Song Analysis: Kanye West – All Day

[Produced by Velous, Kanye West, Diddy and Charlie Heat; Co-produced by Mike Dean, French Montana and Noah Goldstein; Additional production by Plain Pat, Travi$ Scott, Allen Ritter & Mario Winans]

Yo. I remember seeing this video for the first time. It always cracks me up how, if you’ve been to a more “urban” rap show, rappers would always have like 5 – 10 of their friends just up on stage bouncing around.

Kanye, in true Kanye fashion, took this idea and multiplied it a billion times. AND IT’S AWESOME. The flame throwers are what really got to me. Once I saw those, I was like Kanye damn did it again.

The track was produced by newcomer Velous (with coproduction from a whole lotta people). Velous  came up by producing beats for French Montana.

That growly bass used sparingly in the song is a great touch. As much as I love the true 808 basses, I like how Kanye really diversifies and makes the beats he uses standout from typical trap tracks. That wall of brass bass and chorus is also awesome. Followed by some nice contrast with the angelic singing and the Allan Kingdom hook.
My favorite line in the whole song is the Denzel Washington reference. Come on Ye, that’s David Palmer from 24. The followup line is also super dope. “If you run into me, you better have Allstate with ya.”

“24/7, 365 days, everybody gettin’ paid” Ohh shiieet !

RAKIDO

Song Analysis – Avicii – Addicted To You

WRITERS –  Tim Bergling, Ash Pournouri, Mac Davis, Josh Krajcik
PRODUCERS – Ash Pournouri, Avicii
TEMPO  – 128 BPM

 

The main theme of the song is that all too consuming feeling a person has when they are obsessing over a  specific person.

From the verses, it sounds like that passionate first few weeks of love. The images of veins and being hooked on drugs add to that addicted feeling.

Starting off with a soft guitar with a very soft dynamic, and Audra Mae starts off singing more of a pianissimo style delivery, softer.

When she gets to the main verse where her delivery slowly starts to buildup and buildup.  Until it hits the climax of the song with the second “Addicted To You” lyric.

 

This song differs from other Avicii mainstream releases in the fact it doesn’t have too much of an EDM trance synth breakdown. The white noise sound is still very prevalent throughout the whole song.

The one standout about this track is the very Adele –like voice of Audra Mae, passionately delivering the emotion that yes, she is addicted to whoever she is singing about.

The bass drum, the snare and the hi-hat are typical EDM snares with the guitar being the main driving instrument. The guitar is what drives the uptempo throughout the song.

And the contrast is defined through the power of Audra Mae’s vocal delivery as the song progresses.

I also really like how the radio edit isn’t that long and is less than 3 minutes. It’s efficient and entertaining. 

Another great song from one of the reigning EDM kings.

Kaizen and SongWriting

Kaizen  is the idea of continuous improvement.

Something. Anything.

In anyway shape or form.

Today, write a lyric. Write a poem. Play guitar. Watch a Reason tutorial video. Read a book on How2Rap. Run a few laps around your block. Do those vocal exercises. Find out who Robin Frederick is.

Something. Anything.

Do something that will make you 1% better than you were yesterday.

It adds up.

Of course, always feel free to go more than 1%. go 110% if you want.

But keep going.

Playing Open Mics Is A Lot Like Market Research

A while back I wrote an article on why it is a great idea to play as many open mics as you possibly can. And I still believe in that idea. It’s all about experience, experience and more experience. Those minutes spent add up and before long you’ll start seeing a major difference in your entire swagger.

But then it came to me, another great reason to play open mics.

You get to see what the crowd responds to. I’ve noticed which songs get the least crowd response and which one gets the girls dancing. Note to self, write more songs like those.

It’s like it’s own market research.

So play as many of them as you possibly can !

 

Song Analysis – Avicii – Hey Brother

Rhythm is SOOOO important when it comes to songwriting. Learning that backbeat and learning how to count to 4 is the most fundamental and important a musician needs to learn. All of pop music follows that 4/4 pulse. Take this Avicii and start counting 1 2 3 4.

SONG ANALYSIS: 3 THINGS WE CAN LEARN FROM EMINEM AND RIHANNA’S THE MONSTER

There’s a lot of lessons we can learn from Eminem and Rihanna’s latest pairing.

Song Analysis – Jay Z – “Holy Grail” ft. Justin Timberlake

Song Analysis – Jay Z – “Holy Grail” ft. Justin Timberlake

Writers – Justin Timberlake, Shawn Carter, Terius “The Dream” Nash, Timothy Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Ernest Wilson, Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic
Producer – The Dream, Timbaland, Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon, No I.D.
BPM: 72

But I still don’t know why, why I love it so much.

This song is a great example of a lot of really effective rhythmic contrasts while still keeping a melodic hook, both vocally and instrumentally, that keeps your interest throughout the whole song.

The most obvious and effective hook is Justin’s Chorus where he sings

And baby, it’s amazing Im in this maze with you
I just can’t crack your code
One day you screaming me love you loud
The next day you’re so cold
One day you’re heree, one day you’re there
one day you care
You’re so unfair, sipping from your cup til it runneth over Holy Grail

Right from the beginning, it just grabs you and forces you to listen to the rest of what the song is about. And what is the song about?

Song Analysis – Katy Perry – “Roar”

Song Analysis – Katy Perry “Roar”

written by Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie Mckee, Henry Walter
produced by Dr. Luke and Cirkut
BPM: 92

You gotta give Katy Perry props for having a large diversity in sound throughout her songs. They all retain a sense of sugary pop but the texture and feeling in each one is very individualized.

This new single represents a Phoenix like rebirth, complete with teasers that show her literally burning her old personality. AWESOMENESS!!!! Trailers like these excite me as an artist challenging themselves to something new.

The theme of the song is very “Im not gonna take this anymore and you goddamn right. Im gonna do something about it.” Kinda like Katy’s version of the Twisted Sister hit, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”

Song Analysis: Anna Kendrick “Cups” (Pitch Perfect’s When Im Gone)

Sometimes hits can come from the most unexpected places.

Usher’s Get Low was only suppose to a mixtape hit.  Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody experienced a resurrection due to Wayne’s World.  Home by Philip Philips.

These and a handful of others song struck a chord within the general audience and just kept going and going like a runaway freight train.

One another accidental hit is Anna Kendrick’s “Cups.”

The theme hits home because we all have that someone that we just want to say , “Listen, your life would be better with me in it. So why are you leaving? WHY???!!!”

Song Analysis – Of Monsters And Men “Little Talks”

 

all that’s left is the ghost of you

Everything changes. Someone you thought you were close to will one day let you down.

The theme of this song is “love sucks because of miscommunication”.
The title being referred to as something these lovers use to have.

What kind of questions does the title raise?