Happy Sunday! I am kind of excited about this blog post since I get to take a "popular" song of today and analyze it using what we have learned so far in theory. I normally would have chosen a Contemporary Christian song (as this is a Christian blog), but, that would be too easy as most of them follow similar chord progressions and use the same chords! For our purposes, I have chosen to analyze "Stressed Out" by Twentyone Pilots.
Here is a clip of the song as found on Youtube.com:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRviuL6vMY
Here are the lyrics as found on Songlyrics.com:
Stressed out - Stressed Out Lyrics
I wish I found some better sounds no one's ever heard,
I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words,
I wish I found some chords in an order that is new,
I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang,
I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,
But now I'm insecure and I care what people think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
We're stressed out.
Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young,
How come I'm never able to identify where it's coming from,
I'd make a candle out of it if I ever found it,
Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I'd probably only sell one,
It'd be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose,
Same clothes homegrown a stone's throw from a creek we used to roam,
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered,
Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words,
I wish I found some chords in an order that is new,
I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang,
I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,
But now I'm insecure and I care what people think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
We're stressed out.
Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young,
How come I'm never able to identify where it's coming from,
I'd make a candle out of it if I ever found it,
Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I'd probably only sell one,
It'd be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose,
Same clothes homegrown a stone's throw from a creek we used to roam,
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered,
Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
My name's 'Blurryface' and I care what you think.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days,
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,
Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."
Yo.
To me, part of the popularity of this song comes from the fact that the lyrics are appealing to different generations. I, at 35, enjoyed them because they are relatable to where I am in life. Life is hard and many of us dream of those easier times where we could pretend, play and had our sweet moms singing us a lullaby. Life was simple then and the gentle reminders in these lyrics fill me with beautiful memories of those times.
To the younger listeners, the lyrics can give a sense of being more mature. I may very well be alone in that opinion, but as a youth, I felt more mature and important when I could commiserate with adults.
Musically, there are certain principles that composers follow. The only ones we have learned about so far are the ones that Bach would have used. Let's see if some of those can be applied here!
I found that this song is in the key of A minor. The first thing I notice (from looking at the first page sample on musicnotes.com) is that the piece starts on A3. That would make Bach very happy as it was good practice to start on tonic.
The second thing I notice is that the chord progression of the first "I wish" section follows the minor mode chord progression flow chart as it should. They start with a VI, move to the iv, and use plagal motion to finish on the i chord.
The chord progression of the chorus (as found on Ultimate-guitar.com in the comment section of this song) goes VI-III-i-V-i-vii dim-III-V
From what we have learned about proper chord progression the only thing that would work in Bach's opinion would be the transition from the i-V-i.
Now, as this is modern popular music, those same principles do not make or break a song.
In the second verse we can hear the piano come in with a series of minor 3rd's being arpeggiated adding another layer of texture.
The steady drum beat and use of synthesized "space-like/robotic" sounds keep the song moving. When combined with the catchy lyrics and rhythms, we have a recipe for a song that has gained great popularity with young and old!
