Tag: 2000s

LeAnn Rimes | Can’t Fight the Moonlight

Written by Dianne Warren and recorded by LeAnn Rimes, “Can’t Fight The Moonight” was originally featured in the 2000 film Coyote Ugly, and subsequently appeared on Rimes’s 2002 compilation album I Need You as well as various greatest hits/best-of releases. The track cracked the top 10 in 19 European countries, and hit the #11 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Billboard’s review called the song “[Rimes’s] most compelling pop offering yet–and one of the more intriguing compositions of late from songwriter superwoman Diane Warren.”

Warren herself claimed she had never written a song with so many key changes, and it does indeed bounce around. Following an intro that deceptively appears to set up C minor, the first two verses are instead set in B minor, and alternate with the C-minor chorus at 0:52. A bridge-like interlude begins at 2:25 that passes through both keys before modulating to C# minor for the final chorus at 2:25.

See What I Wanna See (from “See What I Wanna See”)

“See What I Wanna See” is the title song from the 2005 Off-Broadway musical by composer Michael John LaChiusa. Based on three short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the show has had an extensive life in university and regional productions, and a second NYC production was mounted in 2013. Idina Menzel performs the track featured here, which modulates up a half step from A to Bb at 2:04.

Will Young | Evergreen

Will Young was the first winner, in 2002, of the British music competition television series Pop Idol. “Evergreen” was one of two tracks slated to be released by the winner, and Young’s cover of the tune (originally recorded by the Irish boy band Westlife) went on to become the fastest-selling debut single in the UK. The song modulates from C to D at 2:53.

Josh Groban | Per Te

Featured on Groban’s 2003 album Closer, “Per Te” was written by Walter Afanasieff and Groban with lyrics by Marco Marinangeli, and was recorded in Italian. The album was the top selling classical record of the 2000s and reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 chart.

There are modulations scattered throughout the song: The first two verses are set in C minor, alternating with choruses that modulate down to B minor at 1:46 and 2:10. A dramatic common tone modulation to Bb minor occurs at 2:52, followed by shift to C# minor at 3:16, which is maintained until the end.

Boyz II Men | The Color of Love

“The Color of Love” was the lead single released from the 2002 Boyz II Men album Full Circle. For the music video, each band member filmed their segment in a different country to capture the color and spirit of different people. “Boyz II Men have always maintained a certain mood with their music,” said Antonio “L.A.” Reid, the president of Arista Records which produced the album. “And that couldn’t be better reflected than with the theme of this clip–unity and brotherhood, a multi-cultural celebration in these difficult times. There is no better group to pull it off than these four guys.”

The track has a traditional half-step modulation from D to Eb at 2:45.

Marcela Mangabeira | Para Ti

Born in the Brazilian city of Recife in 1981, Marcela Mangabeira “participated in the first European tour of the group Bossacucanova in 2001, passing through Spain, Denmark, Germany, France, England, and Wales,” the Brazilian website Som13.com reports. “She moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2003 … Her first album, Simples, was released in 2005 in Japan, where it had a great reception.” According to her own website, Mangabeira has released two other albums: Colors of Rio (2011) and Closer Project (2017); her music is also part of 40 compilations worldwide.

“Para Ti” (For You) was released on Simples. Its breezy contemporary sound rolls along beautifully as the Mangabeira finishes the first section. A wordless vocals section from the backup singers begins at 1:33; a half-step modulation catches us by surprise at 1:36, right in the middle of a phrase. At 2:42, an amorphous outro floats onward until the tune’s end.

Laura Osnes, Meghann Fahy | My Heart Is Split

“My Heart Is Split” is from the experimental 2007 musical The Freshmen Experiment by Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk. Envisioned as a story based on the lives of two young bloggers who are sharing the story of their first year at college, the show was not ultimately produced, but the songs that were written continue to be performed. The song modulates from F to G at 3:18.

Fol Chen | No Wedding Cake

“Since 2009, the Los Angeles-area collective has created their signature sound from field recordings and an electronic junk drawer, splicing compound beats and sending warped vocal transmissions,” reports AsthmaticKitty, Fol Chen’s label. “The band calls their genre ‘Opera House,’ a name lifted from Malcolm McLaren but recoined as beat-driven electronica with grand, operatic gestures and lyrically dense storytelling … think of it as pop music for people who aren’t sure where or when they are, but who know it’s nowhere they’ve been before.”

NPR reviewed the electronica/pop tune “No Wedding Cake,” from the band’s debut 2009 album Part 1: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made: ” … How can you not develop an immediate fondness for an art-rock experiment that delivers sentiments like, ‘I could never break your heart,’ and simply beseeches us to just ‘listen to this song’? … charm and a knack for memorable melodies is what lends Fol Chen an energy too many self-consciously hip bands lack.”

The band experiments with multiple shifts in instrumental texture on the track, from an occasional burst of up-the-neck 16th-note funk guitar to gently undulating keyboards whose slow sine-wave pulse is entirely separate from the relentless eighth-note groove. 1:33 brings a casual, unprepared whole-step modulation so guileless that it’s barely noticeable. Many thanks to our regular contributor JHarms for this submission!