Weekly Billboard Theory — Havana
I wrote about Camila Cabello early on this year. I was not a fan. However, things are different this time. Things are better this time.
Camila Cabello
Key: G harmonic minor
Tempo: 105 BPM
This writeup will be on the short side since I’m a little under the weather and there’s some stuff here that I’ve already touched on. Let’s start from the top since it’s usually a pretty great place to begin. “Havana” begins with a piano. There’s something unique about the piano here that I don’t think we’ve heard in any songs throughout the year. The piano is slightly out of tune. What does this mean? Well, pianos make sound by using tiny hammers to hit strings and the vibrations from those strings create the pitches we here (sorry to mansplain this to you). Over time, those string slip and/or changes in humidity and temperature cause wood to warp and the pitch of the instrument changes ever so slightly. Here’s a great example of the difference between an out of tune piano and one that is playing properly.
Okay, so big whoop. The piano at the studio they recorded was in bad shape, right? Well, probably not. I’d have to believe that this is a very deliberate choice as I’m sure that Camila’s team could find a professional quality instrument. My guess is that using the out of tune piano represents the history of Cuba and the economic hardships the country (and specifically Havana) has gone through. Definitely not a topic that I am anywhere near qualified to discuss but I think it’s a safe assumption to make about the rationale of the piano. As a quick side note, sometimes out of tune stuff just sounds good.
The progression throughout the beginning (and pretty much all of the song) goes i-VI-V. In a natural minor setting that V chord would be v (minor )but since it is V (major) we can confirm that we’re in harmonic minor. Also, it’s worth nothing that we never get a IV chord throughout this song. Would you look at that. The melodies are largely pentatonic but stray every now and then but it’s also worth noting that every melody is incredibly deliberate. Each section (verse, pre-chorus, chorus) consists of four repeats of the chord progression. A melodic idea is presented the first time through and usually repeated verbatim (maybe with different lyrics). On the third repeat, we get a deviation and Camila either brings it back to that first idea or continues to stray for the final run. This is a great way to make a melody “catchy” by presenting us with something familiar and making slight adjustments as to not get stale.
This formula gets thrown away as Young Thug’s verse starts. There’s not really any kind of form to follow along with which is probably why it was replaced for the remix. Whoops. Despite this, there is some cool stuff going on with the actual music in the verse. The piano part finally changes and it looks like we might have a new chord progression. When I listen to these songs to learn the chords, I’ll typically play along with guitar or bass to figure them out. However, before I could learn this new section the bassline from the beginning crept back in. It’s a sneaky trick to reuse musical material while still creating something new. Clever songwriting if ya ask me!
“Havana” clocks in at 3:36 minutes but it really doesn’t need to be that long. Don’t get me wrong, 3:36 is right on the money for a top 40 song length but “Havana” could end quite a bit earlier. Young Thug’s verse ends at about 1:58 and we go right into another chorus. It’s safe to say that the chorus after the rap verse/bridge is usually the finale. This can be signified by riffing and increased arrangements. We get a little bit of this but the riffing really begins at 2:17. This is probably the end then, right? Well, we get four times through the chord progression and then a trumpet plays one of the melodies from earlier. At this point, I feel as if the songwriters thought, “oh shoot, we gotta fill time.” This idea is cemented for me by going BACK to the chorus another time. Why? Just have the trumpet end the song early or even a fade out would be nice. We don’t get those much anymore. But okay, fine we have another chorus and then the song is done right? N O P E ! We have an additional trumpet section to finish out “Havana”. We didn’t ask for this. We didn’t need this. Y’all could have had another verse earlier instead of spending the second half of the song as a one chorus repeating. Poor planning.
I will say that there is a benefit to having a song with a whole lot of nothing like this. Story time. I used to DJ parties when I was in college. I would frequently play “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz because I wanted everyone to have a good time. The only problem is that this is a pretty long song at roughly 4:30. “If you’re such a good DJ, why don’t you just cut the song early?” you fools make ask. For starters, I wasn’t a good DJ. For not starters, every verse of that song is incredible so it’s kind of disappointing to cut any of it. This would not be a problem with “Havana”. 2:30 in and a DJ can start transitioning to the next track as the remaining minute is just old material that no one would miss. The song is great for radio DJs as having shorter songs means more time for advertisements as this is how radio works.
Whoah, this ended up being longer than I thought it would be. Ultimately, “Havana” is a good song. It could just be better by either having more content or taking up less time. Fortunately, it is MUCH better than “Bad Things”. That song suuuuucked.
The charts look awfully familiar up top. Post, this song, Cardi, Sam Smith. All holding it down. Have to go down to number 8 to see something new with Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”. I haven’t been listening to the radio much lately so I don’t believe that I’ve heard this song yet. It’s Ed Sheeran so worst case scenario it’s probably fine. But MAYBE NOT! Who knows. You will! That’s who! Next week. See ya.
