Weekly Billboard Theory — I Like It
Hey what’s up hello. I’m going to apologize ahead of time because this week really got away from me and I’m not going to be able to give “I Like It” the attention that it fully deserves. There’s a lot going on in this song and unfortunately, I have a lot going on in my life. Also, I’m sure you’ve realized that this song heavily samples “I Like It Like That.” Because of this, I’m mainly going to be focusing on the new material found in Cardi B’s latest hit. Okay, let’s see how this goes.
Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
Key: F Minor
Tempo: 136 BPM
If you’ve been keeping up with this series you’ll recognize that I often go over chord progressions and harmony. A LOT of songs in modern pop music use the same progressions. This is totally okay! “I Like It” is not one of those songs. This is totally great! I’m pretty sure that I always use the word “refreshing” when I get to write about something that isn’t I-V-vi-IV (or some variation of that). This is totally another case of that! Like I had previously mentioned, I’m not going to focus on the source material too much but instead, let’s look at how the chords are different in the new version.
The chords of Pete Rodriguez’ boogaloo classic are quite complex but Cardi B’s song simplifies them. The sample begins the song and is transformed at 0:07 with the addition of trap drums and heavy bass hits. Instead of following the upright bass of the original, the heavy bass hits alternate between the i and the V. That’s right, this song is in harmonic minor. As a reminder, harmonic minor is like natural minor but the seventh scale degree is raised to give us a V chord instead of a v. Cardi’s verse starts and we go back to the original sample.
The verse begins and Cardi demonstrates incredible rhythmic diversity. I’m going to be using Genius as a reference for how these lyrics are laid out. Her first two lines are staccato, meaning short and disconnected. The lyrics become more legato, meaning long and connected, as the verse continues. She then jumps back to the staccato style as she exclaims, “They call me Bardi.” Cardi does a fantastic job of letting us get comfortable with one rhyme scheme before she switches up her style. This is one of the (many) reasons why we like her music so much.
Ya know how I just complimented Cardi on her use of rhythm? Well, I think that the chorus is weak because of this. Don’t get me wrong, the second half of the chorus is pretty great but the first half feels like it’s still part of the verse. She’s for sure not a great singer, but I would have preferred that the entirety of the hook was the melody rather than more rapping. Sure, the rapped part is catchy but just make that part of her verse. I understand that the rapping is then answered with the sample singing “I like it like that” but Idk, just go for it instead of only committing to half of a melody.
Let’s talk about 2:06 because this definitely caught me off guard. I was expecting the one sample to make up the entirety of the song but we are treated with new harmonic material half-way through the song. The chords here change by half-step, one by one. What does this mean? Lot’s of chromatic stuff going on! There are a million examples of progressions like this and I’m too exhausted to think of any. “Stairway To Heaven” is close but the fourth chord is a little different. IRREGARDLESS! We get a new, uncommon progression in a song that already used an uncommon progression. Neat!
Guess what? Despite this new progression, I have mixed feelings about how it was utilized. These chords function as an outro of the second verse kind of? Okay, sure. Then the same thing happens at the end of the third verse? Hm. I felt like the progression would have served better as a bridge and then cutting down the length of some of these verses. The song is 4:13 after all, and it definitely feels like it. On my first listen I remember being surprised that there was a third verse as we were almost at 3:00 after the second chorus. I would say that a DJ could cut a verse to save time but then who gets cut? I have a strong feeling that Cardi would stay.
Now that I’m thinking about it a little more, it makes plenty of sense to have this chromatic progression at the end of the second and third verses. No matter which verse is cut, we are still treated to the new chords. It’s almost as if the writers are saying, “Okay, we know you’re going to get rid of something so we’ll make sure this part stays despite that”. Personally, I would probably omit the second verse in favor of the third as J Balvin ends his portion by going into the “bridge” with Cardi.
“I Like It” is not without flaws but it’s a “refreshing” sound for the charts. However, I don’t think it’s song of the summer material like “Despacito”. Time will tell what takes that throne. Also! It’s cool to see a non-English speaking artist have multiple hits that have been in the Billboard Top 10. What a time.
Been too busy recording music (!) to listen to anything new. Idk. Listen to this.
Next week! Drake is still at number one and number two! But guess who’s at number three? Ariana Grande! Also, apparently J Cole is all over the charts? Anyways, “No Tears Left To Cry” next week. See ya then!
