(Sorry for my not-so-good English in advance, native German speaker here)

I’m currently stuck on this song:

It’s some kind of phenomena for me that this pop track - at least here in Germany – gets a Top10 (tendency: Top3) hit suddenly, after its release 6(!) month ago.

Don’t understand me wrong, I also like this song, but I can’t get it what makes it an earworm and why it gets popular out of nothing, because:

• The basic pattern is an extremely simple four on the floor beat, played slowly
• Bassdrum: standard, not distorted, long release, starting with bright short click
• Few drums/decent cymbals, standard clap with fast release – seen mio. times before
• Bassline/subs: standard, slightly squared to hear it on cheap speaker in lo mids - common technique and nothing a beginner can't set up in an Ableton operator within minutes
• Vocals: nothing you can found in every Vengeance sample lib, highly processed (reverb, delay etc pp)
• Song structure: like in any EDM Spinnin track these days common and trimmed for radio playback=3minutes (Intro, A, Bridge, B, A, B, Out)
• Pads/background: standard pads and arpeggios one can find in Massive’s factory presets
• Interesting string instrument(s), mixture of kind of e-guitar and brass, sounds fresh and unique -> only outstanding element of this song – can this make a hit??

What is even more standard, but probably for good reasons since less is often more, is the chord progression. Sorry if I’m wrong, but besides the bridge, I can hear (ok, I measured it) 3 different chords:

• Verse: i v VI v -> Am Em F Em
• Chorus: i v -> Am Em
• Bridge: Ok, something more complicated, but can 16 seconds be the reason for the success?

Also the Turkish artist isn’t (better say: wasn’t) very known and after my research didn’t made exceeding promo in the last weeks,.

But there must be *something* that created some kind of critical mass in the last weeks and makes the audience watching/listening/buying/rating/whatever this song so it’s actually climbing the charts like hell.

Any ideas/suggestions/comments?

 

It's a cover of a song that was already a Hit

"Tuesday" by ILoveMakonnen.

You might get some more pointers from hearing the original or the remix with Drake. Sound wise it is simple but very pleasing to the ear.

 

Thanks mrmugabi, I didn't notice that it's a cover song. I knew the original just by hearing. And it seems to be (without knowing it) that many songs are named after (at?) day of week names.
But I see the difference of a "real" hit: 140 Mio. (Mr Drake) vs. 4 Mio. views on YouTube. And right now, it's just a phenomena in Germany - no ranking in european charts and not to mention the US. Strange country ;-)

Will have a deeper look at the original and the Drake remix now to get closer to the secret of chart hits..

 

Everything about that song is super chill....her voice, the slow melody....It's the kind of song that connects friends while they're hanging out. I think you're trying to analyse and focus on the "technicalities' of the song and forgetting about the soul from which it was created.

 

I find the song boring and repetitive. The video is nice though! Def some cuties in there!

 

Soul ? Where please? The vocal performance is soulless and flat to say the least, as the music is too, except maybe for the "ethnic" hook that adds some flavor. This track is typical pop house cover, manufactured for a certain crowd, i am sorry but i can hear no soul here.

 

Yeah, you are not the first person saying so. I used to be a programmer for 15 yrs and thinking in a very analytical way - there are pros and cons. Just trying to get a new hobby (for about 2 years). I love to make music, but you are most probably right that I should focus less on technical issues (even if it's important to know some) and more on to just feel music with the heart. Easy to say... Long time ago, somebody was saying something like "a good musican first have to learn all the hard and boring theory stuff, and when it's about to make music, forget everything, shut down the brain, open the soul and that pressing the keys" (he did say this without grammatical errors^^).
But who knows for what it's good for - some scientist are looking for the theory of everything (and I bet they know they'll never find it in lifetime) and I'm just looking for a theoretical approach what makes a song a chart hit.

These days, when "digitalization" becomes for many people more important than "humanization", it's probably not unusual. A year ago or so, I saw a You Tube video of some guy in music industry ("a big boss") having a speech about how to improve chances to make a song successful. He analyzed the Top 100 before and found out that in (forgot the excat value) ~80% of those songs the word "you" is mentioned in the first 30 seconds. If this is not the case, chances to get Top100 goes x% down. After that, I was often paying attention whether this rule applies, and, as far as I can estimate, he was right. And he mentioned stuff like every musican is in realtiy not looking for making good music, but make as much profit as possible etc. That was both interessting and sad... Not because he's an asshole, but because he is right. There are exceptions for sure, but I don't believe Mr. Drake (to stay in topic) is ONLY interessted in his music and not in the millions he make...

Long story short.. There was a time in the 90s in the Techno/House scene in Germany, when everybody was hating commerce, we (thought) that we were one family on the raves and everybody loved each other. And that also applied or at least seemed to apply - maybe other chemical substances played a small role in terms of the amount of love. Not sure whether it's just my age, my view of life or whether it's fact that in those days the world was in harmony and one like me didn't even tought about asking silly questions like the one in this topic... Apropos topic - getting too offtopic now so I will end this post ;-)

Thanks.

 

Last edited: Mar 20, 2017

Thought like you, too, when hearing the song the first time.. Unfortunately, this songs comes over and over (MTV Germany running here in background all day) and after a while - I was wondering about myself - I started to like it. Not because of the girls - IMO that makes the song to appear cheap/poor. I can't remember a time when a was turning up the volume when a special song starts in radio/TV/whereever. But for unknown reasons I'm doing so for this one. And as said the strange thing is that I even can't define what it is what makes me like the song so much.... It's a phenomenon..... Maybe some hidden frequencies within the music that hypnotize one

 

MTV still plays music there!??!?? Here it's mostly just divisive SJW propaganda now, a la buzzfeed.

 

I thoroughly feel you and agree with all but the quoted phrase.
If the executives weren't biased, and focused on what it takes to be a musician in the first place they would stfu imho. It is a constant dedication+rising learning curve till death, that no other profession needs. I would not blame any musician fortunate enough to make a buck from his trade. I had my share and it was great. This doesn't mean it can last forever. Not even the best selling artists can sustain success for life.
Recent fact : Current Greek music/audio rights management corporation called AEPI (representative of worldwide IFPI) general director, is imprisoned for fraud and theft and others. As it was discovered after thorough investigation, he was getting the salary of 53.000 euros per month, plus he put both his wife and daughter as execs in the company for monthly salaries of about 20k each lol. Considering Greece is under humongous financial stress and even the most successful Greek artist is getting back around 10-15000 annually, you understand this was outrageous to say the least.
I have worked with Sony, EMI and Universal in the past as a remixer and composer. All execs i met, were making much more than any musician i 've met and the vast majority of them (there were exceptions) were ignorant posers who got by because they knew someone important. Half of them turned their silicone GFs to "singers" just because they could during the 80s and 90s, utilizing their power to control the puppets and marketing behind the music scene. No wonder how their industry is now crumbling.
Cheers mate

 

If you want to be popular you need to be average,(or rather create what's average) it's this averaging that appeals to the most amount of people, only thing that science has proved to what makes a hit so far.
interesting documentary

 

Last edited: Mar 20, 2017

Interesting story with the general director guy :p Good example for the fucked up and corrupt industry, or better say its leaders. Shows exactly that the wrong people in those big labels making decisions that makes only themselves rich. A study says (sorry getting analytical again) that most of them are narcissist or even psychopathic personalities, obviously with a good stealth when it comes to deals.

In my opinion, if one is really the boss of a big major label making millions, a salary of 53K/month sounds pretty much but is ok, AS FAR as those guys WOULD also take responsibility for the mistakes they make. Of course, making crime shit like you mentioned and taking salary for wife&daughter _shall_ really be avoided, alone because prisons these days are not as comfortable as an office (but maybe also this depends based on your location and your connection to the mafia^^).

You really worked for those big labels? I assume with composer you mean some kind of “ghost writer”? I can imagine that this is really a hard job. Not in terms of payment, but in terms of making musical 'art' which is used by someone else (in general without being mentioned).

Regarding “every musician is in reality not looking for making good music, but make as much profit as possible” – as said, there are exceptions, hopefully much. And I think it’s more a question of current famousness what a musician’s/artist’s state is. If poor, everybody loves and lives for music. As soon as success comes, that may change. One of the best examples to which person this does not apply is Bob Marley. And there is of course no black or white – some loves music same as the nice side effect of getting much money – that’s ok as long as they are cool and, for example, spend some of their money from time to time. I guess Justin Bieber and “those” contains more to the group to which the statement was referred to.

 

It objectifies women, celebrates sex and the video opens with an inverted crucifix. These are the only clues I picked up. If there is any soul here it's lost on me.

 

Sorry, it was "Viva" (the "German" MTV), not MTV. I get MTV here as well, but I'm not sure whether it's a special german edition. Anyhow, I believe there won't be a market in future (resp. already now) for musical TV channels, mostly because of the "digitalization". In Germany we like to say "damals war alles besser" (in the old days, everything was better) *TryingToLookOnTheBrightSideOfLife*

 

LOL, nicely said

 

It's a basically a take on a few styles.

You have the structure from Drake
The Afro Caribbean feel from Diplo and Stitch with a lot of the sound ques as well
A bit of eastern movement from Edward Maya with the stacked stabs
This list can get very long if we continue to dig back even further.... the history stops here.

The syncopation from the 3 styles is merged pretty well.

So what makes it a hit...

it's already familiar, builds on other people's work that was well received (literally and most likely with prior approval and some royalty scheme in place) and it takes something catchy and spits it out again while not really taking any risks. The rest is PR, maybe some club plays, and media push.

 

I just looked up Danelle Sandoval and she has an amazing voice.

 

It's a hit for exact the same reasons as this song was:
Nothing wrong with it though....

 

Nope, not everybody here is doing ghost jobbies on cracked soft if you may allow me to say so. Some of my "highlights" (pun intended) would include being a member of a (sort of) successful Greek pop/rock band in the late 90s (top10 album) in which i co-wrote a few tunes and played keys and some gtr, and as a remixer scored a number 1 remix single in 2006 of this :

Actually the official remixes on this one, were all far from commercial but we were lucky that the track was included on a overplayed tv commercial, and since the single release included the original too, you can say i got really lucky on this one. But only on paper. As i got practically nothing from the cd single release. This single was on a label called Alpha records that doesn't exist anymore and its general director is still under investigation for fraud and mismanagement. Me and my company (at the time) still have a lawsuit pending on them for "escaped earnings that were never rendered to the rightful owners".
So again, even if you are lucky enough to be part of the industry, the road is not paved with roses, if you know what i mean, and it takes a strong stomach to put up with all the bull you might stumble upon each day. I personally got really sick of them and never worked again for nothing but an upfront one time fee when it comes to remixing.

 

Last edited: Mar 20, 2017

If you say that like this, sounds very plausible. It especially shows that you really understand music. And that I know at least some technical theory well but my knowledge of music history needs an update :/
What do you mean with the "stacked stabs"? The percussive-like instrument that is played starting at 0:09 on every off-beat? If so, and if I'm not totally wrong, that instrument gives the song a gentle touch of dub/reggea. Interessting is that it plays at least a 2 notes chord, which changes (one time within 2 bars, so on every 5 1/2 out of 8) while the main chord remains for a one beat. That's a tiny detail, but like you said probably an element of the long list..

The point that it's familar can be seen from two perspectives: the very basic construct, the repetitive house beat, has been seen (heared) too often too catch the audience. But in terms of the build-in cover song, that may be true. And I'm in doubt that there was an approval reg. copyrights/fees since the artists was absolutely unknown (or is it practice in music industry that a nobody, let's say me, goes to Sony Records and asks whether one is allowed to make a cover song of say Beyonce's latest release?). But now, when money comes into play, Warner Bros. and whoever created the orginal (or their advocates^^) will find ways to agree, hehe.

That's possible. Unfortunately, there is not much too hear of her original voice in "Tuesday" - the voice there sounds ok, but only because dozens of effects are applied. Sometimes, less is more.

Update: Ok, agree after founding..