Jessie J | I Want Love

English singer/songwriter Jessie J released “I Want Love” as a single in June 2021. “I had an argument with a bf once after a major red carpet. I went to a bar where I didn’t know anyone and I danced alone until sunrise,” she said describing the inspiration behind the song and subsequent music video.

“I took a shot with strangers and I talked to myself in the mirror in the bathroom,” she continued. “My tough exterior that I so often use as a defense mechanism went away, my heart softened. My fear left the room and I just let go. That’s what this song this video means and represents to me… I wanted this video to feel like I felt like that night.”

Beginning in Ab minor, the tune abruptly shifts up a half step to A for the final chorus at 2:43.

Lee Jieun (이지은) | Winter Sleep

“Lee Jieun (이지은), popularly known as IU, is a highly-acclaimed South Korean singer, songwriter, philanthropist, and actress … She is also known in South Korea as ‘The Nation’s Little Sister.'” (KPopping.com) “For years, she attended singing and acting lessons … She also auditioned for more than 20 companies, failing most of them. However, her hard work eventually lead to her debut on September 18, 2008 when she performed the digital single ‘Lost Child.'”

KoreaTimes reports: “According to IU, 2021’s ‘Winter Sleep’ is a piano-driven song in which she talks about the feeling of loss that hits people when a loved one passes away. ‘I was hit by a wave of loss after having a farewell with people around me … but I realized that flowers still bloom and stars rise in the sky regardless of how I feel… Now, my heart does not break when I sing this song.'”

The straightforward arrangement keeps its focus on the melody, which takes a few unexpected steps from time to time. At 2:12, an early half-step modulation brings a shift which lasts for the balance of the tune — all the way to the non-resolving ending. Many thanks to our frequent contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Whitney Houston | Love Will Save the Day

“Love Will Save the Day,” according to RandomJPop, was “the one single from Whitney that I think is oft forgotten about due to the likes of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” and “So Emotional” being such huge hits and the songs most remember from the album,” (the singer’s 1987 debut, Whitney). “It was one of the few songs from the release which gave us Whitney’s personality in a way that not all of the other songs did. We got a bit of matriarchal Whitney. A bit of church Whitney. A bit of street Whitney.

‘Love Will Save The Day’ stuck out greatly on the album because of its sound, which could be seen as a response to the boom of Madonna at the time. Madonna was known for her uptempo cuts, whilst Whitney was still defined greatly by her ballads. But of course Arista records wanted to show that Whitney can compete with the club kids. After all, a bitch was from Jersey … ” Although the review dates from 2020, both it and the track seem relevant: ” … at a time when politics are a mess, the world is on literal fire and mental health is something that is being aired out in the open with more regularity than ever before, this song really does hit now.” The track never had the benefit of a music video, but “managed to chart well without one. So a music video probably would have secured Whitney yet another Billboard number 1 single.”

Roy Ayers’ immaculate vibes performance is most prominent during a duet feature with Whitney at 3:35, but keeps the groove at a low 16ths boil elsewhere. After 4:10 brings a blockbuster whole-step key change, the tune doesn’t let up a notch — right to the last second.

Jack Antonoff, MØ | Never Fall In Love (from “Love, Simon”)

“Never Fall In Love” is featured in the 2018 coming-out film Love, Simon. Written and performed by Jack Antonoff, who also produced the soundtrack, the synth-driven song features Danish singer MØ. Beginning in D, a modulation to E occurs at 2:55.

The Supremes | Up the Ladder to the Roof

“‘Up the Ladder to the Roof’ was the first Supremes single without Diana Ross, who left the group to start a solo career,” (Songfacts). “Her replacement was Jean Terrell, who sang lead on this track. In this new-look Supremes, Mary Wilson, the only original member, split lead vocal duties with Terrell, the sister of heavyweight boxer Ernie Terrell. Though Jean Terrell’s vocals sounded similar to Tammi Terrell’s, they weren’t related.

After Ross’ January 1970 departure from the group, “The Supremes were no longer a priority at the label, but ‘Up the Ladder to the Roof’ proved they could land a hit without Ross … The Supremes had just one more Top 10 hit (‘Stoned Love‘ at #7) before disbanding in 1977. The Supremes performed (“Ladder”) on Ed Sullivan Show on February 15, 1970, the last of their 16 appearances on the show and only one without Ross; the group appeared on the show more than any other Motown artist.” Al Green covered the tune in 1984 after Bette Midler recorded it in 1977.

1:58 brings a whole-step modulation after the initial key fades somewhat during a percussion-centric break.

Bette Midler | Mambo Italiano

“Mambo Italiano” was originally written by Bob Merrill in 1954 for the American singer Rosemary Clooney, and is a parody of genuine mambo music. Bette Midler included a cover of the tune on her tribute album to Clooney, released in 2003 (following Clooney’s death in 2002) and produced by Barry Manilow. “I wanted to be respectful, but I felt we had to find something new to say as well,” Midler said in the liner notes for the album. “And in these (mostly) new arrangements…I believe we have.”

The track begins in G minor and shifts up a half step at 2:16.

Ella Fitzgerald | Old MacDonald Had a Farm

“Dubbed ‘The First Lady of Song,’ Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century,” according to Fitzgerald’s website. “In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.

Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, accurate and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, sweet jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman. (Or rather, some might say all the jazz greats had the pleasure of working with Ella.) She performed at top venues all over the world, and packed them to the hilt. Her audiences were as diverse as her vocal range. They were rich and poor, made up of all races, all religions and all nationalities. In fact, many of them had just one binding factor in common – they all loved her.”

Her relentlessly energetic rendition of the children’s song “Old MacDonald,” performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, begins in Eb major. Starting at 0:18, she skips effortlessly upward through a series of half-step modulations, ending in Ab major.

Nickel Creek | Stumptown

“Mandolinist-singer Chris Thile, guitarist-singer Sean Watkins, and fiddler-singer Sara Watkins recorded their self-titled debut for Sugar Hill in 2000,” (AcousticMusic.com). “The band had a lot going for it. Its members were young, spunky, and nice to look at on CMT; they were good musicians and singers, and brought a youthful edge to a music that seldom reached a youthful market. Indeed, the most surprising thing about Nickel Creek was that three, young with-it teenagers would choose to play anything resembling bluegrass, and that they, as Alison Krauss had some years earlier, were able to make acoustic music seem kind of cool.

The band’s third album, Why Should the Fire Die? (2005), (is) an intense, innovative album … Detractors will argue that Nickel Creek has strayed far from the traditional bluegrass path, but even the group’s first and most conservative effort wasn’t traditional. The problem with traditional-progressive conflicts is that they don’t tell you much about the quality of the music itself. Quite possibly, Nickel Creek doesn’t even qualify—at this point—as traditional, progressive, or any other kind of bluegrass. They are, however, an exciting band because they’ve brought new elements into acoustic music, giving it a potent injection of youthful vigor.”

After a starting in E major, a shift to G major is in effect from 1:02 – 1:18, where the band hiccups back into the original key.

Andra Day | What The World Needs Now

“Right now the world is full of opinions, which is always fine, and full of agendas and people making things out to be a certain way and they aren’t listening to each other,” Day said upon recording this 1965 Burt Bacharach song. “That requires love and that requires selflessness.” Day’s cover was used for Hyatt Hotels’ World of Hyatt campaign, and premiered in an ad during the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.

The track begins in A and shifts up to Bb at 1:54.

Richard Smallwood + United Voices | I Will Sing Praises

“World-class composer, pianist, and arranger Richard Smallwood has clearly and solidly changed the face of gospel music,” (KennedyCenter.org). “He can impeccably blend classical movements with traditional gospel, and arrive at a mix that is invariably Smallwood’s alone. A diverse and innovative artist, Richard Smallwood has achieved many honors; Dove Awards and a Grammy also attest to his talents … Richard began his recording career in the late seventies with an album simply titled The Richard Smallwood Singers. The debut project spent 87 weeks on Billboard’s Gospel chart … His song “I Love The Lord” crossed onto the big screen when Whitney Houston sang it in the film The Preacher’s Wife.”

“I Will Sing Praises” (1996) was both written and arranged by Smallwood. Starting at 3:05, multiple half-step modulations arrive, with the intensity only further magnified by the choir’s brief jump to a cappella at 4:47.