Weekly Billboard Theory — Look Alive
I was unfamiliar with BlocBoy JB prior to hearing this song. If I’m being honest, I’ll probably be unfamiliar with him after doing this write-up. The importance for “Look Alive” primarily comes from Drake but does that mean the song is any good? Eh, it’s fine probably. Let’s talk about it.
BlocBoy JB feat. Drake
Key: D Minor
Tempo: 140
It’s a little shocking that BlocBoy JB is the main artist on this track as Drake seems to get more airtime. Despite this, I think Mr. JB’s verse is a little bit more interesting because of the cuts in the rhythm. It’s a nice change from the repeated piano riff (which I’ll get to) to have it cut and filtered every now and then. Originally, I was going to try and spin this to be a reference of music that is “chopped and screwed” but that really seems to be a stretch. If anything, this imitates some techniques that a live DJ would use by quickly fading in and out of a track.
I often find it difficult to write these reviews about rap songs because I focus on music, not words. Okay, sometimes words with text painting but that’s it. The trouble I have with “Look Alive” is that we only have two real measures of music. Yes, it begins with only piano and the the second repeat of each pattern has a repeated note. Yes, a bassline comes in eventually. Yes, the second repeat of that bassline has an altered note each time. However, these are very minute changes to two measures of music. Look below to see what I’m talking about.
On my first glance, this is supes boring. However, there is some cool stuff occurring in these two measures. Let’s look a little bit closer. I’ve color-coded some stuff down below in hopes to make it easier to understand. We’ll start with the last chord in black because it’s the most obvious since nothing else is moving. Chords consist of at least three notes but we only have two different pitches, Bb and D. Since the Bb is in the bass, it’s safe to assume that this is a Bb major chord or the VI in the key of D minor. Easy.
Jumping to the beginning, we have an A and an E. There’s no third here. Because of this, it could be either a major chord OR a minor chord. This also means that we could be in either natural OR harmonic minor. The melody doesn’t really help to solve this mystery either. Knowing pop music, I think it’s safe to say that the song is in natural minor. Whatever, fight me. For now, we’ll think of that first chord as a “v” but it kind of doesn’t matter.
After that first chord we have two Fs in unison. No chord here, but it’s the third of the scale. This will be important in a little bit. Let’s look at that nice olive colored oval. We have the A from before but with a D above and below it. Once again, we have a chord without a third: a D and an A. Because of the missing third, we’re unsure of weather it is a D major (I) or D minor (i) chord. FORTUNATELY! The missing third was played right before this chord which signifies a D minor but still gives us the very hollow sound of a perfect fifth.
So! We have a tiny chord progression here if we think v-note of the third scale degree-i. Take a peep at that nice, deep red oval we got in the bottom. Stack those notes on top of each other and what do we have. From the lowest to highest: D-F-A. What does that spell? A full tonic (i) chord. Do you know what that means? These two measures are essentially spelling out two chords. Just good old i and VI. It’s definitely an interesting way to create this two chord pattern and for that I commend BlocBoy JB and Drake. “That’s a pretty cool thing! You must think that this is a good song then, right?” That’s tough. Yes, there’s a cool idea in these two measures but it is then repeated over and over again. I certainly have more of an appreciation for “Look Alive” because I dove into this but would I have believed this to be a good song prior to that? Nah, definitely not. Again, keep in mind I haven’t looked at the lyrics whatsoever but holy cow now that I’m thinking about it MAYBE DRAKE IS SAYING LOOK ALIVE BECAUSE HE WANTS US TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THOSE MEASURES! Nope, no way. Fortunately, the song clocks in at only 3:01 so we don’t have to hear those bars for TOO long.
I’ve been busy writing music for several weeks with my buddies in Emarosa so I haven’t been able to listen to any new stuff for a recommendation. This is starting to become a theme. Whoops!
Looking at next week and a lot of the same faces. No surprises. In number seven we have a ANOTHER Kendrick song, this time with SZA and their hit “All The Stars” from the Black Panther soundtrack. Black Panther was great! This song probably will be too! Find out for sure next week. Adios.
