had your chance you blew it outside [Music] really really amazing singing there that she's doing here's the high part again and again and again and again [Music] unbelievable again and again and again and again there's a guitar bit that happens that adds to the uh distortion guitars that's this [Music] really great sound when i blend it in with the regular distorted guitars [Applause] and then we go the echoey guitar part let's hear it all together [Music] you notice that bass goes up the octave there right at the very end you have a really reverbed al guitar you have this low-fi drum loop here listen pretty much like the first groove but and then we have the feedback thing coming in here check it out in the co in context you don't even notice it and everything just cuts to a dead stop right there let's check out the [Music] i break breathe wow i mean that's just incredible singing listen again libya [Music] just having an extra bar on the a minor been gone that actually is a great technique that they use they're holding doing one extra bar of the a minor it's the only time it changes in this song and it really lets that out chorus settle [Music] and then into the outro when it goes back that's all for now don't forget to subscribe if you're a first time viewer 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Channel: Rick Beato

Views: 119,070

Rating: 4.9222231 out of 5

Keywords: rick beato, everything music, rick, beato, music, music theory, music production, education, Kelly Clarkson, Dr Luke, Pop music, Rock Music, Guitar, Bass, Music Analysis, Isolated, Music Recording, American Idol, Max Martin, Hit song analysis, Music Production Tips, What makes this song great, the voice, kelly clarkson songs, kelly clarkson breakaway, isolated vocals, pro tools for beginners, pro tools tutorial, serban ghenea mixing, 2000's music, Since U Been Gone

Id: 6ZkpF_CQpSY

Length: 21min 19sec (1279 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 29 2021