Weekly Billboard Theory — Call Out My Name
Hi, what’s up it’s past my bed-time and I’m probably jet-lagged so this will be short! “Call Out My Name” sure sounds familiar and I’m here to tell ya why! Let’s go!
The Weeknd
Key: Eb Minor
Tempo: 134 BPM
First things first, there’s nothing particularly bad about “Call Out My Name”. I think it’s a fine song. I also think that this might be the first song I’ve written about that’s in 3/4? What does 3/4 mean? 3/4 tells us that there are three beats in every measure. If you’re familiar to what a waltz sounds like, that’s 3/4. Most songs are in 4/4, also known as common time. 3/4 isn’t a unique time signature by any means but I’d reckon that it’s not too common in pop music nowadays because people are want to do other dances than a waltz.
The chord progression sounds i-iv throughout “Call Out My Name”. If we translate this to the relative major of Gb Major the chords would be vi- ii. That’s right, no IV chord! It’s hard to imagine that our interest could be kept with just two chords but The Weeknd manages to achieve this. The secret here is impeccable production quality and masterful dynamic changes. The verses and choruses are day and night in regards to their energy and because of this, we get a lot of life out of the i and iv. The Weeknd’s performance, especially during the second verse at 1:38, is an incredible contrast to the subdued instrumentals found throughout the piece.
“Ya know, all of this stuff you’re saying about ‘Call Out My Name’ sounds pretty positive.” You’re absolutely right. Like I mentioned before, there’s nothing particularly bad about the song. However, when we look at in the larger context of The Weeknd’s body of work we begin to notice something. This song sounds familiar. As a matter of fact, I’m not the only person to notice this. “Call Out My Name” sounds a LOT like The Weeknd’s 2015 hit “Earned It”.
You’ll probably notice it right away. If you don’t, have no fear. I’m here to tell you why the two are so similar. The most obvious parallel is found in the time signature. That’s right, “Earned It” is also in 3/4. While a top 40 waltz is a refreshing take, it loses a bit of allure if an artist has a second song with the exact same rhythmic feel three years later.
“Dang, they have a similar rhythmic feel. I guess that’s it then, right?” Nope, there’s more. That i-iv progression? Yeah, we heard it in another hit by The Weeknd. Any guesses as to what that song might be? Yep, it’s also from “Earned It”. The majority of The Weeknd’s 2015 hit consists of those same two chords. I had stated earlier that we’re alright with those two chords because of the dynamic variation of “Call Out My Name” and I still stand by that. Unfortunately, we’ve just heard this before.
One last thing. “Call Out My Name” lives in the key of Eb minor. Any thoughts as to what key “Earned It” took place in? Nah, not Eb minor. Great guess though! “Earned It” resides in D minor. That’s right. Only a half step away from “Call Out My Name”. This isn’t the first time that I’ve written about how an artist reused a chord progression from a prior hit but at least last time they went to a distant key.
Is “Call Out My Name” a bad song? Nah, it’s fine. But it’s something we basically heard three years ago from the same artist. Had this song been performed by a different artist, we might have never noticed the similarities, to be honest. Yeah, we’d notice that both songs were in 3/4 but I probably wouldn’t have compared them closely enough to notice chord progressions and key similarities. This all just leaves something to be desired. 2015 was a pretty great year for me, and I’d love to go back but we must move forward and so must our music.
Let’s look at the charts for next week. Woah! Someone knocked Drake’s “God’s Plan” off the number one spot. Who could it possibly be? Drake. It’s Drake. The 6 God is at the top of the Hot 100 again with “Nice For What” so that’s what we’ll be looking into next week. Sorry for the short write up! See ya next week.
