Perpetual Movement

More often than not once we think about harmonic perform, we’re considering of various methods to maneuver away from the steady I chord (i.e., introducing pressure) and to return again dwelling to the I chord (i.e., releasing pressure). This type of movement is the first driver of musical drama. We use the time period cadence to explain the actual method through which a musical phrase or passage resolves its pressure — and there are numerous totally different flavors of harmonic cadences. However what if a track accommodates no harmonic cadences? Would the absence of harmonic decision really feel unsatisfying and even irritating to the listener? Would we expertise it as a form of musical Ready For Godot, hopelessly anticipating a decision that by no means comes?

“Paint The City Pink” doesn’t start on the I chord. In reality, it doesn’t attain the I chord at any level within the track. It by no means arrives dwelling. The repetitive ii-to-iii chord loop (Determine 2, above) generates some dramatic anticipation, however it doesn’t possess a powerful sense of tonal gravity. Neither of the 2 chords generates extra harmonic pressure than the opposite, so the track simply simmers alongside in a form of contemplative limbo. (In 2020, researchers on the College of Salamanca and McGill College revealed an enchanting paper on pressure hierarchies in chord progressions that explores this idea in depth.)

When listening to “Paint The City Pink,” we are able to hear that the track doesn’t undergo in any manner as a result of its lack of sturdy harmonic movement. Quite the opposite, the recursive motion between the “considerably unstable” chord and the “considerably steady” chord (Determine 1, above) produces a murky but engaging harmonic complexion through which the chords gently tug at one another with out creating or going anyplace. As a result of the track options no harmonic cadences, no resolutions, it simply cycles on itself, by no means arriving at some extent of relaxation. It’s like a harmonic perpetual movement machine. In reality, the cyclic development types an ideal musical mattress over which Doja Cat raps her verses. Relatively than utilizing the concord to drag the listener in a single course or one other, through cadential resolutions, the track’s directionless ii-iii chord structure leaves area for Doja’s rap move to supply its personal form of tension-and-release moments.

Rap Move

In a earlier In Concept article on Kendrick Lamar’s “United In Grief,”7 I outlined move as the way in which through which rappers convert phonetics into music. In essence, move is a rapper’s artwork of supply utilizing rhythm and articulation (tone, emphasis, and rhyme). With respect to rhythm, “articulative approach” includes how the rapper vocalizes phrases (e.g., legato vs. staccato), whereas “metrical approach” refers to what closing dates the rapper says them (on which beats they place rhyming or accented syllables, what number of syllables they use per beat, and so forth.). Extra particularly with metrical approach, spinoff move is a sort of verse development the place the rapper’s vocal rhythms come straight from the beat they’re rapping over. In distinction, generative move is a sort of verse development the place the rapper’s vocal rhythms don’t essentially correlate to the underlying beat. Certainly, utilizing the latter, the vocal can float above the beat, dipping out and in of the beat’s rhythmic structure. (Indiana College’s Music Concept division chair, Kyle Adams, has an instructive paper on this topic.)

Doja Cat is a talented rapper with a flexible vary and prodigious technical talents. In her 2022 track “Vegas,” Doja reveals her mastery at weaving between the poles of spinoff move and generative move. In her verse beginning with “Participant getting valeted ’spherical in that entire whip/ Two fingers, set one down on my toes 10,” she superimposes Sixteenth-note quintuplets (groupings of 5) over a straight Eighth-note syncopated beat — leading to some fairly sophisticated rhythmic math. It’s a masterful demonstration of vocal precision in generative move. Later in the identical track, on her verse beginning with “And preserve my which means discreet/ Maintain the cleansing my health club,” she shifts with mesmerizing ease to straight syncopated Sixteenth notes, one thing approximating spinoff move, drawing her rhythmic bars from the underlying beat sample.

Within the current single “Consideration,” Doja shows her technical rap expertise by enjoying with generative move in different methods: She locks right into a rhythmic pocket with a slight swing and a relaxed behind-the-kick-and-snare supply, resting on the downbeat of every bar. Test it out:

In distinction, Doja’s move in “Paint The City Pink” assiduously adheres to spinoff move approach with metronomic precision. See Determine 3 under.