Canadian singer/songwriter Lauren Spencer-Smith released her debut album, Unplugged, in 2019, and appeared on the 18th season of American Idol in 2020. Her big break came in 2022 with the single “Fingers Crossed,” which charted in the top 20 in the United States and other countries. “All I Want” is featured on her 2020 EP Mixed Emotions. The tune, a plaintive song with just piano and voice, begins in Db and deceptively transitions to Eb at 2:14, with the vocal reaching up to the fifth scale degree. It stays in Eb till the end.
Category: Henry
Backstreet Boys | Everyone
Written by Swedish producer/songwriters Kristian Lundin and Andreas Carlsson, “Everyone” was featured on the Backstreet Boy’s 2000 album Black & Blue. Rolling Stone critic Barry Walters described the song as “a celebration of the [group] and the power of their audience.” The album was hugely successful, selling over 5 million copies in its first week of sales.
The tune remains in C minor until shifting up a step to D minor for the final chorus at 2:33.
The Piano Guys | Father’s Eyes
“Father’s Eyes” is featured on the 2014 album Wonders, the fifth studio release by the The Piano Guys, a US-based piano and cello duo. The song, written by cellist Steven Sharp Nelson and producer Al van der Been, is one of the few originals the group has recorded; they are known mostly for their covers. It is also the only song on the record to include vocals. It begins in G minor, shifts to C minor at 2:43, and winds its way back to G minor at 3:17.
Angela Lansbury | Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney animated feature adapted for the Broadway stage, where it premiered in April 1994. The score, by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, was recognized with an Academy Award for Best Original Score, and the title song, featured here, won Best Original Song.
Angela Lansbury voiced Mrs. Potts for the film, and her universally acclaimed performance of the tune has since been enshrined in the minds of thousands of children who have watched the film. In 2004, the American Film Institute ranked “Beauty and the Beast” at number 62 on their list of the greatest songs in American Film History. Lansbury died today at the age of 96 after a remarkable eight decade career in film, television, and theater.
The key change comes at 1:21.
Unworthy of Your Love (from “Assassins”)
Stephen Sondheim’s 1990 musical Assassins depicts the inner lives of various real-life figures who tried (and sometimes succeeded) to assassinate the president of the United States, and the repercussions their actions had on themselves and the country and its history. “Unworthy of Your Love” is sung by John Hinckley to his fantasy girlfriend Jodie Foster; he is joined by partway through by Squeaky Fromme, who declares her love Charles Manson.
By Sondheim standards, the tune is a remarkably conventional love ballad. It begins in B, shifts down to A for Squeaky’s verse at 1:42, and returns to B for the final chorus at 2:57.
Diana Ross | Chain Reaction
Written and produced by the Bee Gees, “Chain Reaction” was recorded in 1985 by Diana Ross, featured on her album Eaten Alive. “‘Chain Reaction’ was never originally meant to be on the album,” Barry Gibbs explained in an interview. “It was the last song we cut. We’d done the whole album and Diana said, ‘Well, we still need one more song from somewhere.’ We had ‘Chain Reaction’ all along but didn’t have the nerve to play it to her because it was so Motown-ish that we were scared she wouldn’t go back there. Robin Gibb persuaded her by saying, ‘We think it’s time you did something that you would have done with The Supremes and not just Diana Ross.’ Once Diana had recorded it, she sat down and heard the playback and realized it was a credible tribute to the past.”
While the tune did not perform well in the US, it reached #1 in the UK, Ireland, Australia and Zimbabwe. There are modulations sprinkled throughout the song: just in the first verse it moves from B to Db at 0:56 and D at 1:11, returning to B for verse 2 at 1:43 and moving through the same cycle again. A shift to Eb occurs at 3:00, followed by a half-step modulation up to E at 3:15, and it continues to alternate between those two keys as it fades to the end.
September | Can’t Get Over
“Can’t Get Over” was recorded in 2007 by the Swedish pop singer September (her stage name) and featured on her third studio album Dancing Shoes. The song, written by Anoo Bhagavan, Jonas von der Burg and Niklas von der Burg, reached the #14 spot on the UK charts. It modulates from D up to E for the final chorus at 2:32.
Little Mix (ft. Charlie Puth) | Oops
“Oops” is featured on the British girl group’s acclaimed fourth studio album Glory Days, released in 2016. The record spent five consecutive weeks at #1 on the UK Albums chart and is the most streamed girl group album on Spotify.
In their review, AllMusic said Glory Days “finds the group delivering a set of hooky, smartly crafted songs that balance swaggering, ’60s-style R&B with stylish, electronic-tinged dance-pop,.” London’s Evening Standard added “the foursome have carved out a pop niche for themselves, so the really rather good You Gotta Not and Oops have a finger-clicking Fifties feel and there’s a hint of edge to the delightfully fierce Power.”
This track features American singer Charlie Puth, and modulates up from D to Eb right near the end at 2:45.
Rick Trevino | Separate Ways
“Separate Ways” is featured on American country singer Rick Trevino’s 2011 studio album Whole Town Blue. The track was initially released as a single in 2007, but when it failed to reach the Top 40 the album release was delayed. Trevino, who is of Mexican descent, has made it a practice to release both Spanish and English versions of many of his songs, one of the first mainstream artists to do so.
The song begins in E and shifts without warning or preparation up to F for the second verse at 1:47.
Only Us (from “Dear Evan Hansen”)
“Only Us” is from the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, which had its closing performance on Broadway this past weekend. The tune is performed here by Ben Levi Ross (who played Evan, Connor, and Jared on Broadway) and Taylor Trensch (who played Evan) in a new arrangement by music director Alex Lacamoire. Beginning in B, a modulation up to Db leads into the second verse at 2:06. That is followed by an unorthodox pivot up a perfect 5th to Ab for the final chorus at 2:48, where it remains until the end.
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