Weekly Billboard Theory — Feel It Still
If you told me ten years ago that Portugal. The Man would have a song in the top 10 I would have never believed you. Heck, it’s shocking when any rock band gets a song to place this high. “Feel It Still” will probably be the bands best selling single ever but does that mean it’s any good? Let’s find out.
Portugal. The Man
Key: C# Minor
Tempo: 158 BPM
Spoiler alert: This is a good song. If you’ve been reading these write-ups for the past year you’ll probably recognize some recurring qualifications for what I think makes a “good” song. “Feel It Still” has a lot of these going for it. Clear differences between verses, choruses, and bridges? A simple, pentatonic melody (which isn’t quite so simple and I’ll talk about a little later)? Text painting? And it’s less than three minutes? Yep, they did it. Let’s start with the form because it’s super simple.
If you listen closely you really start to notice the sonic progression of “Feel It Still.” I’m not talking about chords here, I mean the extra accompaniments and instrumentations added as the song moves on. We begin with guitar and hi-hat. That’s it. Then we get vocals, bass, and snare as the verse begins. The chorus is marked by horn hits, more percussion, and the tiniest bit of another guitar. Second verse? Rapid synth arpeggios. You gotta listen real close for that one. Also, we’ve got full drums now. More synth hits in the second chorus and a pentatonic guitar lick to lead us out of the first half of the chorus. At the bridge we get a world of new sounds before we come back to the final chorus.
The chord progression for the majority of “Feel It Still” begins immediately with i-III-IV-i. That’s right, no V chord. I’ve said it a million times now but maybe you’re just tuning in this week so I’ll let ya know that the dominant chord isn’t that important in modern pop music. However, we don’t get the thirds of these chords so how can we really be sure that the chords aren’t I-iii-iv-I or some other variation since we just have roots and fifths? Well, the melody is diatonic. This means that there are no accidentals and because of that we are able to assume that the chords would be diatonic as well.
What if I told you that this entire guitar/bass progression we hear throughout the song was actually TEXT PAINTING?! It would be pretty wild, right? Well, hold on to your butts BECAUSE IT IS! The chorus of “Feel It Still” states, “I been feeling it since 1966.” The root/fifth pattern throughout the majority of the song is verrrry reminiscent of songs from the 60s. I’m sure you can think of some off the top of your head. It’s really not a sound we hear anymore unless it’s used specifically as a reference to that era of music (yes, I understand that literally samples a song from that time period but that’s kind of the point).
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU that the entirety of the song was text painting? “But what? How?” you shout. Well, songs were much shorter during the 50s and 60s because of recording limitations. Most Motown songs clock in somewhere between 2:30–3:00 long. Where does “Feel It Still” fall in? 2:43. Obviously we don’t have the same restrictions that we used to, so why did Portugal. The Man make their hit so short? It might be a stretch but text painting could definitely be the rationale.
Now, there’s one thing that drives me crazy about this song. Not really in a good or bad way, but just in a way. There are several times when the vocalist of Portugal. The Man ends phrases in a way that seems to be in between chords. Go to 0:20 and you’ll hear what I’m talking about. It’s difficult to tell if he’s trying to slide down but cuts the note short or if he’s in fact trying to change the chord to a I instead of a i. He rights this “wrong” a few seconds later by resolving down. The same pattern occurs in the second verse so I’m inclined to think that the intention was to change the chord to major for a brief period before immediately resolving back to the initial minor. If that sounds confusing, don’t sweat it. It actually is confusing.
There’s other factors as to why this song is popular regardless of whether or not it’s actually a good song (it is). “Feel It Still” was featured in commercials for the iPad Pro, Vitamin Water and even YouTube. Remember what those iPod commercials did for Jet? So yeah, that’s big marketing for a song. I don’t know how long this song will stay at the top but it’s always nice to see something that isn’t the standard Top 40 style up there.
Ya girl Cardi is still number one with Mr. Malone at number two. But who’s that at number three? J Balvin and Willy William with “Mi Gente”? Never heard of it. But Beyonce is featured on it so that explains that. Is this the next “Despacito”? Find out next week, right here, on WEEKLY BILLBOARD THEORY!
