Analysis of "Over It", very in-depth blog post...take a look at those graphs! Options

[katpack_15]

http://elephantlarry.blogspot.com/2007/03/...l-analysis.html

Tuesday, March 13, 2007
A Graphical and Historical Analysis (Justification?) of why I like "Over It" by Katharine McPhee
I heard "Over It" for the first time in the gym yesterday. I had no idea what it was, but my ears perked up and I felt pangs of wonder. I looked up the song and found it was the first song by American Idol-er Katharine McPhee. My co-worker told me I had McPheever. I was very sad.

Embarrassed and also very embarrassed, I set about trying to figure out why I was liking this song so much. My first defense: a bit of history! The song was written by a dude who's written at least 20 or 30 all-time guilty pleasure songs, including Eternal Flame. Possibly the biggest guilty pleasure pop song ever.

My second and more scientific defense: Melodic analysis and graphs!

First of all, I must stress that my interest in "Over It" is restricted entirely to the chorus. Like many other pop songs, all the songwriting energy seems focused on giving the chorus an enormous hook, and not much is left over for the sucky, bland verses. I've heard the song 3 times now and I can remember all of the chorus and none of the verses.

What made this song's chorus reach out and stab my ears in a good way was intervals. It is common practice in nearly all compositional styles, from pop to Western Classical to traditional Indian Raga, to have scalar motion in a melody. The best example I can think of off the top of my head is "It's Gonna Be Me" by *NSYNC. Here's a non-musical illustration of that melody (pardon my complete lacking of drawing ability, even on a computer):



See? Scalar motion. The melody of that chorus goes right down the scale. If you were playing the melody on a piano, you'd be pressing consecutive keys on a keyboard.

When the movement between notes in a melody isn't strictly scalar, the intervals between notes are often small, and the size of the intervals themselves often remains consistent to create a familiar hook. "My Love" by Justin Timberlake is a great example:



That's some very simple, repetitive intervallic motion there. It's like you're going down the scale on the keyboard again, but you're playing a little hopscotch - first you use pinky finger, then skip to the middle finger, up to the ring finger, skip down to the pointer finger. 5-3-4-2 (for the first line in the graph). Very simple, nice intervals.

------

Now that we've established 2 common types of melodic tools, take a look at the graph for "Over It."



WHOA! What's going on here? It's jumping all over the place! 5 notes down! 3 notes up! 8 notes down! 5 notes up! Its motion cannot be predicted!

It's very, very uncommon to hear those kinds of intervals as a main melody in a song. Especially a top-40-aimed pop song, but really any song at all. Songwriters take chances in a lot of different ways, but this part of songwriting isn't often toyed with. It's maybe the literary equivalent of a non-linear narrative. As soon as I heard this, I wanted to hear it again, just because it surprised me so much the first time I heard it. Kinda like the first time you see Memento or Run Lola Run or one of them things. Kudos to you, pop songsmiths! You got me!


...I'm still a little embarrassed.


P.S. Oh, if you want to hear this crazy chorus, hit up McPhee Central.

P.P.S. There's a fair chance I'll be making the ringtone for this song.

This post has been edited by katpack_15: Mar 13th 2007, 3:55 PM

[takethechance]

... Wow. Way over my head!

This post has been edited by takethechance: Mar 13th 2007, 3:57 PM

[zembla]

What blog was this posted at? It's rather interesting...

[katpack_15]

What blog was this posted at? It's rather interesting...

ooops sorry about that. i fixed the link at the top

[megustajake]

Thats cool! Its nice to hear praise for the song from someone who 1) didn't know who it was and 2) knows what they're talking about. You have to shift between two registers for the chorus.

Thanks for posting

[J_Jammer]

So let me get this straight, with a big range you can sing the chorus to Memento and fool the audience with a graph?

[zembla]

Thats cool! Its nice to hear praise for the song from someone who 1) didn't know who it was and 2) knows what they're talking about. You have to shift between two registers for the chorus.

Thanks for posting

Oh good you understand it, so what does he mean with the graphs...what is so odd abour Over It? And what part is he saying is catchy...?

[Karmacode]

Nuts! It would be easier to just give in and confess... McPheever's got ya!!

[katpack_15]

Oh good you understand it, so what does he mean with the graphs...what is so odd abour Over It? And what part is he saying is catchy...?

He's saying the chorus is catchy because she moves up and down so many intervals. If you look at the graph for Nsync's chorus it's a scale...so it goes down like steps...1 interval at a time...which is very common in songs today. For Justin's chorus from My Love...if you listen to the song and look at the graph you can tell that the chorus stays with the same note (interval) for "I can see us hol-" and then goes down two intervals for "-ing hands"...goes back up one for "walking on the beach our toes"...and back down two for "in the sand"...again this 5-3-4-2 motion (moving down two notes, back up one, and then down two again) is another very common technique used in choruses for songs in the top 40 today



If you look at Kat's graph though...she's all over the place (especially with the first part of the chorus). she starts off high with "wan" but then moves down 5 notches with "-ing", then back up 3, and then down EIGHT with "ting" and finally back up 3 notches with "me". so it's hard to guess what she does next with the chorus (unlike the two previously mentioned songs with common intervallic motion)...which caught his attention...this is very interesting and unique...i never really noticed until reading this person's blog...

This post has been edited by katpack_15: Mar 13th 2007, 4:21 PM

[zembla]

Oh thanks...I've heard a lot of people say that Over It would be a very difficult song to sing live. She even has what...3 back-up singers on the song to blend with? It's a very odd song if you break it down...but good for radio, for sure.

I guess it's a testament to her range....

[megustajake]

Oh good you understand it, so what does he mean with the graphs...what is so odd abour Over It? And what part is he saying is catchy...?

I'm not sure how to explain it any better than he already did Basically what he is saying is that Over It's chorus breaks the rules by not following a consecutive pattern most often used to create a hook. The intervals represent how it would be played on a piano; notice how it doesn't skip, its either a step (or note) up or down. Then look at the graph for Over It, the pattern seems random: there are skips sometimes two or even three keys down and up.

Like I said I don't know if I'm explaining that well.

He's saying the chorus is catchy because she moves up and down so many intervals. If you look at the graph for Nsync's chorus it's a scale...so it goes down like steps...1 interval at a time...which is very common in songs today. For Justin's chorus from My Love...if you listen to the song and look at the graph you can tell that the chorus stays with the same note (interval) for "I can see us hol-" and then goes down two intervals for "-ing hands"...goes back up one for "walking on the beach our toes"...and back down two for "in the sand"...again this is another very common technique used in choruses for songs in the top 40 today

If you look at Kat's graph though...she's all over the place...which is very interesting and unique...i never really noticed until reading this person's blog...

OK cool, you explained it too

[katpack_15]

Oh thanks...I've heard a lot of people say that Over It would be a very difficult song to sing live. She even has what...3 back-up singers on the song to blend with? It's a very odd song if you break it down...but good for radio, for sure.

I guess it's a testament to her range....

it really is...this song is incredibly hard to sing perfectly each time because of all the note/pitch changes...to stay in tune for the entire song (especially w/ so many repeats of the chorus!) is tough tough tough. and what's amazing is kat can pull it off while so many other female singers today with songs in the top 40 wouldn't be able to..

This post has been edited by katpack_15: Mar 13th 2007, 4:24 PM

[gato13]

Very interesting...

[justlookin]

Great find! So now we know why "Over It" is so unusual, and so hard to sing even for Kat.

"Eternal Flame" -- So that's why the songwriter's name (Steinberg) seems so familiar. Wonder what other hits he has written?

[zembla]

^^He wrote 'Like A Virgin'

[Pheenomenon]

I can't believe how cheesy Justin Timberlake's lyrics are in his sample "My Love":

I can see us holding hands
walking on the beach our toes in the sand
I can see us in the country side
sitting in the grass laying side by side

Like something an untalented 14 year old would write. Is he guilty of this or is it someone else's crime?

[katpack_15]

I can't believe how cheesy Justin Timberlake's lyrics are in his sample "My Love":

I can see us holding hands
walking on the beach our toes in the sand
I can see us in the country side
sitting in the grass laying side by side

Like something an untalented 14 year old would write. Is he guilty of this or is it someone else's crime?

actually it was co-written by Justin, TI, NATE HILLS, and Timbaland

[CRB]

Over It definitely doesn't sound like other Top40 music, now if Katharine brought in a rapper that could change.

This post has been edited by CRB: Mar 13th 2007, 7:41 PM

[Pheenomenon]

actually it was co-written by Justin, TI, NATE HILLS, and Timbaland

I suspect JT wrote the lyrics and the other guys just said "um, ok dude, you're the big star, we'll just work on the music."

Got to admit though, the very worst lyrics don't sound nearly as bad when they are sung, especially if the musical track is very busy, you just don't notice.

But the very best lyrics read like poetry, why not try to do something really good or at least not so banal rather than pass off slop like this just because you know it won't be noticed?

This post has been edited by Pheenomenon: Mar 13th 2007, 7:10 PM

[CRB]

I really wish this guys mom would have gotten him some tuba lessons rather then the piano and I guarantee this technical justification for liking the music could have been avoided. I find the music of Neglected more interesting, to be honest. But whatever floats your boat.