Break It Off: An Analysis of a Song Longer than the Song
Pt. 2 in a series on Very Short Songs
In my last post, I wrote about Very Short Songs, and I planned to analyze a few of them to figure out what made them work. After all, there is more to being a Very Short Song than just being short - it has to be good enough that I want to listen to it again. And, it has to feel like a song: a complete musical idea with a beginning, middle, end, and just the right balance of repetition and variation.
I was planning to make one post that would highlight a few of my favorites from my Very Short Song playlist, but I had so much to say about one song in particular that it deserves its own post. (It might take you longer to read about the song than to listen to it!)
This is the track that got me thinking about short songs, and I think it's my favorite of the bunch. PinkPantheress is a UK producer with an ear for great melodies, which she uses to great effect on this track.
The underlying song is a remix of Adam F's DNB track "Circles."
PinkPantheress contributes the ”top line,” (a hooky vocal line), which unfolds geometrically in each verse.
What's interesting about this track is that the overall structure could easily be Intro -> ABA'B -> Outro, which would make perfect sense for a very short pop track - it's basically a pop song structure, except that instead of taking it to the bridge, everyone turns out the lights and goes home.
BUT, the second A section of “Break It Off” could also arguably be a C section. The actual structure might be intro -> ABCB -> outro
So what’s going on here? What is making me overthink this?
The A section, the first verse, pretty much outlines an A major triad, with the exception of one diatonic run down from the sixth scale degree (F#).
The B section (aka the chorus) contains what might be my favorite thing about this track: the pitches PinkPantheress uses when she sings "it's fine" perfectly mimic the way someone would say "I'm fine" in a situation in which, in fact, things are very much not fine. It also introduces the highest pitch used in the song to this point, A4 (which is an important part of the chorus).
(Is it a song about a break-up…or is it a song about the narrator suppressing their feelings?)
The next section should be another verse or A section and could be another verse or A section, but there are enough differences here that I'm inclined to argue that it's a third, new section of the song.
I consider the next section to be a variation on the A section ("A prime," we would say in the biz). The melody for this second verse is a VERY embellished version of the original - it still hangs on the framework of the A major triad tones, but while the first verse clings pretty tightly to the E, the melody in this second verse seems to use C# as its home base - except that the B's and A's are also interpolated, creating a very different contour to the melody in this section. Lest the melody go too far astray, we hear the familiar run down from F# on the words "lying beside you," which give us a sense of familiarity. I absolutely love how this second verse is very much the same as the first verse but also very different.
Interestingly, in this second verse, the narrator is the most emotionally exposed, which is significant given that a large part of the song is about someone diminishing their own feelings. If I had earned that PhD, I would probably claim that the introduction and interruption by a non-triad tone here portray the narrator's wistful regrets, and maybe they do ("suspended tone" indeed).
This new C section melody feels like a mish-mash of the A section melody and the chorus melody (the second half of the melody, which I didn't notate here). A mish-mash of two melodies is also a simplified explanation of the classical sonata form, in which two themes are presented, explored, and then ultimately combined. (I once heard a fellow music teacher explain this to his students as "There's an A theme, a B theme, they have a fight, and the A theme picks up some tricks from the B theme.")
I don't think PinkPantheress was planning on writing a sonata (I mean, she could have, I don't know), but I do think it's an interesting musical technique to present two ideas and then present a third melody that's a combination of the two.
Clearly, there’s a lot to say about a good, short song! Gentleman scholar (and Prose Score supporter!) Russell Shaddox launched a nice conversation about The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby in my previous post, and Russell also compiled his own playlist of songs that are each under a minute in duration, which you should listen to and enjoy!
Thanks for reading (and listening) - see you next time!