Weekly Billboard Theory — That’s What I Like
I was not impressed the first time I heard Bruno Mars. Or the second time. Or the third. And so on and so forth. Something happened in 2012 that changed everything. Bruno Mars performed at the Grammys. “Why doesn’t he just do this all the time?” I begged. To my surprise, he kinda did. And so on and so forth. He’s come a long way from boring soft radio hits to the post-modern masterpieces that he’s been cranking out. Don’t know what that means? Don’t sweat it, I’ll dive into some musicology this week as we look at his latest banger, “That’s What I Like.”
Bruno Mars
Tempo: 134 BPM
Key: Db Major/Bb Minor (SORTA! I’ll go into this)
Remember how great college was? Ah, those were the days. The reason that I mention the ~glory days~ is because “That’s What I Like” will touch on pretty much every concept that has been discussed so far. Think of it as a midterm because this probably lines up pretty closely with spring break. This song rips so there will be quite a bit to talk about. To make this move a little quicker, I’ll skim over some of the simple aspects that make this song awesome that I have discussed in prior weeks. “That’s What I Like” has a pretty simple but killer bassline. The synths sound great.
The most interesting aspect of this song is the use of harmony. Just as a heads up, I’m going to reduce the chords down quite a bit. Most of them have some sort of suspension (you don’t gotta worry about this) but I’ll be referring to them most often in their root position triad forms. Above you’ll see the chord progression for the majority of the verse and chorus. The most important chord is that Bb dominant seven chord because it points us towards our tonic. However, if we’re solely using the pitches found in the melody we would come to the conclusion that our tonic would either be Db (for a major key) or Bb (for a minor key). So, what does this mean? Similar to “Bad and Boujee,” That’s What I Like” utilizes a mode instead of a simple major or minor scale.
I hate to do this but I gotta throw a ton of vocab at ya. An interval is the space between two pitches. A half step is the smallest interval possible in Western music (literally everything you listen to). If ya play guitar, think of the distance of one fret to the next. If ya don’t, think of the melody to “Jaws” (corny, but effective). A whole step is the second smallest interval possible and is just two half steps stacked on top of each other. Sing “Do Re” like you’re beginning to sing how you think a scale sounds and voila! That’s how a whole step sounds. If you look above, you’ll see how a Db major scale is formed. W’s represent whole steps and H’s are halfsies. All of those pitches are used in the melody of “That’s What I Like” but the chords don’t surround the usual tonic of Db.
The first two measures above are the Db major scale that we just talked about. The latter two measures are a mode. A simple way to think of modes are scales that begin on a different starting pitch. We learned earlier that the chord progression of the song is actually centered around an Eb which is the second note of the Db major scale. I won’t go into too much detail, but since we are centered around the second note we will think of this as Dorian mode.
Part of what makes this song so interesting is that although the chords signal a Dorian mode, the melody does not. You may have actually heard some classic pop/rock songs in Dorian like “Scarborough Fair” or “Eleanor Rigby.” I’m sure you noticed that the melody of “That’s What I Like” really doesn’t sound anything like that. If you listen closely, you might notice that Bruno outlines a Bb minor triad when he sings the lyrics, “That’s What I Like” in each chorus. As a matter of fact, the melody throughout the song surrounds this chord. Would it surprise you if I told you that the Bb minor scale is actually just another mode based off of Db major? BECAUSE IT IS!
The melody clearly is in Bb minor while the functions of the chord point to Eb Dorian. Does that make “That’s What I Like” polytonal like “Bad And Boujee”? Eh, not really. For all intensive purposes, it’s the same key just slightly different focuses, if that makes sense. “Bad and Boujee” picked from two different scales because it utilized the Eb Phrygian mode and the Eb Aeolian mode while “That’s What I Like” all come from the same parent key of Db major. Ultimately, when compared to some of the other hits of the year, this a very refreshing take on the use of a chord progression in a top 40 song.
This chord progression brings up some interesting musicology aspects of this song. If everything so far went over your head, this should be much easier to follow (and thanks for sticking with it so far!). When “24k Magic” first came out, a lot of media outlets were saying the same thing: “It’s super reminiscent of the 80s and 90s blah blah blah.” Which isn’t wrong! But it does leave out A LOT! Those chords found in “That’s What I Like” (particularly in the bridge) can be traced to R&B progressions and are everywhere once you start looking for them. As a matter of fact, the chord progression at around 2:38 is preeeeeetty similar to the tune of one of last year’s best memes: the Running Man Challenge.
So that should support the idea that the album “24k Magic” hearkens back to those times, right? Sort of. If you’re savvy to non-top 40 EDM you’ll probably notice what Bruno has been doing. Plenty of artists have been pulling inspiration from 80’s and 90’s R&B in new and exciting ways. I’m not hating on Bruno in any way because you better believe I’ve almost crashed my car because I was dancing too hard to “That’s What I Like.” But he is certainly an opportunist that capitalizes off of less popular electronic music genres. Remember “Treasure?” Remember how it was lifted almost directly from nu-disco pioneer Breakbot?
Let me emphasize that I’m not hating on Mr. Mars. He’s incredible at what he does and I love the majority of his new music. But as someone who has had a strong passion for electronic (and many other forms of non- mainstream) music, I do find it disheartening when established names receive attention for something that other underpaid artists have pioneered. The flip-side of this coin is that hopefully, people will think, “Dang, I wish there were more songs like this” and then they will go out to find that there are! That’s what I hope for with scenarios like this. Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox.
Looking at the top of the charts and we see some familiar faces. Mr. Sheeran is still top dawg and probably will be followed by Migos because people love being both bad and boujee. Zayn and Swift are still not in love at number three and Bruno holds steady at four. We’ve got a new contender jumping up 51 spots from last week’s 55 with the Chainsmokers’ and Coldplay’s “Something Just Like This.” I haven’t heard it yet but hopefully, it’s not something just like “Closer.” Alright, hasta la vista baby!
