Fun "We Are Young" Song Analysis

Here's an analysis of a song by Fun that's currently #1 on the Ultimate Chart and a former #1 on the Bilboard singles chart called "We Are Young." The band has the distinction of being the first multi-member rock band to have a #1 in over a decade. As with all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
"We Are Young" is a very unusual song in that it has two completely different feels. The song begins with one feel, then abruptly changes to another for the remainder of the tune. Although I'm sure other hits have done this over the last 60 years or so, I can't remember one. The form looks like this:

Intro, Verse, B section, Chorus (feel change), Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, End

There's only a single B section in the song and it sets up the chorus and feel change. The song is one of the few hits these days that actually have a real ending instead of a fade, which is nice for a change.

The Arrangement
The arrangement is more interesting for the instruments that are subtracted rather than what's introduced along the way. The songs starts with an intro of drums that suggests the feel that will come later in the song, then gives way to piano and vocal. During the second half of the first verse, the piano goes from playing whole note chords ("footballs" as we call them in the studio biz) to simple arpeggios. When the chorus enters, the vocals are doubled, which continues until the end of the song. Also notice the harmony vocals that happen on the last line of at the end of the chorus every time.

  * The Foundation: Drums and bass

  * The Pad: Synth and organ in chorus, strings on verse

  * The Rhythm: Piano playing 8th notes

  * The Lead: Vocal (doesn't singer Nate Ruess sound like Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon?)

  * The Fills: None

The Sound
This is a rather sparse sounding song that gets pretty dense sounding after the feel change. There's not a lot of effects layering as most musical elements have either natural room ambience or a short room verb for a little bit of space. It's meant to be in-your-face and personal in the beginning and the end, and that's exactly what happens.

The floor tom sound (maybe it's typmani) is huge and takes up a lot of sonic space, as a result, the bass is pretty undefined, but that's okay because it does the job.

The Production
What keeps this song interesting is the use of dynamics. The song begins quietly, then gets big with the feel change and the first chorus and basically stays that way until the last chorus, when it gets much sparser, and finally ends with just the vocal and a piano. Also, the feel change really makes the song what it is, while the bridge is also different because it features a new lead vocalist, Janelle Monae. It's not something that you expect, and you keep thinking that it will go back to the original feel in the beginning, but it never happens. In fact, "We Are Young" is an all around great example of maintaining listener interest during the course of a song.

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LMFAO "Sexy And I Know It" Song Analysis

This week I'll do a song analysis of song by LMFAO called "Sexy And I Know It" that's currently #1 on the Ultimate Chart. The song is a worldwide hit in more than 15 countries and is the third single from the group's Sorry For Party Rocking album.

While it may go unnoticed by many who don't like the dance or Top 40 genre, LMFAO is pretty groundbreaking. Why? They're a great example of the marriage of electronic music (their sub-genre is known as "hip house") to a catchy melody and lyrics, which has caused the group to break through in a big way.

As with all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
If we look at "Sexy And I Know It" from a pop perspective, the song seems simplistic both form and lyric-wise, but this is a completely different genre so we have to throw that thinking out. All dance and electronic music are built around 4 and 8 bar modules that sometimes work as the traditional verse, chorus, bridge, and then again, sometimes they don't. In this song they do, and that's why it's such a big pop hit. Here's what the form looks like:

Intro, Verse, B Section, Chorus, Verse, B Section, Chorus, Verse, B Section, Chorus

Pretty simple, right. Not exactly. The verse after the 2nd chorus is a hybrid; it's a little bit verse with the song hook ("Sexy and I know it") thrown in. In a way, you could almost call it a bridge, but only from a lyric standpoint since the underlying musical structure doesn't change.

The lyrics are never going to win any awards, but at least the song has some, something that most music from this genre lack.

The Arrangement
This song shows that you can have a hit with a minimum number of elements. As with all electronic music, the rhythm is the most important element, but seldom is it so stripped down through the entire song. The song consists of kick drum, the vocal, a repeating synth line, and a very few synth and drum fill elements so it's really down almost as far as it can be and still work.

  * The Foundation: Kick drum sample

  * The Rhythm: Kick drum, high-hat, and repeating synth line

  * The Pad: None

  * The Lead: The vocal

  * The Fills: Various synth sounds and noises

The Sound
With electronic music, sound quality is never an issue since noise and distortion can be welcome elements. The most important sound element is the beat, which is driven by the bass drum sound. Since there are so few musical elements, the kick has to be very large to fill the frequency space and this one certainly is. The vocals all have a distorted edge to them, which as said before, it's okay in this type of music and even desired. Everything is dry and in your face except for the repeating synth, which is delayed at the end of song along with the high-hat sound. And of course, it's all compressed to the edge.

The Production
Any song that can be interesting with so few elements has to have pretty good production. The song has a great beat for dancing and a hook that will stick in your mind, which is the reason why it's a hit. The two most consistent elements, the bass drum and repeating synth sounds, keep changing with every section and sometimes within the same section. The very subtle entrance of additional elements all keep your attention. That, my friends, is the essence of production.

Don't forget to send me your requests for song analysis.

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Lady Antebellum "Just A Kiss" Song Analysis

Today we look at a song that's #3 on the Ultimate Chart this week called "Just A Kiss" from Lady Antebellum. It's the first release from their upcoming 3rd album by this award winning country trio, although this song doesn't sound much like country music. As with all song analysis, we'll look at the song itself, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
"Just A Kiss" uses a very simple, yet effective pop form that looks like this:

Intro, Verse, Chorus, Interlude, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Interlude, Chorus, Ending

The intros and interludes are very short, and the song has a real ending, a most unusual thing these days.

The Arrangement
When you have a simple song form, you need a great arrangement to keep the listener from losing interest. "Just A Kiss" uses an excellently crafted arrangement that's about as good as it gets in any genre, which is one of the reasons why it's a hit.

The song develops nicely, opening up with piano, drums and percussion, then adding the bass when the vocal enters. Snare and guitar plus a light Hammond organ are added with the 2nd half of the verse, then the chorus gets even bigger with 3 part harmony and an additional guitar. The 1st interlude shows the arrangement skill with the heavy accents at the end, again keeping your interest. The 2nd chorus then adds a synth string pad to develop it even more.

The 2nd verse develops using two distorted guitar parts and harmony lead vocals, which ends with the bands signature 3 part harmony.

  The Foundation: piano, drums, bass

  The Pad: It's subtle, but the organ from the second verse onward, whole note strums from the electric guitar during the chorus, and synth string pad during the 2nd and last chorus and bridge.

  The Rhythm: A soft shaker adds motion throughout the entire song, entering right at the intro.

  The Lead: Lead vocals

  The Fills: None really, although the string lines in the chorus can almost be thought of as fills.

The Sound
The sound of "Just A Kiss" is really big and present. During the bridge the bass might be a little too big as the notes start to blur as the line gets more complicated, but it sounds great other than that. The vocals have a bit of delayed reverb, but for the most part, all the elements are pretty much in your face with only slight ambiance to develop the layers. The song isn't too compressed, and you certainly never hear it where it's used.

The Production
This is pretty much state-of-the-art Nashville production by Paul Worley. Not only is the song layered especially well, but I love little things that mostly go unnoticed in songs like this. In this one it's the harmony vocals on the last interlude, and the small but effective change in the melody in the last chorus. And of course, it's so nice to have a real ending to a song.

Send me your requests for song analysis.

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Tinie Tempah "Written In The Stars" Song Analysis

Today we'll so a song analysis of a song that's number 12 on the Ultimate Chart and a former number one in Britain. It's British rapper Tinie Tempah's "Written In The Stars" featuring Eric Turner. The song is from his debut album Disc-Overy. Like every song analysis, we look at the song itself, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
"Written In The Stars" features a fairly straight-ahead form with nothing much fancy about it. It looks like:

 Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Interlude, Verse, Chorus, Interlude, Chorus

Two slightly different features is the songs begins with the chorus, and the interlude is vocal instead of the usual instrumental.

The Arrangement
What's cool about this song is the development, which is certainly needed for a song with a simple form. It builds and releases, builds and releases, just like most hits.

  * The Foundation: Primarily the drums, or drum-like track

  * The Pad: The low octaves on the piano during the second verse, low bass synth during the chorus

  * The Rhythm: All the way through the song there's a delayed, arpeggiated synth

  * The Lead: The melody vocal, which is doubled by the piano in the chorus, and rap.

  * The Fills: Synth during the verse.

The Sound
The sound of "Written In The Stars" isn't what I'd call "state of the art." The vocals are a bit spitting because of the compression, and there's a hint of distortion on everything, although that may have been intentional.

One of the things that's common to most rap songs is the huge kick sound, which can be found here. The snare sounds like a distorted sample that has a long envelope thanks to the compression and reverb.

One of the things that I cool was the tape echo, which you can hear on the repeats of the vocal as the song fades out. You can tell it's a tape echo (or at least a simulator) by the poor frequency response and the distortion on the repeats.

The Production
The production by iSHi is really good as you hear a lot of subtle parts that add to the development of the song as it goes along. Parts are brought in and taken out in an effort to add some tension and release, which happens between the beginning of the verses and the rest of the song. The interludes are different because they're vocal in nature instead of instrumental like more songs, which adds a nice bridge between the chorus and verse. The second one also adds a harmony for development.

Send me your song analysis requests.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

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"I Need A Doctor" - Dr. Dre Song Analysis

As promised, here's an analysis of this weeks #1 song according to The Ultimate Chart, and it's "I Need A Doctor" from Dr. Dre featuring Eminem and Skylar Grey. We'll break the song down into four parts - song, arrangement, sound and performance.

The Song - It doesn't matter what genre of music, a hit is a hit and they all closely follow a form. "I Need A Doctor" is no exception. This form uses chorus as an intro, followed by a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, and last verse with a final chorus. This is just about as close to a formula form as you can get.

The Arrangement - There are 4 elements always in the mix (see yesterday's post for an explanation of arrangement elements). In the verse, chorus (except the intro) and bridge, the foundation of the track is held down by the drums, and the rhythm is by the right hand of the piano. In the intro and verses, the pad can be attributed to the left hand of the piano playing whole notes. In the chorus, the bass acts more as the pad (which is opposite from most songs where the bass is part of the foundation of the song). The lead element is held down by Eminem and Dre in the verses and Skylar Gray in the chorus.

The arrangement development is also classic, with the intro fairly sparse with only piano and vocal and sound effects, and the verse sees the introduction of the drums and an additional synth on top of the piano. The chorus gets very big with the introduction of the bass and the 3 part harmony. The bridge adds an additional pad element with the introduction of a high synth pedal note, then it drops down to a sparse last chorus which Dre raps.

The Sound - For the last 10 years or so the sound of most records was very much dry and in your face, but "I Need A Doctor" returns to the bigger sound of 70's and 80's. The drums are John Bonham-like huge (almost too big for the record, especially the kick), and as a result, the other instruments have to be a lot smaller to fit into the mix. The vocals are drenched in delay and a long reverb, which is a welcome return to slicker sound from long ago.

The Performance - Eminem just smokes this song. You can feel his passion, his heat, his aggression jump right through the speakers at you. Skylar Grey is one of those vocalists that sings well with herself and the harmonies sound bigger than just stacked parts as a result.

Like most hits, "I Need A Doctor" is a twist on a well-used formula that never lets the listener down.

Send me your suggestions for other songs to analyze.

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You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating the music business.

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.