Understanding Call Me Maybe

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Ha! Now that song's stuck in your head.
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About a decade ago, Carly Rae Jepsen's career exploded. She went from being a reasonably successful artist on Canadian radio to an international superstar practically overnight, all thanks to one lucky break. After the lead single for her sophomore album happened to catch the attention of another Canadian pop star, the world immediately fell in love with it, setting her on a journey that would see her local hit become an international sensation. But what makes it so dang catchy?
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Опубликовано:

6 июл 2023

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Комментарии : 513

@12tone 11 месяцев назад

Some additional thoughts/corrections: 1) I've seen the thing I've described as popping tones called "free notes", but that's boring and it's also not widely used anyway, so why not just make up my own name? Not that I did that. Totally real music theory term, I promise. I would never lie about music theory terminology. 2) To clarify, when I said "we're in a key that contains B, but isn't very likely to use it as the focus of its melody," I meant in reference to the bass part. My point there is that G, the key laid out by the static line, _is_ likely to pull a melodic emphasis on B, and is thus a better key to read the melody in. Dunno if that came across. 3) I didn't want to get too deep into this in the video 'cause it wasn't the point, but for what it's worth, I suspect the rise if hybrid tonality in modern popular music is likely due to influences from hip-hop and EDM, both styles that decenter strong keys and frequently take more abstract approaches to their tonal vocabulary. 4) I should mention that, for most of the verse phrases, you could also read the accents as falling on the second, fourth, and seventh syllables, rather than first, fourth, and seventh. ("I _threw_ a _wish_ in the _well"_ instead of _"I_ threw a _wish_ in the _well."_ ) That makes sense written down, but listening to her delivery, it doesn't sound like the correct parsing to me. Still, your mileage may vary. 5) The demo at the end, where I lined up the guitar line with the vocal melody, suffers a bit from the fact that all three guitar layers are mixed together on the same track, so I can't avoid also changing the note pattern on the riff behind it. I don't view this as a big deal, and I still think it sounds significantly better, but I wanted to acknowledge the limitation.

@phillipsiebold8351 11 месяцев назад

Popping tones is probably more appropriate, especially when you are talking Canadian music, especially with relation to Canadian fiddling. This might also provide an answer to your mystery in that there is the concept of spooling that appears in Canadian dancing that can appear in phrasing. You don't trudge on towards a climax, keeping all your elements to that build up, but you drop off so that you can rise higher to the next, higher climax.

@TheMister123 11 месяцев назад

Hey, did you switch mics around 11:42? Your voice changes quality subtlely, somehow.

@fredashay 11 месяцев назад

Hmmm. I've always thought this was just a simple pop song, but you gave me a new appreciation for how complex it really is! I'm gonna go listen to it carefully after watching your video...

@richardfox668 11 месяцев назад

putting the guitar line back in the end chorus would complete the emotional lift but this isn't a completed emotion, only a completed action. she's given him her number but the story isn't over, as we don't know if he will actually call. So mission accomplished but not completed, she's left with the glow of that success without the closure of them actually getting together.

@prapanthebachelorette6803 11 месяцев назад

@@richardfox668nice speculation!

@Insert_Bland_Name_Here 11 месяцев назад

This song and "Toxic" by Britney Spears really demonstrate that you can make complex Pop music that's still easy to listen to and catchy as hell.

@vitormelomedeiros 11 месяцев назад

YES. Call Me Maybe and Toxic are two of the most legendary pop songs ever, instant classics that are surely still gonna last for a very long time

@satyris410 11 месяцев назад

both bangers absolutely.

@BGL19283 11 месяцев назад

This is some thing I genuinely take issue with when people make, and have made for decades, broad sweeping accusations that all pop music is bad, when we have clear examples of genuine, creative people making music in a pop style that is absolutely generation, defining, and stands the test of time. Whether it's created by some background force and performed by known person, or it's performed and written by an individual by themselves, it doesn't matter the pop genre in itself is no different from any other genre. It's just the one currently co-opted by corporations, which almost every genre has faced in the past

@theaddictofgaming9174 11 месяцев назад

This song? This song ain't complex at all. I love it, but it's really not

@samuelitooooo 11 месяцев назад

I think this explains why I instantly clicked with Japanese 80s city pop, because this is the default, rather than the exception.

@LonkinPork 11 месяцев назад

It's largely been forgotten now that CRJ's career was in the process of getting its legs under it before this song dropped onto the charts like a bomb. I grew up in a part of Canada near where she's from, and she was touring around the area when _Call Me Maybe_ came out, with tour dates already locked in. So she ended up playing a show in my tiny hometown of 5,000 people right in the middle of her meteoric rise, it was super surreal at the time.

@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 11 месяцев назад

I feel like that's something that could only happen in Canada.

@ChryslerPTCruiser 10 месяцев назад

oh my god yea! I remember she played a show at playland in 2012 and tickets were insanely cheap. even at 13 i knew she was already above that show (was a lot of fun though!)

@Thinginator 11 месяцев назад

This isn't just a pop song. It's THE pop song. Growing up if you asked me what the most genre-defining pop song of all time is, I would answer with "Call me maybe," and that's still my answer today. It perfectly tows the line between simple enough to get stuck in your head and complex enough to never grow old and be forgotten. If I met someone who had never heard a pop song before, this is the first thing I'd play for them as THE example of what pop music is.

@julielappano4531 11 месяцев назад

I think it's on the same tier as ABBA's dancing queen

@defeatstatistics7413 10 месяцев назад

@@julielappano4531and ABBA's Gimme Gimme Gimme

@Nooticus 9 месяцев назад

Agreed!

@Nooticus 9 месяцев назад

Not quite abba level in the level of musicality in my opinion, but pretty close!

@a13z. 2 месяца назад

I'd play them "What does the Fox Say?" immediately after. It would be the equivalent of showing them "the definitive documentary" (probably something with Attenborough) and then "This is Spinal Tap" immediately after.

@ChaiElemental 11 месяцев назад

Fun fact: lead singer of Canadian pop rock band Marianas Trench, Joshua Ramsay, produced this song (and I think he co-wrote it too). Carly Rae originally conceived it as more of a folk song, but Josh wanted to make it a pop song. Marianas fans can hear Josh's fingerprints all over "Call Me Maybe," especially the inclusion of the strings. Josh. LOVES. Strings.

@connorleary9178 11 месяцев назад

Josh Ramsay the goat, dude's had his hands over some awesome pop tunes, even outside of Marianas Trench music

@ideitbawxproductions1880 11 месяцев назад

Now all I can hear when I listen to this is Marianas Trench. Barf. Thanks for that lol

@glitch1792 11 месяцев назад

Mariana's Trench is one of my favorites

@GregKletschka 11 месяцев назад

I've always wondered what the folk version would sound like. She also wanted Emotion to be indie-folk. Maybe someday she'll release them 🙃

@captainayaaya28 10 месяцев назад

I wonder what that version would have sounded like. I really want Carly and Josh to work again, I know he produced some of her older stuff and even featured in her first album.

@breadmoneyarchival 11 месяцев назад

Ngl when you said “You could analyze it as a chord progression but I’m not going to.” The first thing I thought was “FINALLY A MUSIC THEORIST THAT KNOWS HOW TO ANALYZE POP MUSIC” Keep it up 12tone. Hopefully the world of music academia follows your lead.

@ameliarosesheppard9007 11 месяцев назад

"before you came into my life i missed you so bad" is such a beautiful and profound line, it fascinated me in my angsty preteens when this song was popular 😂

@onlyusernameleft2 11 месяцев назад

Part of the genius of Call me Maybe is that it's 120 bpm. The verses are exactly 30 seconds and the chorus is too.

@wyattstevens8574 10 месяцев назад

Really? That way, it could even be used as a stopwatch! On the "What I've Done" video, someone said the same thing about it (sort of- just "beats 1 and 3 are 1 second apart," but that's technically the same) Besides, how is this "genius?"

@prettierjesus3119 7 месяцев назад

The song apparently syncs up extremely well with This Is America, too.

@Saruzeufel 11 месяцев назад

6:07 drawing Nina Tucker for something that "can be combined" is an... interesting choice. Also representing "chorus of the chorus" with a Mandelbrot set is brilliant.

@jamessweeney5459 9 месяцев назад

I noticed that too... truly bizarre

@doodlebobbeh8836 9 месяцев назад

Alchemy involves combining things, so it makes sense

@spiritofnex 8 месяцев назад

I had to do a double take when he drew that. Didn't expect that at all.

@rmdodsonbills 11 месяцев назад

It wasn't until you separated out the various instrument lines that I actually noticed how intricate they get in this song. I've always thought of it as sort of a guilty pleasure, but I'm finding a new appreciation for it. It's better than I've ever given it credit for. Thanks!

@rmdodsonbills 11 месяцев назад

@@ghost_mall heh, I never actually felt all that guilty :)

@kylenorthrop8735 11 месяцев назад

I know this channel mostly dissects the musical choices of songs, but I have always been impressed with CRJ's lyrics and the way that they subvert traditional pop music. The speaker always has the agency to pursue who she wants romantically in a way that yes, exists in pop music, but is not the norm. Classics such as "Run Away with Me" and "Call Me Maybe" all give CRJ the upper hand in the situation. A recurring theme throughout her entire catalogue is being confident enough to make the first move and speaking up for her own needs.

@davineuskens21 14 дней назад

That's cool, I dont know much about her music, but I know she has very loyal fans

@pizzamozzarella9911 11 месяцев назад

I've thought for a long time that this was probably one of, if not, the best radio hit of the 2010's. It is impossibly catchy, and I rarely listen to music like it, but I still love the song so much.

@user-qp2bj3rf6b 11 месяцев назад

There's an article in Sound on Sound by Dave Ogilvie about mixing "Call Me Maybe." It's an awesome song, and his mix was a big part of it. It's a great read, here's an excerpt addressing the kick drum, comparing it to his work with Nine Inch Nails: "The main thing that Josh wanted me to do during my mix of 'Call Me Maybe' was to make the kick drum really prominent and punchy. He wanted me to do everything I could to make it super-special. I think I spent a good couple of hours on the kick drum alone, and kept pushing myself to create the ultimate kick drum, and have it super-loud and driving the track. When I finished the mix, I thought it really was very, very loud, and I was a little apprehensive about the power of the bottom end, wondering whether I'd gone too far with it for a pop song. But Josh and I looked at each other and said: 'This is what we are shooting for.' So we printed it like that and when I later heard it on the radio I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome.' It seems to work because of the space in the track, which I was careful to leave, which means that you can hear the punch the kick drum is intended to have on computer speakers and in cars and in stores, in fact pretty much everywhere. "My background in industrial music definitely helped in achieving this. I was trying to get the same feel in 'Call Me Maybe' as in a Nine Inch Nails song, making sure it had a pop sensibility, but with people not even noticing how aggressive the kick drum is. It was the same thing with the strings, which are canned, taken from a Miroslav sample bank, an Orkester patch and an EXS24 patch. I find that it's so easy for strings to get lost in a track. You often mix them to a level where you think they are good, and later you hear them on the radio and you think, 'Man, I should have put them up a dB or more.' Josh and I both knew that the strings provided a big hook for the song, and so he had doubled them with electric and acoustic guitars to make them sound beefier and more aggressive. I mixed these guitars in just behind the string samples, so you don't really consciously notice them, but they definitely gave the strings more kick. I normally wouldn't think that strings and guitars would combine well like that, but in this case it gave the strings such an aggression and a striking sonic image. We had to get over our fear of mixing the strings and kick too loud and for them not to drown out the vocals, which were the third crucial element. The vocals also had to be clear as day and aggressive-sounding.” www.soundonsound.com/techniques/dave-ogilvie-mixing-call-me-maybe

@dkerwood1 11 месяцев назад

In defense of not using the guitar line: the guitar line and the post chorus are actually the high point of the song. The post chorus actually represents her happiness of finding something she never knew she was missing. This recontextualizes the final chorus into the fun excitement that she's having now that she finds herself complete. Adding that guitar part here would take away from its impact on the post chorus. The post chorus is the exploding balloon; the final chorus is the confetti inside- lighter but made meaningful by what caused it. Moreover, it just sounds bad over the chorus. The chorus needs the space between the staccato notes to capture the energy. The legato guitar line works counter to that energy.

@jamietaylor4260 11 месяцев назад

Just posted the same thing. On a dance floor, the post chorus is where everyone starts jumping. It's the peak, for sure.

@hudy323 11 месяцев назад

Totally agree, the guitar is nice but feels like fall/wistful/nostalgic and even on top of that it feels old, like something that would be on a soundtrack or montage. Not wrong, but not fresh

@somniloquous0 11 месяцев назад

I feel like the simplest explanation for not including the guitar line is that it would just be too much and would clutter up the arrangement. given that the whole song (other than said guitar line) is instrumentally based on just two themes, i think it's fair to assume the producer was aiming for potency through economy

@MattnUska 11 месяцев назад

@@somniloquous0I agree. I think the guitar would make it sound cluttered.

@stubbsmusic543 11 месяцев назад

Wow! All this deep, insightful "analysis" with doodles too!

@pr0m3th3us7 11 месяцев назад

In every pop/rock song that has a string section, that string section carries the song. Call Me Maybe, Eleanor Rigby, Iris, Bittersweet Symphony, every single one just wouldn't work without the strings.

@sjoerdassenberg7293 11 месяцев назад

I wouldn't say *every*... but yeah it's done a lot. For some reason, even though you didn't mention it, the string part from viva la vida is stuck in my head now. lol.

@d_mickey 11 месяцев назад

I like the band version of tonight tonight better personally

@Steveofthejungle8 11 месяцев назад

Drops of Jupiter

@ShadowWizard123 11 месяцев назад

Stop The Train ✋️

@moimeme6533 11 месяцев назад

Come On Eileen

@kesslermillard9229 11 месяцев назад

The drawing of Nina Tucker from FMAB threw me for a loop. very clever 12tone, well done.

@-siranzalot- 10 месяцев назад

For sure one of the hardest hitting references I've ever seen in his videos

@soup_ostrich 5 месяцев назад

it jumpscared me

@daviddalby6217 11 месяцев назад

I mean, CMM is alright, but for CRJ's true masterpiece "Run Away With Me' is the hero that wins it. Jesus Christ, that song is so fucking good.

@crimsonhawk52 11 месяцев назад

Everything on Emotion (both sides) is instant classic. Your Type or maybe Boy Problems is my favorite, cant decide

@leftovernoise 11 месяцев назад

Run away with me is honestly one of the greatest pop songs of all time. The whole album is banger after banger

@daviddalby6217 11 месяцев назад

Emotion/side B and Dedicated/Side B are all excellent albums, and Cut to The Feeling is also spectacular. CRJ is a modern marvel.

@InventorZahran 11 месяцев назад

Sungazer's arrangement of 'Run Away With Me' takes that song to a whole new level!

@daviddalby6217 11 месяцев назад

@@InventorZahran I love Adam Neely, but I really don't like that arrangement. The OG version of RAWM is perfect. It's one of those songs that should never be covered, because you won't better it (see also 'Another Girl Another Planet' by the Only Ones)

@iandean1112 11 месяцев назад

I've never been more excited for a song to be covered...

@muffinthefennec 11 месяцев назад

I love the instrumentalism of this song, that part being developed by fellow Canadian and Mariana's Trench singer, Josh Ramsay. I love Josh and his band, his blend of punk, pop, and in some cases softer metal works extremely well. Josh Ramsay is probably one of the most underrated musicians of our generation

@JamesOKeefe-US 11 месяцев назад

Absolutely! Trencher for life :)

@ellenk560 11 месяцев назад

Agreed, and even he feels the weight of this song, as he says in Pop 101: "They say where's the next hit, baby? God, how could I top Call Me Maybe?"... His songwriting and arranging just blows my mind.

@Lambretta_G 11 месяцев назад

Why even suggest that the instruments are in different key between them? The bass just makes the chords inverted by simply not playing the root note.

@mitchellnagy6667 11 месяцев назад

Carly Rae Jepsen gets such a raw deal because of this song. She's a brilliant artist and is just seen as a silly one hit wonder.

@Rekalus 11 месяцев назад

If you haven't heard her song "Run Away With Me" please give it a listen.

@ospero7681 10 месяцев назад

@@ghost_mall True - but how many of the people that made "Call Me Maybe" the #2 song of 2012 in the US have even heard of anything else CRJ has done? She's in the same boat as Hanson - great musicians that have one relatively simple and silly early hit in their catalogue that overshadows everything else, almost to the point of nonexistence with the general audience.

@captainayaaya28 10 месяцев назад

I really thought she was getting her third hit with The Loneliest Time… :( Other than Call Me Maybe her only other famous song is Good Time which is one of the worst songs in her discography…

@benson8686 10 месяцев назад

@@captainayaaya28I really like you" definitely was a hit as well. I remember someone lamenting how shallow that song was and I defended it by pointing out how wonderfully it captures the excitement of an early relationship when you're still trying to figure out what exactly is going on, and you know you just really like a person. And what else is music for if not to express the human experience?

@ltlbuddha 8 месяцев назад

She isn't a one hit wonder. She has multiple hits in multiple countries.

@Viviantoga 11 месяцев назад

The idea that 12Tone may have just implied that Guitar String/Wedding Ring would have been a stronger single from that album amuses me in a way that very few things can achieve.

@sharragamez1318 11 месяцев назад

I'm so glad you did this song, because it was co-written by Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench, and I wish he were a bigger name so I could see more analysis of his music. I only have the background to do the lyrics for my own entertainment, which are always pretty interesting, but it feels like I'm missing 2/3 to 3/4 of the meaning.

@ChaiElemental 11 месяцев назад

I would die happy if someone could break down the music theory of Astoria (my favorite Marianas album).

@idksomething274 11 месяцев назад

Astoria and The Killing Kind are my favorite tracks from them.

@whym6438 11 месяцев назад

@@ChaiElemental Wildfire, my favorite song off of Astoria, is a masterclass in emotional singing and in building and releasing tension, almost all built over a repeated three-chord loop. It's a very simple song where all the... epicness? Grandiosity? The grandiosity comes from Josh's singing and production. It's also extremely hard to sing - I know because I've tried, and it took me about a month of practice to really get all the little nuances down. Anyway, most of Marianas Trench's music is like that - simple pop songs that Josh's incredible singing, production, and arrangement turn into something special.

@WineSippingCowboy 11 месяцев назад

Marianas Trench often records in Vancouver. I hear them a lot when I travel there. 😃 Totally underrated here in San Francisco, my hometown, 🌉, USA 🇺🇸.

@sharragamez1318 11 месяцев назад

@@whym6438 I love it that he doesn't rhyme "wildfire" with "higher" or "desire" and reaches for much more interesting words like "dire" and (personal favorite) "transpire."

@ViltrumiteIsRite99 11 месяцев назад

SO CALL ME MAYBEE Wow, great timing. 10 years ago, this track was always on the radio during 8th grade. Catchy beat. 🤙

@profbbfab6211 11 месяцев назад

Apparently it's timeless, I'm a teacher and a month ago it was all the rage in of my 8th grade classes

@Chris_Adams1 11 месяцев назад

This might have already been said. The Chorus with the guitar might be reflective of what happens in the video. She realizes that the person she is interested is ultimately not interested in her. So, the driving turns into disappointment. Still she has the energy to move past it but tinges the story with an unexpected twist. The story changed outside of her control. She is not ultimately discouraged, but moves on. I hope that made sense. Love your channel, keep it up. I never thought of pop music so deeply until I found your channel. Thanks dude. 🎼🎵🎶

@innertuber4049 11 месяцев назад

I'm honestly surprised there aren't more comments about the video. Also, it's a hilarious twist

@Sky-bx9mn 11 месяцев назад

Came to say exactly this.

@09jojavi 11 месяцев назад

The FMA reference.... 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 well played sir

@tukachaka264 11 месяцев назад

I did NOT anticipate this childhood trauma unlock in a Call Me Maybe video

@sfhenno7846 11 месяцев назад

I find myself wondering if the new acceptance of poly-key ideas comes from the birth of sampling? So many of the geniuses to pioneer that worked solely by ear, so they'd find complimentary loops that work "well enough" and treat the interesting conflicts as sort of blue notes. It makes sense that, since our pop music foundation is so heavily influenced by that, it's become part of our vocabulary. I think it's great because it's artists building by sound and not necessarily by rule, even though the "rules" generally end up illustrating and shaping the process as well.

@MalloonTarka 11 месяцев назад

I obviously can't speak for others, but my process is very much based on what I think would sound good. I mostly use the rules as a good source of inspiration, not a code to live by.

@sfhenno7846 11 месяцев назад

@@MalloonTarka I think that's awesome. I feel sampling has offered a way to return to thinking within sound, which is opening so many doors for artists such as yourself simply because the popular-music ear is expanding (again) to embrace new flavors. And it doesn't negate the rules at all because they exist to describe what's happening musically, not entrap us.

@amandacapsicum686 10 месяцев назад

Yes! I think you're right. It is also probably related to the use of sequencers which let you pitch an entire chord up or down without changing it between major and minor. I Feel Love worked in this way, a song which influenced the development of both EDM and Pop in the post electronic landscape. There's a video out there that calls it Chord Planing but I can't remember who by.

@sfhenno7846 10 месяцев назад

@@amandacapsicum686 Oh thank you, I'll have a look for the video. I totally hear what you're saying, and even have a personal obsession with I Feel Love because of how "modern" it sounds. I hadn't put in into context with its influence so I have more digging to explore. Which is awesome. Thank you.

@AlaskaSkidood 11 месяцев назад

I wonder if the climax chorus section was left intentionally smaller in order to end the song leaving the listener wanting for more? If the song had a perfect dynamic cycle, it would have felt more complete at the end. However, with leaving just a little bit of potential energy out, it makes the listener feel like there's more to the story. Maybe you continue listening to the album? Maybe you hit repeat? Maybe it's stuck in your head for the next 68 hours?

@rmdodsonbills 11 месяцев назад

I think you might be on to something there. I've been paying attention to the songs that get stuck in my head and it's not the ones that I've learned/memorized/internalized, it's songs that the music parts of my brain are working on, like I don't know all the lyrics or there's a tricky melody, or something like that. Maybe not bringing to the logical conclusion induces your brain to keep coming back to try to work it out.

@mrsteamie4196 11 месяцев назад

@@rmdodsonbillsooooo I like the conclusion you guys have come to! I'll have to keep an eye out as well, that's curious. I wonder if any musicologists or psychologists have ever written on similar points?

@Dog-Jet 11 месяцев назад

Underrated, Carly has multiple bangers on every album

@emmbeesea 11 месяцев назад

Yearning for simpler times, and also when I still had a flip phone. What I would give to go back.

@musicbydemarcus 11 месяцев назад

Call me maybe truly is pop gem! The chorus/post chorus are a work of art. The production and arrangement really help to show the emotions the song is trying to convey

@nickmasters8474 11 месяцев назад

Carly Rae Jepsen is my favorite living artist. I love her music, which embodies virtually everything I appreciate about pop. Cool to see a serious analysis of this song. I always think of it as just hanging out on IV and V; no need to shoehorn things into keys or modes or anything (some stuff obviously fits that sort of model, other stuff is just more ambiguous). This song just gets its resources from "one sharp world." Good enough for me! Jepsen has a lot of fantastic music - I can't recommend her enough to any potential pop fans. Her music is a really positive force in my life - such good vibes.

@julielappano4531 11 месяцев назад

I can't ever skip a concert of hers when she comes by the vibes are SO GOOD

@ssatva 11 месяцев назад

It almost feels like the ending empties out a bit, almost as if the intent were to leave you wanting more? Which for an earworm is kind of brilliant.

@markowalski1 11 месяцев назад

Carly Rae Jepsen is so underrated, absolutely my favorite pop singer.

@jasonGamesMaster 11 месяцев назад

So... as a long time metal head with interests as extreme as death and black, i am not ashamed to say i adore this Carly Rae Jepsen album :D

@julielappano4531 11 месяцев назад

I think CRJ is able to cram so much movement/tension and drive that her songs do some of the same things I love about metal.

@jasonGamesMaster 11 месяцев назад

@@julielappano4531 you know... that's an interesting take, and I wonder if that is what I was picking up on

@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 11 месяцев назад

@@julielappano4531 people should mosh to Carly Ray Jepsen. someone should get on that.

@flansolo94 10 месяцев назад

Both me & my husband are metalheads and we've loved this song since it came out haha. It's just so catchy!

@marknewbold2583 10 месяцев назад

That's not extreme, it's unimaginative

@dabbingperson9236 11 месяцев назад

I genuinely hate this fucking song, I was indifferent to it at first. But, It played *way* too much on UK radio, and the rest of my family loved it and they played it over and over again after buying the single on Apple Music of all platforms. However, it’s actually pretty musically interesting now that you’ve explained it. Thanks 12Tone, you made me kinda appreciate Call me Maybe.

@PartScavenger 10 месяцев назад

Likewise, I hated "Brightside" for years, and now I kinda like it.

@realroadrunnr 11 месяцев назад

While I do like this song and have surely heard it hundreds of times, your analysis has made me hear stuff that I absolutely had no idea was in there, like the guitar riffs. You’re doing a great job with these analyses. Every time you do a song that I really enjoy it brings a whole new level of appreciation for the music.

@connordix1859 11 месяцев назад

Even as my tastes in music have become increasingly more varied and diverse, I’ve always thought this song went unreasonably hard

@zoeybarter3246 11 месяцев назад

Shout out to Josh Ramsay, the frontman of a band called Marianas Trench that’s very popular in Canada, also one of the cowriters of this song.

@mollypocrass4562 10 месяцев назад

My favorite album of theirs is ever after. I love the concept album situation, and it is a really good album anyway.

@zoeybarter3246 10 месяцев назад

@@mollypocrass4562 ooohh yeah, that’s probably my favourite as well. Masterpiece Theatre is up there too though.

@erronblack1 11 месяцев назад

There is an awesome mash up with this song and Semi Charmed Life.

@intrpidbhaviors 11 месяцев назад

Wild that there's a lot of hate for Call Me Maybe when it was literally the biggest song of its time. You did it a fantastic service by analyzing the music theory behind it, and I greatly appreciate it. I've been a big fan of Carly Rae Jepsen since Kiss/Call Me Maybe, and her later work continues to prove that she's one of the few artists in the industry who deserves to have the success that they do have. While the genre style of the album was arguably not the best choice for a mature singer/songwriter, I'm glad it helped her get to where she is now. She's made so much better music that also deserves its own analyzing. I hope you have a wonderful day! I greatly enjoyed this video (and a few others I've been shown of yours), and I'm pretty glad this got me to watch from beginning to end. Keep up the fantastic work, you're doing great! :D

@ospero7681 10 месяцев назад

Small nitpick: It wasn't "the biggest song of its time". That would be "Somebody That I Used to Know", the song that held "Call Me Maybe" back from being #1 on the 2012 Billboard year-end chart.

@wombat6 11 месяцев назад

I barely ever listen to the big radio hits (and I essentially don't care about pop/commercial music) but something about Call Me Maybe is just VERY catchy and memorable. Say what you want about the music industry creating one-hit wonders and then throwing them out the next year, these guys know how to write a hit song.

@Bobbias 11 месяцев назад

This song was not manufactured in quite the same way a lot of hits are though. It was a collaboration between CRJ, Josh Ramsay of the Canadian band Marianas Trench, and Tavish Crowe, a singer songwriter himself who has served as the guitarist in CRJ's touring band. So it's not just a bunch of guys she's probably never met creating a song and then just passing it off for her to sing on.

@leech3427 11 месяцев назад

If you dig this I'd really encourage you to listen to her following albums Emotion and Dedication (Side A and B). It's the purest form of sticky pop music that I have a soft spot for. The Loneliest Time is also great but not quite as "bubblegum" like.

@trademarkshelton 11 месяцев назад

You threw it out very briefly and casually, but I was struck when you said, "For me, the goal of analysis isn't to get inside the artist's head, it's to get inside a listener's." It's a cool thought that wasn't ever really posed to me in any of my music classes, but it makes a lot of sense. After all, as much as you want to understand how a piece of art was made, it's just as important if not more so to understand what makes it have an effect on the audience.

@JeremyForTheWin 11 месяцев назад

The popping tone sequence tones in the intro are also church bell notes

@Lalo-cw1fq 11 месяцев назад

Why do you use your right hand in the intro?

@therobotFrom94 11 месяцев назад

I remember hating this song back in 2012. I've since come to adore CRJ's music, Emotion is one of the best pop albums ever recorded

@garfeeble 11 месяцев назад

the fact i listened to this 2 days ago for the first time in YEARS and then this video comes out is scary to say the least

@ocean_0602 11 месяцев назад

Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity :)

@garfeeble 11 месяцев назад

@@ocean_0602 THAT SOUNDS COOL IM GONNA RESEARCH IT NOW

@silkyz68 11 месяцев назад

The Algorithm knows

@IsaiahBoutz 11 месяцев назад

Is nobody going to talk about the chimera ("combination") at 6:06? I almost started crying... again!

@Umski 11 месяцев назад

Wow, I never realised this was released in 2012 having only just caught my ear - my daughter and her friends keep singing it so it appears to be making a comeback 😮

@felixecho 9 месяцев назад

Thanks so much for enabling me to justify my love of this song to my musician friends

@Kitchyyy 11 месяцев назад

This video made me love a song i already loved even more. super good job

@churchofmarcus 11 месяцев назад

I've always loved this song and now I love it even more.

@thetraveller1246 11 месяцев назад

Time to break out my CRJ CD. Stop judging me

@elitettelbach4247 10 месяцев назад

I’ve always loved Call Me Maybe, but this video gave me an even deeper appreciation for it! Very fun presentation style. Loved all the doodles!

@MrMccarthycdxx 11 месяцев назад

I watched this video went on with my day and decided to grab some lunch. Went to DQ, grabbed some fries and as I sat down what do I hear start playing on the radio... no joke it kind of scared me lol. Love the channel man, thank you so much for being the amazing educator you are and sharing your passion for music with us lucky enough to watch.

@colinmunro3158 11 месяцев назад

Call Me Maybe was so prevalent on Canadian radio stations in the summer of 2012 that to this day there are people who initially liked the song who wish to never hear it again.

@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 11 месяцев назад

Let's call that the "Last Christmas effect".

@Bowshewicz 11 месяцев назад

I'm glad you did this analysis. I added this song into my main playlist as a joke at first, but then I started to pick up on little flourishes that I appreciated until I genuinely liked the song. This video has helped me understand exactly what was so good about the song that kept me listening to it.

@TakaComics 11 месяцев назад

This is why I, generally a metalhead, hate when people don’t give different genres outside their favorite a shot. There is such good pop music, country music, techno music, etc. out there. Call Me Maybe got me into it right from the start.

@joeboykitz6985 11 месяцев назад

I always say it. Pop songs with strings in the chorus are solid gold. Go back and notice how many of your favorite pop songs contain strings.

@wiesorix 11 месяцев назад

Wow, there are so many lines and details I never paid attention to, thanks for pointing them out! I went to listen to the full song again, and I really like the dynamic line during the verse. Somehow it has a very sung feel to it, even though it is just straight eight notes. Guess that is the power of the popping tone.

@johnydl 11 месяцев назад

I think the point at the end was to be a little disappointing, not every crush and longing is reciprocated, and the music video ties well into this point, she gets the excitement and nerves, goes out of her way, makes a fool out of herself and feels good doing so, but it didn't work out this time, and there's always another chance to try again another day or on another listen, I think this is one of the reasons why it's such an easy listen on loop song, I certainly did so for several weeks

@invinciblebear94 11 месяцев назад

I’m so glad you analyzed this song, because it gives me (and it looks like several other fans) such a brilliant segue to calling for you to breakdown some of Marianas Trench’s greatest hits and albums. Josh Ramsay the Lead Singer and Frontman of that band co-wrote this song, and their albums (several of which are seamless transitions from start to finish) listen more like an opera or a musical theater soundtrack than individual songs and I’ve longed for a greater deep-dive into their music for a very long time. If I had one wish it would be to see a staggering majority of their music broken down and analyzed on this channel, but that would admittedly be quite an undertaking. I would absolutely settle for several deep dives on albums or pieces that tie into the others. There’s a lot of iteration on older music as they made more which is always fascinating to get to see; an artist revisiting their works and reimagining them under new circumstances with new themes to emphasize.

@GladmanNow 10 месяцев назад

Love your process.

@wonderninja 11 месяцев назад

The question/response between the strings and vocals in the chorus is very rhythmically satisfying

@satyris410 11 месяцев назад

I unironically love this song, it is catchy, timeless and fun as all heck

@kassemir 11 месяцев назад

Your drawing skills have gotten really good doing this. Those Cartoon Netwrok characters were spot on! :)

@arthurmoufounda396 9 месяцев назад

That "Can be combined" drawing at 6:07 hurts me so bad

@tomaszmazurek64 11 месяцев назад

For the post-chorus guitar part, I have three main reasons. They are all based around the core dilemma of pop songs - how to have as much repetition as possible, but without making the song boring. 1. Avoiding noticeable repetition. In loop based music there is a rule of thumb that somewhere between the third and fifth loop people start noticing the repetition - and you have to change something. The exact moment depends on the phrase, genre, how audible the phrase is etc. When I was listening to your mock up, even my "producer intuition" kicked in with "this would get repetitive fast". Listening closer I think the phrase is repeated 4 times verbatim during the post-chorus, so repeating it four more times in the following chorus and four more times during the second post would make it overstay its welcome. Removing it from chorus solves this easily. 2. Audibility of the phrase. An interesting thing about this guitar phrase is that it isn't all that audible - the tail end of it sinks below the "so bad" in the vocal and we clearly hear only the soaring high notes at the start. Guitar and vocal fighting for attention is a pretty cool effect on its own in such an emotionally charged moment, but it also has the side effect of hiding the repetitiveness of the guitar section. Now with regular chorus lyrics being rather sparse, less intensive and lower in pitch, this wouldn't happen, the phrase would be audible as a whole and its repetitiveness would be more noticeable. I guess they would have to rework it for that context and with song coming for the final chorus they didn't want to introduce new melodic material. 3. Identity of the section. Until you've pointed it out I didn't even notice the post-chorus was based on arrangement of the chorus, just with new vocal melody and a guitar part. I thought of this section as of a genuine bridge. But I feel like playing the guitar part also throughout the final chorus would've given the trick away, making it more noticeable that this is the chorus in disguise and making it all feel more repetitive.

@MuriKakari 11 месяцев назад

Purely as a listener, the post-chorus without the guitar felt like she'd been working herself up and rehearsing and that post-chorus felt like where she actually said it.

@AJ_the_Dragon 11 месяцев назад

I understand nothing about what your saying, but the little doodles have me hypnotized and hearing all the diffrent parts of the song seperated is so facinating and surrel

@rustygray5058 10 месяцев назад

It's awesome that you did a more recent pop song. A lot of people who do musical breakdowns tend to think that all the good music was made when they were kids and nothing since then has been worth listening to.

@synapse349 11 месяцев назад

Just how do you split a song into the layers like you do so you can discuss them separately? I suppose whenever stock sounds are used its not an issue, but isolating a nearly inaudible ambient flourish underneath an entire multitrack to point out how cleverly it was placed, wow.

@lucasmartins8846 11 месяцев назад

I love your drawings and your content 😊

@nickb20 11 месяцев назад

“Can be combined” And he draws that!!!!!!!

@jourdansarpy4935 11 месяцев назад

The guitar to me always represented that feeling of relief you get when the person says yes to your asking them out. It doesn’t fit with the main chorus because she’s still asking the guy to call her. But in the post chorus he’s obviously called her and he’s in her life and that feeling goes perfectly with the guitar.

@scobeymeister1 11 месяцев назад

5:20 Now that you mention it, I think you're on to something about About Damn Time. The two lines exist in tension and the track luxuriates in it. It's not trying to convey awkwardness, but I would contend it is trying to convey *queerness*. It finds a home in its odd dissonance and it's all the more catchy for it. I couldn't ask for a better banger of a pop pride anthem, is what I'm saying Edit: haven't listened to Call Me Maybe properly since the year it came out and before you even played the ramp up at ~10:00 I remembered it so vividly it gave me goosebumps. It's like counting down to work up the courage and then taking a flying leap into this breathless freefall. God that is such a powerful transition. Thanks for making these. Every time I watch one, it gives me a fresh appreciation for music I liked but was sort of taking for granted. It's so nice to have somebody taking lighthearted music and treating it with the respect it deserves for the art it is!

@scobeymeister1 11 месяцев назад

YT won't let me edit twice so more thoughts: 15:24 The line you've been reading as hesitancy I think is her internal mindset - it starts off awkward and shy, in direct conflict with her desire to reach out. But then she does and she finds her confidence, and I'd argue the change in that line reflects a change in her internal emotional state. The push to the chorus represents her pushing herself, to get what she wants even though she's terrified to do it. But when we get back to the verse it's more assertive - in pushing past her shyness in an artificial way, working up the nerve to make herself do it, she's gained a more solidly confident footing internally. Even though the verse feels like a step back after the intensity of the chorus, it also feels like she's grown stronger and the static line in that second verse reflects that.

@sayethwe8683 11 месяцев назад

It took me until now to figure out the biggest part of why I like this channel It has the same "everything has great things about it. let's explore what those are" feeling as CinemaWins instead of "point out every little flaw and justify disliking things" that you see around because it gets clicks.

@carubnut 6 месяцев назад

That subtle reference to FMA is crushing it all.

@MalMotorDedo 11 месяцев назад

I feel like this song has been w me since forever, such a bop

@ivechang6720 11 месяцев назад

Thanks! You just described something I have issues with in other areas of life via music. I'm not a musician but I think I'll try bouncing my new analogy off some musicians I know to see if they think it fits. THIS is part of why I study fields that I don't even rank as a base amateur in. I never know when folks like you might have a concept I'm struggling with nailed down to a science. 😅👍

@Bostonceltics1369 10 месяцев назад

I normally hate pop but this highlights that there is sophistication in the composition. Well done you made me appreciate this more. Would you do a CVRCHES analysis?

@GiacomoBocca 11 месяцев назад

6:05 the drawing for the word “combine” made me shiver… nice reference

@nickwaters9869 11 месяцев назад

Damn it. I have to go listen to it a bunch of times now.

@elinolasco1019 11 месяцев назад

I’ve been subbed for years and I just realized why you write from right to left.

@elianitsche5078 11 месяцев назад

- For me the guitar line is in the same frequencies that are important for the sound and understanding of the vocals, the moment they come in the vocals are way less understandable. (But I am useing mp3-files and RU-vid as sound-sources, so....) - Also the chorus does feel more bouncy, happy and carefree without them. The Guitar line ties it all way more together, which tames the energy a bit, because it wraps over the chord stabs and pauses in the vocals. This makes the whole thing have more depth and sound more grounded. At least thats what I think about it. Never have seen/heard this detail before, thanks for showing it to us.

@TheDutchCreeperTDC 11 месяцев назад

In the venn diagram with one circle showing people who are into music theory and the other circle showing people that like the song Call Me Maybe the overlapping section is probably not that big so I think it was really interesting and brave that you decided to make a video about it anyway and that's exactly why I decided to watch it. While I do think most musical ideas in this song are very tame you have to admit they're used very effectively and it made me think of the pixies a lot and how they use dynamic changes and simple motifs based on repetition, which is not a comparison I would've ever expected to make before watching this video.

@irenecamargomacedo6626 11 месяцев назад

Ohhhhh! I’m soooo exciteeeeed!!!!!🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

@thea-beez7693 9 месяцев назад

I've never had an earworm worse than this one! The chorus was literally stuck in my head for an entire summer and it was nothing short of pure torture.

@0nYxJester 11 месяцев назад

Okay, that FMA chimera was completely unnecessary and absolutely perfect.

@DeGuerre 11 месяцев назад

5:18 I hear that as Eb7 with an added or suspended 9, which sounds perfectly consonant.

@chrislss8 10 месяцев назад

Great video and some fun teachable moments with the most catchy song from my high school days haha. I do think the beginning is just an open G chord to a e minor chord. The melody finally introduces the third, which is very satisfying.

@lemonpug6582 11 месяцев назад

That Sheik drawing was perfect!

@cityyliights_ 10 месяцев назад

this song is SO under appreciated, loved the analysis of it!! one of the most skilled songwriters of our time (imo), josh ramsay, helped co write the song and you can really feel his songwriting influence here! he's the lead singer/songwriter of the canadian band marianas trench (yknow that stutter song that was always on the radio in the 2010s? thats them!), and he does a TON of writing for other artists and genres!! his songwriting skills and ability to make any song sound like a masterpiece is beyond impressive. vocal harmonies and guitar compositions are definitely his strong suits, and you really feel it here!! i've been a huge fan of his works for years so i can really feel his touch in this song, and i would love to see you do this sort of deep dive on some marianas trench songs!! i feel like their pop stuff gets brushed off as just generic pop too often, but their unpopular stuff never gets heard by non-fans, and it's all just as spectacular. carly and josh are a power duo and this song alone proves that, would love to see them write more together!!

@sagetmaster4 11 месяцев назад

Those STRINGS ❤️

@rachelbockrath6276 11 месяцев назад

This song was my ring tone for a good long time because I thought (still think) that was a perfect joke on getting a phone call! Such a fun song.

@declanflannery7377 11 месяцев назад

Excellent video as always sir! I've been a big fan for a long time and have always appreciated your fun, open approach to music and music theory which I think is an approach desperately needed in the all too often elitist classical world. As a classical musician and theorist who's always had a love for fun pop music seeing you talking about this song immeidately put a smile on my face. Insightful and well thought out analysis as always, although there is one thing I think I disagree on, that being the key talk regarding the dynamic line. I know you said you don't really care about the key but for my money there's absolutely nothing here that disagrees with the simple explanation of 'it's all in G major'. For one thing I think you can only even begin to get out of the G major world if you totally isolate the dynamic line which I don't think is really a good way to look at any singular part of a piece - sum of the parts and all - but more to the point even then I think the dynamic line implies G major far more than C or D major. To my ear it sounds like a further simplified version of the classic IV - V - vi - V motion that you see all over the place, with the vi removed because of the possibility of reading it as having tonic functionality which I think is what's being deliberately avoided, so instead we're just going back and forth between VI and V, building up more and more tension heading towards a perfect cadence that never really comes. Or might come, it's been a while since I listened to the full thing so would need to check! Point is it's deliberately avoiding the typical tonic to subdominant to dominant to tonic motion that our ears expect and are comfortable with. A perfect cadence is associated with resolution, stablity and order, none of which really suit the juxtaposition between excitement and - keyly - hesitance that the song's trying to portray. Instead it's floating around chords which are never quite at ease, trapped inside an repeating cycle that it's seems almost unable - or unwilling - to break even though the (re)solution is clear. With the absolute greatest possible respect I think that makes far more sense both in the context of music theory and - more importantly - in the context of the song's story than anything along the lines of hybrid tonality. Many props on another fantastic video anyway and I as always look forward to the next one!

@somniloquous0 11 месяцев назад

imo (iirc) this song, Teenage Dream and Digital Love all create a thematically-relevant sense of longing by mostly avoiding unambiguously resolving to the tonic chord

@92xsaabaru- 11 месяцев назад

Suggestion: Nightwish - Ghost Love Score. There are a lot of reactions/reviews focusing on Floor Jansen's performance at Wacken 2013, but it'd be neat to hear a breakdown of Tuomas Holopainen's masterpiece as a whole.

@blueredlover1060 11 месяцев назад

As a FMA fan you didn't have to hurt me by reminding me of her.

@anthonywestbrook2155 11 месяцев назад

Can you explain why PomDeter's mash-up of Carly Rae Jepsen and Nine Inch Nails -- Call Me A Hole -- slaps even harder than either original? Deeply curious.

@EilonwyWanderer 11 месяцев назад

It really does! I have such a hard time listening to "Head Like A Hole" without the CRJ instrumentation backing it... though "Call Me Maybe" does stand well on its own. Best part is that you can do "Call Me A Hole" as a karaoke track, just ask them to do the CRJ track and get up there with NIN's lyrics! 😁🤣

@anthonywestbrook2155 11 месяцев назад

@@EilonwyWanderer Dude! I've actually been practicing that the last few weeks for this very reason!

@---rm8do 10 месяцев назад

I remember going on some field trip and hearing a bunch of my friends singing this at the top of their lungs while marching down the hotel hallway after I woke up. I hope I never forget this.