Why Everyone Hears This Song Differently 

Update! Since filming this, an official version of this song has been released placing finance on one. The original poster also confirmed in a TikTok comment that the one is supposed to be on finance. Again, her original intention might not even matter as the remixes are split about 50/50. Where do you hear the downbeat? More speculation below, but first! If you liked this video, please consider supporting my work on Patreon! www.patreon.com/LeviMcClain Okay, so I just realized that somehow a section of this video that supports the idea of Finance on 1 got left on the editing room floor. Whoops! Since it was just a small part of the argument, I'll save myself the hassle of a re-upload and just put in that section of the script here: "... and a tonic accent is an emphasis on a note by way of change in pitch. Now I know this is spoken word, but we can clearly hear a drop in pitch on the word finance If this is the case, I’m looking for a man is a 2 beat anacrusis which leads us into the downbeat on finance. This makes a lot of sense, because the weight of the line is clearly on finance, right? If you were to strip down the lyrics to only the most essential information to get the message across, it would become "looking, man, finance", all of which fall on strong beats. If asked, I’d probably cut "man" next, so it becomes "she's, looking, finance" which still communicates essentially what she's looking for. But to me this is obviously a comedy sketch. She isn't actually serious by any means here, I mean… I hope not, so in terms of the most important bit of information, between these two words (looking, finance), I’d have to go with finance. Even though looking is the action word, and you'd think that would be more important, without finance, is ceases to be funny and the core message is lost. I'm looking for a man, feels like a lead in to the most important part: "finance", and the most important part, generally in my book for this style of music, gets the downbeat.."

She's looking for a man in finance, she found a bunch of men in music.

SHE puts "finance" on the 1 after her breakdown.

Ah yes, a 43 minute video essay about a random sound I have been hearing on instagram

it's not in 4/4, it's in 2/4. the downbeat is on both LOOKing & FINance

ngl i heard "looking" on 1 immediately, and was surprised you disagreed. it's emphasized with a pickup and hit hard

you're like a parallel universe Adam Neely, bass solos and all

It's in 2/4. You're welcome.

When the final producer explains why he had to cut trust fund out when placing the 1 on Looking, that's the whole answer of why Finance is 100% the 1. If you look at the phrasing of the whole thing, there's no other answer than "I'm looking for a man in" being a pick up to FINANCE on the 1

I really don’t think anyone is confused about where the one is! They’re just being creative with it. It’s what you do when you remix.

It's in double time and everything is on 1

"Those people don't know what a pickup feels like." Lol, the most accurate statement. It seems like people nowadays have become more unaware of the idea of a pickup. This is not the first time I have seen something like this. Maybe it has to do with the fact that modern music uses pickups less often. Or it's about the type of a pickup - modern music uses this kind of "half bar pickups" less often. An interesting thing about half bar pickups - many classical pieces use them in a way that confuses me. A good example would be the German national anthem. It starts with a two-note pickup, but I have always naturally heard it as starting on the downbeat. Another good example would be "March of The Kings" that I have naturally heard as starting on the downbeat, but it actually starts with a half bar pickup. The slow movement from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is another good example. And the baroque dance gavotte is another good example (for example the Rondeau from Bach's 2nd orchestral suite). But when I have become more aware of this kind of a pickup, I have started noticing it more in music, and usually now I can pretty accurately hear it before looking at the score. What makes "finance" sound like the downbeat in a more obvious way is the repetition. When it starts to repeat, the repeat always starts on "finance". It would be a bit weird if the repetition began in the middle of the measure. And you can even see this in some of the remixes. They omit one of the words, so that the second "finance" lands on the downbeat, even though the first one doesn't. So, it actually seems like most people are hearing "finance" as the downbeat. They just don't do it that way in the very beginning. (I wrote this comment before watching the last part of the video where this was addressed.) Of course the easiest way to solve this question would be to say it's in 2/4. I mean, why should it be in 4/4? There's a clear emphasis on every 2nd beat, and 2/4 makes that emphasis clear. Then again, of course measures form "measure groups", and we can pretty much objectively say that it uses an 8-beat phrase. And this phrase repeats on "finance", which is why that word gets more emphasis (then again, I guess you could also argue that "blue eyes" - the last word of the phrase - gets the most emphasis). Also, the fact that the remixes interpret it in a certain way doesn't necessarily mean that that's how they naturally feel it. Sometimes you may intentionally place things on weird beats. It's also an artistic decision. It's not "where do I naturally feel the beat" but "which beat sounds good for what I'm after". And also, there's the question "where do I naturally hear it" and "how did the artist feel it". Because you can train yourself to hear things differently. For a long time I naturally felt the beginning of Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll as the downbeat. But then I found out a video that explained it as a pickup (and related it to a common rock and roll intro cliche). And now I have started to naturally hear it as a pickup. Same thing with Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower. I originally heard it as a two-note pickup (so that the chord change lands on the downbeat). But it's actually a three-note pickup. And now that I know how the artist originally intended it, I have a difficult time hearing it in the way I originally heard it. (And as I already explained, the same has happened with the half bar pickup in classical music.)

There is no way anyone can actually count through her entire video and think finance should be the 3. It makes no sense. No wonder they have to take out a line or cut it up completely to make it fit. the start of the buildup is 1. The drop is 1. and if you count it back that means finance is 1. (which if also clear from other clues you've discussed) It's only somewhat ambiguous if you just listen to the first few seconds Great video!

29:47 I think it’s worth mentioning “the drop” is where the beat drops back in, not the part where the instruments drop out. It’s the release of tension, not the climax of the buildup.

when I first heard it I thought the first beat was on "finance" but then after hearing all the remixes with it on the 3rd beat my brain started hearing it only as on the 3rd beat

Finance is the 1. The cadence of "looking for a man in" sounds very much like an EDM high/low tom fill (digga digga dut dut ONE). Doing it this way also places the lyrics inbetween beats 2 and 4 which will have the clap and/or snare, meaning a cleaner mix and funkier/more locked together groove. Of course you can line it up any which way and it'll work, but for the genre, where you want important words on the downbeat (Fin, Trust, Six, Blue), followed by a snare: dum dum CAT, dum dum, CAT, etc. That just sounds the strongest in that context.

All of the ones with finance on 3 feel wrong to me. It just seems like someone squished the pickup into beat 1

I hear it in 2/4 looking and finance both down beats. techno bass drum with accents on the 1. strong weak strong weak

the tempo either drags or rushes each time she repeats the phrase so the one keeps shifting around a lot. she should use a metronome.

It's definitely on finance, and EDM musicians are frequently just not that musical 😬

DAMN!!! This is one of the best videos i've ever seen on RU-vid. You have such a fantastic way of explaining complex musical concepts and making them simple. Especially appreciated the part about "what is a downbeat" because the language around that always confused me and i never knew why. I had also been wondering this question myself and curious as to why more people weren't talking about it! Thanks for compiling this video. Cheers!

Another episode might be the "why" of the popularity of this song...

During the initial listen I did not imagine instrumentation, only drumbeats or handclaps. The downbeat was on "LOOKing," but the melody had 5 bars instead of 4 (as we usually expect). I think this 5th bar throws a lot of people off, supporting the notion that "FInance" was the first beat, backed by the fact that "trust fund" isn't even a slant rhyme for anything here. But I think my second favorite is the "offbeat" version, where the 1 comes before the vocal, "I'M" is beat 2, "LOOK" is 3, etc. Very interesting.

Thanks for having me on for this video! Super cool video concept digging into an otherwise dumb meme trend that just happened to be a ridiculously big opportunity for me haha

This is easy. You can either place the 1 on "looking", right from the start. Or else you could place it on "finance" if you're using "I'm looking for a man in" as an intro. If the latter is true, the rest of the song will continue the same way as if you used the first option. Ultimately, they're the same.

It is so important to have rhythm discussions like this for western music! 🙏👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

"Looking" seemed to me the obvious 1 drop. There's a super-simple lead-in with "I'm..." that can be drawn out to pretty much any intuitive length, but once "looking" hits, the rhythm is started and it goes on hitting beats on "man" and "finance". Multiple lines start with "looking". Sure, you absolutely can place the beat all over the place, and none of those are "wrong" and several even sound "better", but it seems like we should all agree that "looking" is the "simple" or "obvious" 1 beat.

She tells us right in the song, people: it's in 6/5.

I hear the one beat starting on the gap between "I'm" and "Looking" - I'm (1) looking for a (2) man in fi(3)nance (4), (1) six five (2), (3) blue eyes (4) - just like the examples in minute 6:00 I guess what makes the confusion here is majorly because she sings 18 steps (4+4+4+4+2 then the bar restarts), which is why the remixes are cutting some lines so it fits in regular 16 steps (4+4+4+4). When you count starting in finance (beat 3), you treat the early 2 steps as a kind of "intro" that doesn't repeat, like bars that are added before the regular rhythm is stabilished. It's a matter of realizing where the beat should repeat and which 2 lines should be cut. As I'm used to listen to music in odd time signatures it's not weird for me to count 18 then regular 16 steps for the rest of the song and not feel weirded by the rhythm. I mean, I feel these 2 bars as just 2 more bars added in a regular rhythm. In the end it's just because she was not thinking of a rhythm when singing for tiktok hahahaha.

I don’t want to think about it. And those are shallow desires. 😂

I think it's twice the tempo you're imagining. The speed of the syllables in "looking for a" dictates the pacing. That way your 1/3 dilemma goes away, they're both 1's.

Insane that she got any kind of contract off of that

I love that there are so many people making music now, that we can study hundreds of interpretations of nearly any song

At 2:40 you say that this young woman now has a 'licensing contract with Capitol Records'. Then at 10:00 you say 'I don't think she's actually a musician'. What are the sleaze bags at Capitol Records hoping to get with their 'licensing contract'? She's not a musician so what is it about this young woman that peaks their interest? If she doesn't want to get f**ked over, then she better have a good lawyer that's for sure.

Rhythmic ambiguity has been exploited since the advent of the DAW. Interpretations will vary based on early ear training (entrainment?). Some people will never understand jazz unless...

Immediately heard it on 'looking'

Definitely heard it on "finance," but I apparently heard it in half time from everyone else.

God I never want to hear that again.

Honestly I think a lot of people might not understand the concept of pickup notes. They assume the 1 is wherever the vocalist starts singing so that's why so many are hearing "I'm" as the 1 whereas others might hear 2 beats of pickup and "finance" as the 1. I'm not saying that one is more "right" than the other but I know what feels the most natural to me.

This feels like a video that's going to absolutely blow up

All this video says to me is that people don't understand meter and strong / weak pulses, lmao. Half the folks sounded like they were talking about the offbeat where a snare or clap would hit when referring to the "one", even clapping as if it was the off beat, while the other half just argued the same metric structure but starting from different points in the meter which would/could all be "the one", depending on BPM or time signature, i.e. 2/4 vs 4/4, or 4/4 at 90 BPM vs 160 BPM in the click, which can both 'sound' like the same speed or pulse (just changing the way it is notated in sheet music or piano roll, and facilitating more granular percussion w/ drum machines and synths by essentially increasing the effective metric resolution by cutting the length of each bar (thus allowing twice as many pulses per bar from a DAW/midi perspective.

It's incredible to dive into all of this just from a tiktok !!! Really great content, thanks for that !

there are those who have a feeling for rythm and such who don't and shoehorn everything in a pattern and make people numb to the real rythm.

the video is incredible, both amusing and educational simultaneously, so it leaves me both almost speechless and wanting to say a lot of things, share thoughts, but I mostly leave this comment as a "thank you" in order for algorithms to push this work further so more people see it

I would have chosen "Looking", but I guess we now know it's not.

5:28 when writing lyrics for parodies i always tell my artists that their texts should follow the rhythm of the spoken words as naturally as possible. This also means that stressed syllables will usually fall on the beat. I honestly believe this make s the difference for a catchy tune with a high chance of being memorised and sung by the masses.

I initially heard the 1 on "looking", but then listened back again, and thought 1 on "finance" souned more natural to me.

This is so cool, it works well on every beat and I can see how everyone would hear it these ways. I think it’s because of how it’s constructed, as such an on beat, steady rhythm, you can kinda just slap it in and see what you like most.

I heard the 1 on "looking", and in my head there was a modern jazzfunk accompanyment

For me it was instant. Beat 1 was on "looking" for me, with "i'm" as a beat 4 pickup.

The 1 is on "looking". Final answer

as a producer if we are doing the beat you are, finance sounds better on 3 because its almost like 6'5 is a breakdown entry type thing to link to the next bar, but tbh its so ambiguous its a dream to produce, you can impliment it in so many different varietys to swich up the flow... but the flow remains the same. interesting for sure but now that i think about it, you can also use "im looking for a man" as a predrop into finance as a one, thats probably what was intended but because we imagine the music first we lose count even a three kick and leave out bar 4 would be wild im looking for a man in... finance (boom) six five (boom) blue eyes (boom) then reroute that to the same bar with the link being the looking part so many options

"Looking" was where I heard 1 before all the remix versions were shown.

I’d put “Looking” on one. If you start it on finance, then the breakdown starts at the wrong place “Looking for a, looking for a, looking for a, looking for a”. That part should start on one so just rewind from there.

The one is on looking. She’s definitely projecting an edm/house vibe. That means 4/4 kick. Put the kick on look and it loops back on the second “blue eyes.” Everything else is just timing issues because she’s not a musician and wasn’t trying to structure meter. If you force it, the one falls on looking.

I really adore her "vocal fry", hahahaha. Just a perfect cherry on top of that silly delivery with faux posh accent.

It never would have occurred to me in a million years to place the “one” on “finance”. But now that I’ve made myself hear it your way, I can’t STOP hearing it your way. Her structure actually does lend itself to hearing the one on “finance” because then there’s a neat repeating two-bar loop that goes “finance, trust fund, six five, blue eyes” and then returns to the beginning of lyric phrase, “finance”, on the “one” of the third bar. With the “one” on “looking”, on the other hand, the lyric loop gets out of sync with the bars.

As kind of a layperson regarding music I felt "finance" was on 1 too, it being the most emphasized i guess?

I’m sitting here in my car in the parking lot of my girlfriend’s place of employment, cracking myself up by putting “I’m” right the f**k on beat one like an absolute rube. It works out in a pretty funny way where you get “nance”, “fund”, “five” and “eyes” all lining up with the snare beats. Also, I’m just going to say I sympathize for the girl who asked the question about DJs and got memed. Those are legit questions. And I’ve personally known plenty of EDM performers, who are absolutely not doing shit on stage at all.

You have to quantize her imperfect timing.

having messy untrimmed strings on a guitar is one thing, but that bass is utterly inexcusable

In funk the one just signifies that you accent the one on the drums you will hear the hi hat accent the one hi hat open on the last measure and closed on the first measure . There is also the technique in reggae specifically on the drums called the one drop which signifies that you drop the fist note of the measure if you think of the one drop as 9/8 and you drop the one it becomes a 4/4 what makes it difficult is that you don’t drop the fist note till the second measure

I heard the 1 on 'looking'. I get completely that "finance... trust fund... 6'5... blue eyes" forms a repeating phrase, but in dance music, we're very used to hearing vocal samples running over a track which do not conform to 4 bar phrases, often because they've been sampled from non-musical sources, like movies.

As we like to say, people who clap on 1 and 3 ain't friends o mine 🤣🤣

Music theory is too hard for remix makers therefore they assume that the start of the video is the first beat. It’s user-friendly: just drop the video in ableton and the first word is the 1.

I hear it as a drummer in two parts. The first part is counted in 8th notes 4/4 but her first word ("I'm") is rested. The beat actually starts on beat 2 ("LOOK-ing") for a MAN in FI-nance...", The second part..."TRUST-fund...6'5....BLUE eyes.... FI-nance ..."TRUST-fund 6'5... BLUE-eyes... is supposed to be a 3 beat phrase (triplet feel) but she actually starts with a 4 beat phrase by adding the word "FIN-ance" used at the end of the first phrase. This leads to a polyrhythmic-feeling groove but it's actually just the added beat that was originally rested. I think the beat is pretty straight but the way she emphasises her syllables changes the feel in the second part. Haha, some of these peoples' mixes are amazing!😂

I feel like the statement of the woman saying "people dont know what a pick up feels like" rungs true because most edm producers arent trained musicians. But its interesting that there are trained musicians in the video that probably do know what a pick up is and choose to put "finance" on an offbeat or 3

So, apparently many people though of EDM here, but I on the other hand, once she started, heard it like the beat from "Wannabe" by Spice Girls: "I'll tell you what I want..", where first syllable "I'll" is on the last 8th of the bar, so in this girl's video I hear it as "I'm" on the last 8th, and "loo.." on 1

the 8th note pickup sounds the most natural to me but the 2 beat pickup is the next best thing

Initially heard it on "looking". Been playing drums for 25 years for what it's worth.

I hear the tune in 2/4 rather than 4/4. That way, the one is both on “looking” AND “finance”.

Looking is the one for me, and this is because of the context of her fill up to the drop.

It's in 6/5 obviously

Downbeat is on "looking", otherwise she wouldn't have stressed the "looking for a man - looking for a man - looking for a looking for a looking for a man" with those repetitions

how the hell does this only have 6 thousand views??????

Yeah, it's just in 2/4 and starts on "looking".

it definitely feels like 1 is on finance

Putting the one on "look" was intuitive, but that was not "right when the video started." I suppose I can see why you were surprised...

I'm kinda surprised that no one else made this connection but (probably due to lyrical similarity) I hear the "I'm looking for a guy in finance" to the same cadence as "I'm looking down every alley", etc. from Kesha's "Your Love is my Drug." This puts a rest on beat one which is probably unintuitive without any musical context, but it lands the "trust fund, 6'5", blue eyes" bit on the back beat which I enjoy

I immediately felt the one on "looking," but when she got to the repetition it became 100% clear that the 1 is on "finance," and that is how I would use the vocal into a song. When placed over a beat in a techno track, I would 100% want the repeated phrase "finance, trust fund, 6'5", blue eyes" to start on the one. Then again, if I sampled this in a techno track, I could chop it up and alter the rhythm however I want.

Pianist here. I interpret it as 2/4. "I'm" is the final eighth note, then "looking for a man in" is in the next full bar, and the beat drops on "Finance." Technically this makes "Look" and "Fi" both beat 1, but it is way more intuitive and seems to be her intention to have the beat drop on "finance".

I heard the 1 on Finance as well. But what I really wanted to mention was that some sounds you can change in your mind. I can hear both Laurel or Yanny as well as brainstorm, green needle, brain needle and greenstorm. It helps to see the word to force you to hear it that way but you can do it. Something similar happens with a few other sounds too, like tick tock of a clock, click clack of a seatbelt buckle or a light switch. The sound is exactly the same for both tick and tock but we have been conditioned to think there is a separate tick sound from the tock sound. Here's a little experiment: tap your finger on your desk or something hard in the same place. As you tap, say to your self in your mind: "tap, tap, tap, tap". The tapping sound should sound like "tap". Now keep doing it but now say: "tip, tap, tip, tap". It might take a little while but you should start to hear it change. And again, say: "tip, tip, tip, tip". It should change again. Some repetitive sounds tend to do this and I'm not sure why. Possibly we are conditioned to think of them as different sounds for some reason.

Clapping on the on beat: dorky and hokey. Downbeat: cool and funky.

0:20 what is that bass and where can i get one? it's like, THE one i've been looking for

I heard it as “I’m” being the pick up. Whether you want to make the first several notes before finance as the pickup is just turning around 3 for the 1. The kick would be on “look” and “finance” either way.

Just finished the vid... that was cool. Right away, I heard "looking" on the 1, and for the 1st 30 minutes, I was sure. But then, when you pointed out the pitch trajectory of her first vocal phrase, and how the first 2 bars could lead into the drop, in a trance anthem, or a Prodigy style track, or a 2010s EDM track... in my mind, I could hear a hoover, and all of the sudden I was able to realize "finance" on the 1, and it sounded right. I think it helped that you'd just showed an analysis of her head bobbing accents. And it helped that I hadn't heard any of the remixes previously (beyond your very brief snippets here)... so,I think that made the moment when I became able to hear "finance" on the 1, in my mind, more profound. I could force it to be on the 1 before, but it hadn't felt right. The new context made all the difference. Prior to that, I'd been hearing the vocals as if fhey were vocals in a 90s novelty song like Cottoneye Joe, or a 2000s party song like Juke Gal. So, you did a good deed by providing a different context. Now, it sounds right on either the 1 or the 3. I think it's useful to develop that sort of flexibility.

who here has heard of the concept of "coming in on the back door"? It's a fun clever tool rhythmically but the melody and cord changes often define the phrase. Beat one and beat three or often 'interchangeable' in some ways, however chord changes can often give an indication of the beginning of a phrase but here those are absent until you add them. Coming in the quote back door" usually refers to waiting until beat three to start your phrase. By the way I hear this with Beats 1 on "looking".

The people that had “Finance” on the 3 beat, are also the ones quantizing how she speaks, so it is no longer the same beat timing, it takes away from her own visual and audio emphasis on the word “FINACE”

Because of the way she says the first "I'm" with no particular rhythm, "looking" was the one without even thinking about it

There are lots of songs where the beat comes in and sounds “wrong” until you get used to it.

I think a hip hop perspective on “where’s the 1” would have been an interesting add.

A month late, but I hear it as “looking” is the 1 and the music is 6/8. I have no idea why I feel it that way.

7:06 yes this is exactly where it belongs to my ear, it sounds way more satisfying than all the other remixes up to this point

I think the clue to answering the underlying question of how we determine the downbeat, is in the words we use: beat, pulse, rhythm. What do we have from birth, within us, that relates to these words? Our heart! Where do we feel connected to music? In our heart. I think the way we 'feel' and interpret the downbeat in music, or how we tap our feet/nod our head, depends on our pulse rate at the time of listening. Or perhaps our own personal resting heart rate/rhythm. That would be a great study for musicologists.

I'm not surprised that "finance" is now officially on 1 since it struck me as the most kitschy phrasing, and I'm pretty sure this whole thing is a pre-emptive media circuit for our newest industry plant.✨

Dude you are the next Adam Neely

Looking is obviously the 1, then she drags, then rushes

Interesting that here, we use the definite article before highway numbers (the five, the four-oh-five, the ten) and we _don't_ use it when speaking of the crusis (to use the unambiguous term). It's just "one". Like "Hey Vinnie, where's one?" during a drum solo. My main reference to how they do it on the other coast would be Adam Neely, and I don't think I've ever heard him call it "the one" either, it's just "one".

It's in the time signature that works for everyone - 1/4

I started counting the downbeat on "looking" but now that I've actually thought about it, you're right. Now I can't not feel it "looking for a man" is a 2, 3, 4 lead-in with finance on the 1.