Weekly Billboard Theory — LOVE.
I remember listening to “DAMN.” for the first time and immediately recognizing that this song would be a single. It’s probably one of Kendrick Lamar’s least aggressive efforts and we don’t lose any of his genius despite this. It’s a pretty simple song but there are a few ways that Lamar makes a lot out of a little. Let’s dive in.
LOVE.
Kendrick Lamar FEAT. ZACARI (This is how it’s stylized on the track so yeah)
Key: F Major
Tempo: 126 BPM
Simple stuff first. F major, pretty easy key with only one flat. This means I can pick up most instruments and have fun playing a long. The tempo is 126 BPM or 63 BPM depending on how you look at it. To be honest, 63 is a little more fitting but some of the melody would then be notated as 32nd notes which is a little difficult to read. I also say that like I notated parts of this song. I didn’t lol. I was going to but (for reasons that I will explain later) I did not. But yeah! 126 BPM is a very middle of the road tempo. The length of the song? 3:33. Half of the number of the beast but not too long or too short in my opinion. We’ve got a very reasonable blank canvas before listening to any of the song.
How about them chords? Well, there’s only two of them and that’s totally fine! Can you guess what those two chords are? One of them is the I or the tonic. I’ll give you a hint for the other one. It’s the chord that I talk about pretty much every week and how it’s much more important in contemporary pop music holy cow is any one listening it’s the IV chord. Yes, the song is just I-IV over and over again. Despite this, Kendrick Lamar is able to keep this interesting by using extended versions of the chords. Does this sound familiar? It should. Because my write about Post Malone’s “Congratulations” covered this topic quite a bit. For that reason, I’m going to move on.
The most interesting aspect of “LOVE.” is the use of melody throughout. Kendrick doesn’t really rap throughout the entirety of the song. I mean, yeah he does obviously. But every word is pitched. So I feel like it would be a little more accurate to say that he does rhythmic singing as opposed to un-pitched rapping. I know, it seems like semantics but this is one of the many reasons I think Kendrick is an incredible artist. His vocals are almost exclusively pentatonic. By combining this simple scale with his lyrical and rhythmic proficiency it’s kind of a foolproof recipe for a successful melody. I’m going to use Genius’ naming system for the sections of the song because it will be easier to follow along this way. I wasn’t originally going to start at the beginning but I think things might get confusing if we doing. Anyways!
The first chorus begins with Zacari singing a simple, floating melody. It’s largely pentatonic but it strays every now and then. To be honest, Zacari on the hook would probably be enough for a great chorus but fortunately Kendrick hopes in and provides an equally catchy counter-melody. A counter-melody is a second melody that is lesser than an initial main melody. In most modern pop and rock music you’ll hear counter-melodies from instruments that help to support the vocals. Bands and groups that have multiple singers will often utilize vocal melodies with additional counter-melodies. This isn’t too common in hip hop as this requires multiple voices singing and we typically only have one person singing on a song. Because Kendrick is able to rap on pitch we get a great chorus.
During the chorus, Zacari provided the primary melody and Kendrick the counter. These roles are swapped as we proceed to the refrain. Zacari responds “Love me” to each line that Kendrick spits. I cannot stress enough how well this is executed. The pitches of “Love me” are a bit higher than those rap-sung by Kendrick which helps us to distinguish between the two performers. Yes, they have VERY different vocal timbres as Kendrick has an incredibly unique voice but there is no question about where one melody begins and the other ends with this jump in range. This is also fantastic from a performance perspective. What do rappers do at a concert while a backing track sings the chorus? Nothing that adds to the performance, that’s what. HOWEVER! By becoming a necessary part of the chorus, Kendrick is able to keep the audience engaged. With the melody/counter-melody flip of the refrain we can view Zacari’s “Love me” as a quick sample hit being played by a DJ. Such a smart move. This is partially why I didn’t notate these lines out. I’ve had a pretty exhausting week and I’m not practiced enough (or paid at all) in notation software. So yeah, it’s laziness and a lack of abilities on my part.
I haven’t even talked about the verses yet and we’re already past 850 words whoops. The rhyme scheme for the first verse is derived from the last section of the refrain. I talk a lot about development of using small ideas and fleshing them out quite often in these write-ups and this is a perfect example. Take a tiny rhythmic idea and shift things around. That’s all you need to do! Then the melody changes directions and we get a few more syllables to speed up the movement. Genius.
I’ll jump to the second verse before letting y’all go. What does this song not have that too much modern hip-hop has utilized? A triplet flow. Just kidding, “LOVE.” dips its toes in the second verse. But guess what! These triplets are interesting because there’s a melody to go along with them. AND GUESS WHAT ELSE! The melody progresses in a simple but interesting way! The first several phrases go back and forth between A and F. This is Mi-Do if you’re think in solfége, the same pitches of “Love me” and two notes of the F major pentatonic scale. As “Oh, by the way” the repeated pitches shift to C and A. This Sol-Mi if you’re thinking in solfége and they are also two notes of the F major pentatonic scale. “I’m on the way” shifts the melody again to A and Bb. This Mi-Fa if you think in solfége and I think it’s the first time that Kendrick has included a note that was NOT pentatonic (Zacari has been doing them every now and then). That’s three pitches and we have a verse that doesn’t get boring. Once again, Kendrick takes a simple idea and makes small changes to make something catchy. Again, sorry for the lack of notation. I’m just tired.
This song rips. No doubt about it. If you enjoy this song (you should) I STRONGLY recommend checking out The True Blue. They’re from Michigan and the best. For real. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve listened to “No Answer” and I probably won’t stop anytime soon. Also, I’ll probable be giving recommendations for similar artists in the cases of good songs and better alternatives in the case of terrible ones. Seriously, listen The True Blue.
Let’s check out those charts baby! Blah blah blah Ed Sheeran Post Malone Sam Smith. Nothing new until number 11 with Dua Lipa’s “New Rules”. I haven’t heard any of her stuff yet but I feel like I’ve seen her stuff around for quite awhile. Should I have been listening to her? Guess we’ll find out next week! Adios til then!
