@@skyfall-t8p my buddy he's in principal bassist and a bunch of orchestras in South America had the most insane perfect pitch. I would literally play 10 random notes with both hands on a piano and he would be able to identify them all and tell me which ones were out of tune it was insane
Oh come on. Misogyny??? This has nothing to do with her sex. People just didn't like her style of singing. Why is it that people always jump to conclusions when a woman is criticized? Seems someone is brainwashed by feminist theories. The patriarchy is out to get them. That's ridiculous.
@@Contributron I don't know about that. In an ideal world there wouldn't have been any harassment and still something interesting to discuss. I can't imagine getting dog piled like this, especially when you're this young. She honestly handled it amazingly. But, it is kinda sad that young women especially kinda don't have a safe space online to express themselves, without having to fear brutal dogpiling like this.
I could have excused the backlash from people not too used to dissonance if it was dissonant all the way through but, like, the gal is just adding harmonic spice at some specific points and people have the gall to call it objectively ugly.
@@Kimbieeverytime I hear the sound without the dissonance in a video I have to look up this video to listen to it again because I literally like it better
now I actually kinda like the dissonance and I'm not even saying this is because of my grotesquely large brain and high IQ with an appreciation for advanced harmony
the lesson here is that you should not focus on sounding "correct" but putting such a memorable performance that Adam Neely makes a video because of you
@@AtanoKSi well what sounds correct or right is imho still very subjective when it comes down to music, so best to drop the focus on sounding correct altogether, i guess
The performance wasn't the reason behind the video; the reaction to it was. Neely likes to pretend as if people are being bigots when they criticise people for being 'out of tune', an interpretation that is perfectly natural given the musical background.
0:39 I was literally thinking "wow, I think the last time I heard a harmony like this one was in Yuki Kajiura's work on Tsubasa Chronicles". Kajiura uses it quite a lot in the Tsubasa score, and it really stands out in the choral arrangements. It always has this overwhelming power to it that pulls you in but never lets you settle. Truly one of my favourite scores of all time.
IM ABOUT TO CRY IVE BEEN LISTENING TO DREAMSCAPE FOR YEARS AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OBSESSED WITH IT DUE TO THAT EXACT REASON. IT GAVE ME A FEELING LIKE NO OTHER AND IM SO HAPPY TO FINALLY SEE SOMEONE ELSE MENTION IT OUT IN THE OPEN LIKE THIS
It cannot be stressed enough that she was harassed for this. That is the takeaway here, that people will relentlessly attack you for doing what you love and you will often be powerless to stop them.
Just because she was harassed doesn't mean we all need to enjoy her harmonization though. I think it's almost always worth keeping harsh opinions to oneself. But let's not be naive... the internet doesn't agree. Face-to-face, people whose songs (or art, poetry, etc.) I witness are probably connected to me socially. If I create tension with them, I experience tension myself. The internet isn't like this - we can create tension with random strangers and walk away from it scot-free. Everyone ought to know this. The people of the internet do not love me or care about me. They have no stake in my wellbeing. They are not incentivized to keep things civil or friendly. They are at liberty to disclose harsh opinions the likes of which they would not share in a real-world encounter. Perhaps they dislike having to repress their tongue in reality, and find relief using the internet as an outlet for their harsh opinions. It's no wonder internet encounters are often highly distinct from face-to-face encounters. We can cast our own severe judgement at those who are harsh online, but I think this is often a purely self-serving activity. It's no wonder the internet is the way it is. The people who make it this way are not accountable, nor can we rehabilitate them. They don't care about our judgement, or they don't notice it, or they're not smart enough to understand it, or they relish the excitement of it, or they relish the attention, or they relish the opportunity to emotionally impact yet another stranger. Those whose message here resembles "people should stop being mean online" - I wonder if you are seriously assessing (or invested in) the effect that your action here has on achieving your desired outcome? I'd like for you all to check out adam neely's other video here: ua-cam.com/video/k3iDKsjSiIQ/v-deo.html - the section I'm interested in starts at 2:56 mark, where adam is asked his opinion on a chord progression. At 4:37, he says "it sounds like a mistake to me". At 5:49 he says *make whatever artistic decisions you would like but an audience is going to listen to them with the expectations that come from genre and style* - this leaves me wondering why he seems reluctant, in this video, to simply accept that an audience rejected a decision based on their expectations. Lastly I want to make it absolutely clear: it saddens me that people treat each other so harshly on the internet (or anywhere).
That harmony is haunting, it really fits the tone of the song. She's honestly just 1 or 2 db too loud and otherwise that dissonance would sit really well
Best of all, I'm pretty sure TikTok allows for "mixing" of audio... all this would've taken for a frankly perfect duet is a reupload with her volume slider like, 5-10% down lol
Agreed. When I first heard it, it threw me off because of the sudden loudness of the audio- especially when I saw Tiktoks using the cover that, at the time, I didn't know about and wasn't expecting to hear. I do like it, but yeah, I do think it would be better if the volume was lowered.
i loved the harmonization when i first heard it here hahah. the “sounds like they’re singing to each other” is so true. it reminds me of that climax in a musical or something where the lovers are on two different wavelengths and can’t sing a “proper” harmonization but it’s emotional and they’re trying so hard to sing with one another but they’re too dissonant, they aren’t “perfect”. like i can see the entire scene play out and how much it would make me cry like a little baby because of how uncomfortable but beautiful it can sound like.
The harmony she added adds this kind of...finality to it, if that makes any sense? Like, just the melody sounds bittersweet, but with that particular harmony it really does feel like the world's caving in. I personally really really like it.
Yes, this is just how I felt when I heard it. I don't know a lot about music or anything, but her harmony adds such an edge of desperation to the gentle sadness of the song. I love that in places fiftyshadesofswag is overtaking the original. It feels like two people reaching out to each other, the original is delicate longing, while the harmony is anguished and determined, and at "locks in" they reach each other and come together.
Totally agree, I don't love dissonance in everything, but on a song about the world falling apart and love ending it suits it perfectly to realize in music form the emotions and make you resonate with them
Adam: "The lesson we can take from this..." Me: "Don't harass people?" Adam: "Western-European polyphonic aesthetics are being relentlessly upheld as what is good." Me: "Ah..yes..of course."
Yeah. While I don't disagree with any of the things that Adam says in this video, I think his message is muddled, and that he places some of the most importance on some of the least important aspects of this situation.
That’s sadly mostly true, but we need to remember that not all young people are like that. I would consider myself a young person and love dissonance and harshness in music.
It’s my fundamental issue with TikTok as a platform and on a similar page, social media in general. The whole idea of a trend on TikTok just sees people copying and repeating the same idea over and over, rarely with any actual innovation or change to it. Like how many times do you see the same video but with someone else’s face mouthing the words over and over. Trends can insight creativity, but it’s the least creative ones that don’t change anything in the trend that tend to do the best.
It’s quite the opposite, actually. Nowadays, it’s popular to be non-conforming. In fact, it seems that everyone has this mentality that everyone else is conforming and they’re somehow the special one. But if everyone’s special, then no one is.
That's such a boomer thing to say and not really true anyway. It can be said the same about adults. Maybe the lesson from this is that there's a huge work to do with kids on harrassement, not stupid generalizations.
@@bunsenn5064 i have to disagree. Although my perspective is narrow, at my school at least, those who appear to believe they are the 'special one' are ridiculed for thinking they're the 'main character'. At my school, it's narcissistic to think you're special, cringey to act different, but funny to act different if you do so ironically. There ARE plenty of non-conformers, but few who are half as respected by their peers as those who do conform. Conformers and non-conformers also rarely mix.
Conclusion: She harmonized in a way that was bold and stuck out, and it worked out like the Chinese proverb, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
@@mito._ Obvious but wrong. I have about as much music training as you can get, and I think her harmonization sounds awesome, playing off tradition but still sounding fresh and audacious.
@@stephen6691 I think your opinion on the matter is no more valid than anyone else's. But the fact that you think your opinion makes you more "right" than others seems to indicate you don't understand what opinions are. I don't have to like pineapple on pizza, but I can agree that it's a valid topping. Similarly, the choice of harmonization here isn't "wrong" but it does make my stomach hurt. So yeah.
@Hooman Being That's the thing about reinforcing racial hierarchy. You don't have to do it on purpose to do it. It's all around us and we're indoctrinated into it. A fish doesn't know what water is.
The brilliant musician who taught me improv singing said that any note, confidently sung, is part of the chord. It may be an unexpected chord, but that doesn't matter.
i learned something close to that from my old guitar teacher and its if you play the "wrong note" intentionally they will think its intentional and mixed with adamy neely's repetition legitimizes works pretty well
Yeah, it sounds super powerful. My only "issue" is the "lie with" part, it sounds a little off to me, but I like the rest a lot. Tbh, I like it all, but the "lie with" part the least, although it's growing on me whenever I hear it. ~~Although the way she moves her mouth as she's singing looks funny~~
@@konstant_ly for me it's just when she sings "that I'', it really sounds like she's out of tune (not because it's dissonance, it really is pitchy). Also, her voice is too loud and too sharp so it doesn't blend well
It's a very interesting harmony imo. It's sung with excellent pitch, so the listener's ear won't think it's just a note accidentally sung a bit sharp. The major third over the root note is "happy" sounding, while the minor third is "sad" or "dark" sounding. Combining them together (with a guest appearance by the major 7th over the root) makes this comforting yet deeply unsettling sound.
The “lie with” part sounds not so good but the “as the atom bomb locks in” part just wow. The dissonance made it sounds like the song was being ripped apart, in such a crazy emotional contextual way . Its like song is being ripped apart as the world caves in (roll credits, i said the thing)
That's exactly what I was thinking and I completely agree with the video that she isn't singing in the same style as the cover artist is. Her voice is more coarse, and while on its own I think it holds intense emotion, once combined it gives this very disjointed feeling. In the second verse her singing with the cover aligns and I think shows what the dissonant cord can really bring to the table.
I remember my choir teacher in high school, when teaching us our harmonies with each other, called any written dissonance "crunchy". And so, to this day, I hear this type of stuff and go "Ooo, that's *cronchy* ". I was also in one of the sections that the harmony was typically more dissonant in, so I got to hear it for myself. Not saying that my musical palette is better than anyone else's or anything. I just like the *cronch*
Well, she ain't living her life, she uploaded it to the internet. When you put something out in the public, you better expect at least a little negative feedback, especially if you're doing something against the cultural norms or whatever.
@@Gabe-ch2ol cause most of metal riffs are played moving the same power chord (1, 5, sometimes 8) shape around the fretboard and basically building a single voice playing parallel fifths and octaves. But rhis is okay cause those rules exist to emphasize voice independence, which is not what metal is looking for. Metal wants just one huge voice, because of that often the guitar is doubled an octave below by the bass and we have four line playing the same voice. Also the kick scans rhe rhythm of this voice.
That's part of the point, though. The rule is there because it sounds good, but metal was a genre born out of rebellion and rule-breaking. Parallel 5ths / octaves? Naked tritones? Check. Part of the in-your-face aggression is due to this rule breaking. It sounds harsh instead of sweet, but that's the point. In a way, the existence of that rule helped inform metal because you can't break the rules if there's no rule to break. This is also why it's important to learn the rules, so when you break them it's intentional and you know why you're doing it. Despite Adam's recent vendetta against western music theory, I doubt he would choose to ignore it if he could do it all over again. It's too useful of a system, even if you choose to subvert it.
@@bluesdealer I think it's more appropriate to analyze para5s in metal as as "line independence isn't completely necessary" than making the jump to "it's specifically because punk wanted to break the rules." There are plenty of theory rules that when you break em they just sound awful anywhere (horror soundtracks the exception)
Here in Iceland we have a traditional way of singing called tvísöngur, where melodies are harmonized using parallel fifths. We were so isolated that we missed the memo that parallel fifths were bad. I am so used to singing these traditional songs that harmonizing in parallel fifths does not at all sound odd to me. If you are interested I recommend the song, Ísland farsældar frón
PSA to all Adam Neely fans who are on tik tok: If you ever hear anything on tik tok that takes any ounce of music theory to explain, or has any sort of following by people who know stuff about music theory, Adam Neely WILL make a video about it, and that is a proven fact, so just sit tight whenever you come across something new
This explains why with the millions of hours of Tiktok footage, Adam has done 2 or 3 20 minute videos on it, tells a lot about the complexity and music theory on Tiktok XD
"Like they're singing TO each other." Yes! It sounds like a chaotic love duet from something dark and unsettling. Almost like a Sondheim duet turned up to 13. They're saying the same words, but somehow inflecting the sentiment differently, and something is just *off* about it.
It reminds me of those relationships when partners think they're on the same page but neither realizes yet that they're saying the same things but meaning something different- it's kind of an eerie subtle meaning
i immediatly thought of a relationship dynamic in which one girl is soft and delicate and the other is dark and brooding. to me it definitely sounded like they were addressing each other. it definitely has that "beautifully tragic" sound
Can we take a second to appreciate how cool the moment is when she reaches up to a unison G with the first singer, then stays on it until resolving it down as a traditional suspension? It's a pretty sophisticated harmonization that works well with the tune, and stays away from boring parallel 3rds. Dare I say, if you change the backing track so that there isn't that E/Eb clash, this would be a plausible Beatles vocal harmony.
It's so crazy that someone can think the harmony "sounds bad" and therefore believe that the harmony doesn't deserve to exist, as if they themselves are the gatekeeper of all music. Social media is rotting all our brains.
The intention of the musician matters. When they intend to create a dissonant harmonization, the work makes sense. When they're dissonant and intended to sound consonant, they need ear training.
Bulgarian folk music is so powerful and severely underrated, I recommend the mystery of the Bulgarian voices for some kickass traditional ensembles that are pretty unique to the region
LES GOOO MY COUNTRY IS ACTUALLY GETTING RECOGNIZED Най-накрая някой говори за нас, честно казано на мен не ми харесва толкова българския ни фолклор, на разбирам защо хората го харесват!
when she first enters the harmony, i cringe a bit, but once she starts getting into it i LOVE IT- so much so the original tik tok feels strange without her voice in it? a rollercoaster with every listen i think its great
Yeah, when she gets to "atom bomb" it sounds great, idk what it is about the first part that is hard to listen to. Maybe she's singing a bit harshly? The last part is hauntingly dissonant in a cool way.
@@esined2386 not sure if u meant me but i personally dont know anything about keys/notes/whatever u call it so i have no idea how that would sound :( but "lie with" is the only part that sounds pretty bad imo so maybe it would make the whole thing go together better? less of a clash?
I got no idea why but the "bomb locks in" part of the harmony brings a tear to my eye, sounds so beautiful and sad at the same time. This shit is spicy in the best way possible i dont understand why people would bully someone over this wtf
Probably because it’s not “haunting” in a subtle way but sounds like it’s trying to achieve that effect in a very obvious and ham-fisted way. Of course nobody deserves to be bullied, of course dissonance can lead to beautiful music, of course we should praise people who strive to make art… but this tiktok was nothing special and I found it annoying after the third listen. I’ll defend the girl for being brave enough to put herself out there, but not for making good music.
@@charliesaint I don't think "you're not very popular" is an exhortation you can reasonably make after writing a whole paragraph about how a Tiktoker's harmony wasn't subtle enough for you.
i think that her harmonies, especially during "atom bomb locks in," were fantastic i agree with the point that her vowels are very wide and that she's overwhelming the main melody, but the harmonies themselves are not the problem
meanwhile metal can't get ENOUGH of it minor seconds, sharp 7ths, diminished fifths, etc. I've seen metal people add "dissonance layers" on top of their riffs as well; so woo!
I’m so shocked that people are upset over harmony. The harmony she sang was such a standard cadence used in musical theater it sounded completely natural to me.
In the immortal words of George Carlin: "Imagine how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." You shouldn't be shocked by idiots on the internet anymore, basically.
@@bradjtx That's not really comparable though, by using grey you can paint very precise values and the contrast just looks way clearer than by using white and light yellow. In fact, it is a very common digital art technique to paint in only grayscale and then put in the colors when you're finished setting the values, it's not unusual.
the "it's you that i lie with" part sounded off to my ear(that doesn't mean i think it Is its just not what im accustomed to) but hearing the "as the atom bomb locks in" and how dark and amazing that sounds, it is very obvious that no matter how her harmony sounds to anyone's ears it's _what she meant to do._ and people who think it's Wrong confuse me quite a bit
Hard agree! Specifically “bomb locks in” for me sounds SO beautiful, and I think if she’d just sung a bit quieter on the first half of the harmony it would sound just as good- it’s the overwhelming of the melody there that I find unpleasant, not her harmony.
Harassment online is complicated, because for the harassers it feels just as a single joke or opinion thrown away. It feels a lot worse for the harassed because it's coming from a ton of people at once. That's the problem with the internet, everything is amplified.
Well when your stew brain only knows 4 chords from hearing the same pop song on the radio 6 times a minute and not knowing anything about what youre listening to. I kinda get that when they hear something creative and not entirely polished autotuned and watered down that it might sound "bad" to them.
The dissonance makes really enhances the song’s bittersweetness. It’s a song about romance, saying that the singer will stay with their love until the end, but it also talks about atom bombs and armageddon. This clashing of themes, makes the dissonance really fit the song. I absolutely love it.
It’s important to remember that most TikTok users are children, and children have a tendency to be mean and under-educated. I hope that poor girl sees this video so she knows the Internet isn’t all hate
I agree, but you see them a lot UA-cam too. Like the comments from twosetviolin's fanbase on any video with violin(played in an "unconventional" or historic manner) and over 10,000 views.
@@starsocks4736 have you spent time with children lol??? Kids can be absolute jerks because they haven't developed the emotional maturity to have appropriate levels of response to things. If they don't like something isn't the worst thing ever. If a person is bad, they're the worst person ever. They haven't yet learned to think "I don't like that but it's not a big deal."
That's bullshit. Children are definitely not the majority of TikTok, nor solely the reason of it's toxicity. I've seen much of said toxicity in every platform over the years, specially UA-cam. That's just people being assholes
I feel like a lot of people tend to conflate "I don't like it" with "it's inherently bad"... especially when talking about the arts. :( Personally, I really enjoy unexpected or unusual musical structures - and this video was no exception!
The issue is that most people no longer receive much of any music education, so they assume she is singing it WRONG because it sounds unlike the music they'd be exposed to (pop or some other billboard popular genre). You'd need to know at least the basics of music theory to know that dissonance is done intentionally to create a sense of depth or tension. If we want people to understand art, we need to make it accessible for everyone first.
@@poralitical "no longer receive musical education"...? I think you'll find that more people are educated in music than ever before. While I agree with your statement, you seem to be, purposefully or not, exuding big boomer "back in the day people were musically literate" energy.
There's a difference between "I don't like it," and "It sounds bad." People still eat pineapple on pizza. Doesn't make it a bad topping. Just a topping many pizza consumers don't enjoy.
The harmony she sings for the lyrics "locks in" literally sends shivers up my spine. I'm a musician that loves dissonance, so maybe that's why but I think it's way better and more exciting than any of the other harmony lines I've heard, and those are the notes my brain reaches for now anytime I hear that song
it is far, FAR more interesting and exciting than anyone posting their corrections(unless it's satirical; those are hot shit too(i am using hot shit to mean good here*)). the whole thing is gorgeous but that "locks in" dissonance? literal goosebumps almost every time for me.
@@dominikweber4305 even though it's no longer parallel fifths it feels as if it hits harder because of the dissonance before ,, deffo wouldn't get the shivers if it was 6ths throughout for me at least
@@cheesecakelasagna Well, I am not exactly an expert myself, but Schoenberg was a German composer who was one of the first to experiment with using the 12-tone technique. It meant that, in the piece, all 12 notes the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another to prevent the emphasis of any one note. The dissonance that came along in his pieces also made his music sound quite 'unusual', in a sense. An example of this would be his 3 Piano Pieces Op. 11. It is an acquired taste, but if I was to recommend any of his music, it would probably be his violin concerto or verklärte nacht.
@@dzordzszs iirc that's enforced in Schoenberg's technique specifically by basically writing out multiple permutations of the 12 equal tempered notes. So when taking chunks of 12, every pitch will be included exactly once. I assume the joke is how atrocious this usually sounds to many.
Welcome to Gen Z on social media. This is said as someone from Gen Z, social media is fucking unbearable any time somebody makes something that could even be perceived as a mistake.
@@blarghinatelazer9394 It only seems like Gen Z because those are the people that mainly use tik tok. Seriously, go to any music video popular with any other generation on youtube and you will find smug people being unbearable. It's how a lot of people act behind the protection of their computer/phone screens. Human nature transcends arbitrary generations.
Video is two years old, I know. But I've gotta say, That harmony that she came up with is actually so f-ing sick dude, the dissonance to the resolution is actually the sickest thing I've heard in a while. My favorite composer is Shostakovich, I should probably mention LOL dissonance is sick guys, i promise LOL
throwing out a like for Shostakovich love I can’t quite fully put my finger on which song, but the dissonance makes me think of various 90’s bands like Faith No More and Mushroomhead who definitely played around with weird intervals and arrangements. it sounds lifted right off the Angel Dust album
Honestly, I prefer the way that she sang it. It's definitely not as "pretty", but I feel like it is more haunting, and something that comes from deep in the soul. Definitely a refreshing sound to what we constantly hear!
I strongly agree. I think the harmony she added made the song feel nostalgic in a bittersweet way, like it makes me physically feel excited and also sad somehow
My HS all girls choir did that Bulgarian song and hearing it live was unlike anything else so amazing and the last chord was screamed so perfectly it sounded fantastic
@@dwsel I queued up that song because of being reminded the same way! I should look up comparisons of Bulgarian and Japanese traditional music. (Or… isn’t it a traditional Chinese piece actually?)
@@dwsel Yoko Kanno, the composer of Ghost In The Shell's soundtrack, has worked with a Bulgarian choir, Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria, on many albums! They are a fan of Bulgarian folk music, and have mentioned it was the inspiration for Making of A Cyborg. If you want to hear another one of their compositions the t sounds similar, look up "Atomic Bird" by Yoko Kanno.
@@dwselFrom the GITS Fandom: "Kenji Kawai originally wanted to use Bulgarian folk singers, but was unable to find any, so he relied on the Japanese folk song choir he used earlier in the Ranma 1/2 anime. The song uses an ancient form of the Japanese language mixed with Bulgarian harmony and traditional Japanese notes."
Dissonant harmonies are super hard to sing, your voice just wants to slide towards a more logical note, but if you can do it strong and brave, it can be wonderful.
@@noahmay7708 IF the reason they piled on her is misogyny then yes, that is what he say. Misogyny is real, so for example, if they called her the c word clearly that is a misogynistic attack, or they say stuff like "only a woman" etc. He could have say "she was insulted and degraded including misogynistic attacks" that will be different and I guess (based on my experience) correct. The examples he quote were from people telling her that her art was ugly, and that happens to men and women, and if one put his art online it comes with the territory. I agree that not pushing the like button is more than enough but one know how it goes:haters gonna hate.
@@jaimeduncan6167 I'm pretty sure he just meant misogyny played a role in people's hatred of her singing because for some people that'd be like the cherry on the top, for instance thinking she isn't as attractive as the girl on the right and/or her singing voice isn't as elegant as the girl on the right and/or her singing came off as obnoxious instead of attractive and other misogynistic reasons like those, and those misogynistic reasons further justify hatred towards her singing.
I love the "wrong" version so much. I would probably mix the volumes a bit differently, sure, but the notes are fantastic, and there is just so much emotion in this. At the end, the way she climbs up to that G unison and holds that harmony until after the upper note drops... oh... so good.
I think you're right, a little balancing could go a long way and make this sound perfect. The dissonance makes a lot of sense when talking about atom bombs lol, I think it's grea
She had an idea for a harmony, recorded it on her phone, and put it on TikTok. People reacted like Apple pushed this version to all their phones. Damn, relax.
@Hacking On The Spectrum That's not true though. Racism hasn't always existed because the concept of race hasn't always existed. Human nature is more complicated than "us vs. them" and saying otherwise is simplistic and ignorant; mutual aid is a huge part of human existence, and I'd even argue it's much more important to our nature. Systematic oppression and cruelty exist because of systems and material condition, not because "humans are born evil." The hobbesian notion of innate human cruelty is as ridiculous today as it was during his lifetime.
@@IvanSN Prejudice against those who differ in appearance is human nature. Tons of research bears this out. Racism is just one example of this prejudice, and it existed long before the concept of race was codified. Those who look, sound, or act different are foreign and dangerous. Those who look, act, and sound familiar are safe. It's an innate human trait, and probably one that had survival advantages in the past.
@@sophielatterno6364 Prejudice is innately a human quality, but it doesn't innately define humans. We are more than capable of overcoming our prejudices
3 years ago i remember genuinely disliking her performance but after joining choir and honestly falling in love with music this song just hits me in a new way
"correct" anything in music is pretty hard to listen to people talk about. Correct for the song maybe, correct for a specific genre maybe, correct overall? Never.
its an empty phrase because harmony is not a singular answer. this is phrase is of course used to describe the intervals that sounds better according to the maker. harmony is an opinion not a fact. and in my opinion it sounds pretty good the way it is.
I think the problem is that they're both near the same volume. Instead of the voices being homophonic, it's like 2 different pieces of monophonic clashing. It's not going with the melody, it's fighting it. If the volume was just a bit lower, I think it would've worked.
its a beautiful harmony, especially with the release at the end. for me why the beginning sounded off was because of her voice (the vowels) clashing with the other’s, not necessarily the notes.
I’m slowly starting to learn a modest amount of music theory, and one of the biggest things I’ve learned so far, is that even though there are chords, notes, and intervals that sound “correct” with each other, they are merely suggestions based on what we are used to hearing. There’s no such thing as “wrong music” as extreme dissonance can be beautiful with extreme resolution, it’s all about the context that music is written within. It’s one of the reasons I love jazz fusion metal/rock. It takes sounds I’m familiar with because of the rock music I grew up with, but throws in very colorful jazz chords and melodies that really push the boundaries of what sounds “proper” to most.
I grew up listening to a lot of hardcore rap as a teenager in the 90s, and tons of jungle and techno. Those genres are absolutely full of widespread unorthodox chords/harmonies/dissonances, samples and synths thrown together that are dissonant but create beautiful timbres, etc etc. I genuinely think it's mostly just pop fans who are so narrow minded they can't accept anything outside their small drawer of "acceptable" possibilities in music.
This is something that I think is seen by musicians that find their own way with music. I don't choose a chord progression because of how it fits into a system but simply because of how it feels to me as the artist - when you don't understand the systems you've got nothing else to go by. I found out much later that I really like working in minor chords - but that's not because there's anything special about minor chords - they're just the harmonies and progressions that I personally respond to - nostalgia especially is an element I love in my music and that association is purely learnt, and wouldn't neccessarily translate across cultures. It's fascinating really - like flavours on a palette these things can be totally subjective, and yet what works in our ears can seem so concrete that it must be universally 'correct'.
@@saiearth I'm not sure what technically counts as jazz fusion, but Snarky Puppy, Cinematic Orchestra, Jazztronic spring to mind. If you're after metal/rock with jazz influences then Intronaut are a great band.
I very strongly dislike anyone capable of saying 'the correct harmony' with a straight face. You'll limit yourself creatively and spread misinformation and prejudice with that attitude.
I can sometimes understand the phrase when they're referring to the specific harmony used by the recording artist who wrote the song. Even then though... leave room for artistic freedom.
one of the first things I learned in high school music class was that you can’t label music as objectively bad and if you dislike it it’s important to know why. This is such an informative video and I love how you broke down the theory in very understandable ways!!
The first time I heard the harmony I didn't really like it very much. Nowadays whenever I hear the cover I can't help but hum it along to it. To me as someone who mainly listens to pop music, I definitely couldn't appreciate it at the start, but it's also interesting and stands out a lot. I like it. Thank you for breaking the reasons down, it's great to understand why I felt that way.
there are, in my honest opinion, no "truly correct" harmonies. look at how many different spins we've put on jazz. on music as a whole!! Music is an extension of the soul. That soul will always have it's own scars and bruises. These "scars and bruises" have made music what it is today.
You can say that, but you are choosing to redefine harmony then. The reason there are dissonances is because they “beat” and physically in an air moving way stand opposite to harmony which …well harmonize. Harmonizing in a physical sense is when the vibrations’ crests and troughs line up with each other and do not create a “beat”. That is my definition of harmony and dissonance.
nah, it´s a cultural thing. People in Indonesia loves "beating" notes, the instruments are tuned in a way that they have dissonances less than 1/4 of a tone, so the people hear the "beats" between two notes when 2 musicians play at the same time. And of course their scales are different (the same happens with Arab or Turkish music and the maqam system. For westerns ears it sound "out of tune")
Man I really like the comment about them sounding like they were singing to each other. I imagined it as higher melody being sax and home girls voice as trombone (my inst) and that's EXACTLY how what I would have went for in a duet. So rich 🥰
Me either, but not due to jazz. It was the dissonance and release. The dissonance increases, then partially resolves at the middle of the phrase--keeping that long note from feeling like the end--and then resolves completely at the actual end of the phrase.
honestly, in the "locks in" part, the dissonance actually sounded great! The thing that makes the harmony of the girl initially "unaesthetic" is the difference in texture or "timbre" and loudness or "dynamics" in their voices. If the girl on the left matched the soft flowing timbre of the girl and decided to town down a bit, her duet might sound better than the her original duet. Choir also do dissonance and it is honestly hard to master. The dynamics and timbre of every member will have a significant effect because of the clashing voices.
"The dynamics and timbre of every member will have a significant effect because of the clashing voices." Absolutely!! Something I wouldn't know if I weren't in choir myself, so I wonder if many people know this. When I was in choir, before a concert we would spend a day of practice just going through our songs with our director rearranging us to hit that magic combination of voice placement, and avoid the odd clashes that come from natural vocal timbres matching/not. All of us could hear it when our director would rearrange and test voices, trying out one combination, shuddering when it was just no, and then getting chills when placement of voices was _just right_ . We then remembered where we were for the concert day and literally would rearrange before any song that required it. Clashing vocal timbre can make a perfectly practiced and executed song by each individual sound just not quite right, in spite of doing everything right.
@@mrahzzz Whooa!! That’s cool! I was actually a member of my high school choir before and I remember on my last year, our regular trainer went abroad so we were not able to play a madrigal piece which she typically prepares for us. Instead, our school made a bold decision to let a rather musically inclined student to prepare the piece that we would be playing. He immediately informed us that our piece uses a lot of dissonance, so it might be difficult, and damn, he is right. Day before the event we were still practicing the piece, and a lot of our members are still having a hard time to adjust. It is so hard for it to blend and make sense lol, especially because some members are doing what the tiktok girl was doing where they’re not matching the timbre and dynamics of the group. And since we did not have our trainer, we basically got screwed in the event. but at least, we were second to the last lol.
Dude that harmony sounds awesome tiktok just sucks at appreciating anything creatively unique. The dissonance fits the song so well too as it creates a haunting vibe that complements theme of the song perfectly, the end of the world Edit: I'm also obsessed with the Bulgarian womens choirs so maybe this is just to my taste
Even if the harmony doesn't match there is absolutely no reason to harass someone for a harmless tik-tok duet... I even liked it even if it might not be "a fitting harmony"
Right? Like she could have been pitchy, messed up the lyrics, and farted at the end and I'd still say your a dick to harass a stranger over a harmless tiktok
its so weird because reverb/dissonant remixes are HUGE on tiktok, its why the video went viral in the first place (it resonated with most users who got it shared on their FYP). The people flooding the comments with hate were just honestly jealous babies. I'm glad Neely decided to make a video on this
Really interesting stuff here. Love music theory. The funny part is that this video was recommended to me because im addicted to Bulgarian Folk music/ chants. Absolutely love the minor notes they use and half steps. I recently caught some diminished dissonance too!
@Quantum Passport Fux solidified counterpoint as a complete system of melodic harmony, seperating them into distinct species. It's like the tutorial level at the start of the game but some people sadly never get past the tutorial and treat it like the whole game.
To be fair all of europe has a quite diverse sound. From bulgarian like in the video. To hungarian. Greek. Spanish. Just a whole lot of sounds. I think a "germanic" sound is what most westerners think sounds good
"western European polyphonic aesthetics are being relentlessly upheld as what is 'good' or 'correct' on social media" ** every tiktok user has left the chat
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer nah, just they're unintentionally holding on to what was enforced thousands of years ago. Hes just theorizing anyway, because none of those people who say it's bad can even say why anhway
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer it's not "bad" because it's bad, it's "bad" because it doesn't conform to rules that people have grown up with and had their tastes shaped by. And when they hear something that steps outside of that, instead of going "oh cool" or "oh weird" they act like she's in the wrong, that the music is objectively Incorrect the broader point is that some white european dudes hundreds of years ago decided what was correct/good and what wasn't, and their rules are still embedded in musical culture today. To the point where people with or without theory knowledge hanging out on tiktok are rejecting anything that doesn't follow those rules or fit with that style, all being the music police
Man, you're my rockstar of music theory. I love the complexity of the analysis that you propose. Not just dropping a rule or a particular personal opinion. That's some top tier harmony/counterpoint class you gave us here. Me, as an enthusiast of vocal harmony and counterpoint since I studied that at the university, I feel really grateful for this content, THANK YOU! You should teach at a music university.
"it's easy to say that something sounds bad" "but harder to come up with a justification why you feel it sounds bad" "and harder still to figure out why you selected that particular justification to confirm your own biases." Damn that's a good quote, Adam!
@@menteencoma here's the thing tho: just because YOU dislike it, doesn't mean it's universally bad. That's what he was getting at mostly. I find a lot of modern rap to be bad, but that doesn't mean the rap industry is completely bad. Get it?
And this, my friends, is why you always ask for gut reactions when getting feedback from folks! Most non artists (and sometimes even artists) will not know what the problem with a particular piece of music is, and this occurs everywhere! Edit: spelling
@@menteencoma you are also allowed to keep your opinion to yourself, and encouraged to, if you can't keep it to yourself, keep it civilized. That's the point of this entire video. A response to uncivilized attack on the way she decided to sing in ''duet''.
"girl who passed music theatre classes with 100% here" "just listen to some classical" Yep that's the way to get back at people for alienating a certain musical concept, well done.
I mean, there definitely is a truth in listening to more complex music and thus appreciating certain musical concepts that aren’t heard in most western pop music, wether that is in classical music or something else more complex. But like, she didn’t have to be so smug about it yyou know
@@iemand2612 yes I do know, that's why I made the comment. I love classical music, it's the only genre of music I listen to (bar one or two bands). I just hated everything about that girls presentation of it - as a reason to claim intellectual superiority.
As a girl who also typically gets 100% in music class, i very much agree that classical music, a genre of music defined by its emphasis of beauty, structure and balance, loved filling it's music with major 7ths, tritones and just general dissonant chords. Sarcasm aside, the girl literally had the whole genre of Jazz right in front of her, and decided to go with classical because it probably made her sound smarter :/
...and it comes full circle. Original person does something and gets shit on, so someone else comes to shit on them, and now here we are shitting on them. Isn't life beautiful?
For some reason, every time I hear a sound, melody, rhythm or music that I makes me feel uncomfortable, far from staying away from it, for some reason I get stuck to it. It bugs me, but the curiosity of _why_ it bugs me gets me so engaged. When I finally find out why, I usually end up liking it.
Same, I think it's mostly because we are attracted by the unknown, since we are used to certain rhytmical and melodical patterns used in popular music everything that doesn't respect them sounds "new" (or at least, my brain works like that)
Let's see if that still applies with these: ua-cam.com/video/1D3dr4O9Xu0/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/eT4lErdaolQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/gRlTbiXF8GI/v-deo.html&t ua-cam.com/video/iuZHrENKL3w/v-deo.html
This is a really old video, but I feel like a good part of it for me isn't the dissonance itself, but the mixing (or lack thereof). Because it's a tiktok duet, and not an actual mixed piece of music, her harmony overpowers the original in a way that really emphasizes that dissonance in a way that isn't very flattering to the sound.
Great point. I've seen another video with someone singing the same dissonant harmony, but it wasn't as loud as it was in the original. The quieter one was far nicer on the ears. Goes to show how important production and mixing is.
This is the type of stuff that discourages me as a beginner singer, and as both someone who enjoyed the dissonance. If someone can get bullied for creating such a beautiful harmony, I could just imagine the bullying I will get lol.
You gotta make art for your own enjoyment and fulfillment, first and foremost. If you’re enjoying it and improving, an unreceptive audience can’t stop you! :)
Are you making music that you like, or music that others will like? Metal and punk were built as an underground genre of rebellion against popular opinion, and largely use dissonance; now they're popular. Keep going.
Man this is what I hate about social media. Nobody’s allowed to be bad at something, nobody’s allowed to try new things that don’t work out. It’s suffocating.
@@NutyRiver I’ve gone from posting all my WIPs to only posting the stuff I really like, once I’ve sat on them for a while so I can be sure I really want to and it’s not just the rush of finishing.
Not to forget the song is literally about spending the last moments of your existence with your lover as the world ends because of nuclear war, that tension and release is exactly what this song needs, that depression of being certain that it'll all end but that passion and love for dying with the one you love.
Don't keep reading if you don't want to be cursed with knowledge... The song was originally written to be about Theresa May and Donald Trump. He's later tweeted that the song is no longer about them. Quote from Genius: "Maltese said in an interview with Northern Transmissions that the story was that of Theresa May and Donald Trump sharing a night of passion before the coming apocalypse. Maltese stated: Hopefully it comes across romantic, sexy, but also sinister and stupid. It goes without saying but everything’s a bit sinister and stupid in 2017."
I’ll tell you this…when I heard that harmony it hit me right in the feels…I tear up everytime. It’s perfect for the context of the song. And isn’t that the point of music? To give us all the feels. It was so good that two years later I’ve landed here searching for it
The first time I heard it I thought "ooh crunchy" couldn't tell you if I liked it. By the third or fourth exposure it sounded great. Almost like repetition legitimises. And context is important.
As someone who grew up on jazz with it's much more forgiving approach to dissonance and reharm, the 'wrong' version of this harmony is just so delicious and evocative to me. A love song at the end of the world seems so appropriate for dissonance.
I like the “wrong” version too, but not because it's jazz-like. I'm actually not that much into jazz because the dissonances often sound arbitrary and lose their impact when the ensemble blends them together to a “good sound”, but in that video it's precisely the stark, unpolished nature of the fifths harmony that makes it really powerful IMO.
@@dopaminecloud i think he means a lot of times there is no reason for so much crunch in chords except for the fact that its jazz and you feel obligated to.
That E on the "lie" is the best bit in that harmony, I can't get enough of it, gives me shivers, the way it descends in to the D on "with" is just so satisfying.
Get CuriosityStream AND Nebula for less than $15 per year (26% off!)
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Do you have relative or perfect pitch?
@@skyfall-t8p my buddy he's in principal bassist and a bunch of orchestras in South America had the most insane perfect pitch. I would literally play 10 random notes with both hands on a piano and he would be able to identify them all and tell me which ones were out of tune it was insane
Oh come on. Misogyny??? This has nothing to do with her sex. People just didn't like her style of singing. Why is it that people always jump to conclusions when a woman is criticized? Seems someone is brainwashed by feminist theories. The patriarchy is out to get them. That's ridiculous.
@@EbonyPope Agreed, he just put it in there for no reason
Interesting intonation in your Segway to nebula
i miss choir because singing dissonant harmonies always felt so powerful. you could literally feel the sound in your whole body
Eric Whitacre?
And us Bassist not knowing what part are we singing 😵
i loved it too, id have to hold back tears sometimes lol
ABSOLUTELY
Especially as a base you can feel the shift and it's fucking awesome. Ended up dropping chior but even now I really appreciate a lot of this stuff
imagine getting bullied all over tiktok but then Adam Neely makes a video about your harmony
along with 100 other people
Divine retribution
Makes it all worth it
The internet works in mysterious ways
@@Contributron I don't know about that. In an ideal world there wouldn't have been any harassment and still something interesting to discuss.
I can't imagine getting dog piled like this, especially when you're this young.
She honestly handled it amazingly. But, it is kinda sad that young women especially kinda don't have a safe space online to express themselves, without having to fear brutal dogpiling like this.
"The piano ain't got no wrong notes." - Thelonious Monk
Monk, surely, had a great budget for piano tuning... ;P
i mean, who'd argue with Monk?
Stealing.
God, that’s the punchiest fuckin music quote I’ve ever heard.
Oh gosh, Monk's music is wonderful, no wonder this quote is just as good lol.
the "Atom bomb locks in" part was actually really beautiful, i think people just aren't used to how the "I Lie" part played out
Agreed
I could have excused the backlash from people not too used to dissonance if it was dissonant all the way through but, like, the gal is just adding harmonic spice at some specific points and people have the gall to call it objectively ugly.
@@Kimbieeverytime I hear the sound without the dissonance in a video I have to look up this video to listen to it again because I literally like it better
it sounds very interesting sadly she got a lot of hate😢
That part fucking slaps. Gives me Hayley Williams vibes.
Conclusion: girl so metal, she's singing in power chords
@@--.._ keep trying buddy! I’m still a pretty crappy guitarist but you’ll develop calluses soon.
@@--.._ Don't worry mate, you'll get used to it. Besides, it's nearly all guitar playing that gives you the feeling, I think.
@@--.._ Power chords? Hard? You don't know the meaning of the word until you've played a C#minb7#9add13/E=mc².
@@--.._ don't worry, once you get used to em you will play them like nothing :), guitar takes time and lots practice
@@--.._ By me dinner first and I might X 😘
now I actually kinda like the dissonance and I'm not even saying this is because of my grotesquely large brain and high IQ with an appreciation for advanced harmony
Hmm yes I can tell your brain is humongous
Cuz you need all that bulk to play video games 😎
Okno jk
Same, except for the last part
Edit: jk
Must be a joke hey? No ones that vainglorious are they
@@BehappyBhairava Yes, it's a joke, my word.
It’s not advanced harmony anyway lmao.
the lesson here is that you should not focus on sounding "correct" but putting such a memorable performance that Adam Neely makes a video because of you
yes! LOL
It sounds correct to me tho
@@AtanoKSi well what sounds correct or right is imho still very subjective when it comes down to music, so best to drop the focus on sounding correct altogether, i guess
The performance wasn't the reason behind the video; the reaction to it was. Neely likes to pretend as if people are being bigots when they criticise people for being 'out of tune', an interpretation that is perfectly natural given the musical background.
@@brzt4256 timestamp showing "Neely ... 'out of tune'"?
0:39 I was literally thinking "wow, I think the last time I heard a harmony like this one was in Yuki Kajiura's work on Tsubasa Chronicles". Kajiura uses it quite a lot in the Tsubasa score, and it really stands out in the choral arrangements. It always has this overwhelming power to it that pulls you in but never lets you settle. Truly one of my favourite scores of all time.
IM ABOUT TO CRY IVE BEEN LISTENING TO DREAMSCAPE FOR YEARS AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OBSESSED WITH IT DUE TO THAT EXACT REASON. IT GAVE ME A FEELING LIKE NO OTHER AND IM SO HAPPY TO FINALLY SEE SOMEONE ELSE MENTION IT OUT IN THE OPEN LIKE THIS
It cannot be stressed enough that she was harassed for this. That is the takeaway here, that people will relentlessly attack you for doing what you love and you will often be powerless to stop them.
Just because she was harassed doesn't mean we all need to enjoy her harmonization though.
I think it's almost always worth keeping harsh opinions to oneself. But let's not be naive... the internet doesn't agree. Face-to-face, people whose songs (or art, poetry, etc.) I witness are probably connected to me socially. If I create tension with them, I experience tension myself. The internet isn't like this - we can create tension with random strangers and walk away from it scot-free. Everyone ought to know this. The people of the internet do not love me or care about me. They have no stake in my wellbeing. They are not incentivized to keep things civil or friendly. They are at liberty to disclose harsh opinions the likes of which they would not share in a real-world encounter. Perhaps they dislike having to repress their tongue in reality, and find relief using the internet as an outlet for their harsh opinions.
It's no wonder internet encounters are often highly distinct from face-to-face encounters. We can cast our own severe judgement at those who are harsh online, but I think this is often a purely self-serving activity. It's no wonder the internet is the way it is. The people who make it this way are not accountable, nor can we rehabilitate them. They don't care about our judgement, or they don't notice it, or they're not smart enough to understand it, or they relish the excitement of it, or they relish the attention, or they relish the opportunity to emotionally impact yet another stranger.
Those whose message here resembles "people should stop being mean online" - I wonder if you are seriously assessing (or invested in) the effect that your action here has on achieving your desired outcome?
I'd like for you all to check out adam neely's other video here: ua-cam.com/video/k3iDKsjSiIQ/v-deo.html - the section I'm interested in starts at 2:56 mark, where adam is asked his opinion on a chord progression. At 4:37, he says "it sounds like a mistake to me". At 5:49 he says *make whatever artistic decisions you would like but an audience is going to listen to them with the expectations that come from genre and style* - this leaves me wondering why he seems reluctant, in this video, to simply accept that an audience rejected a decision based on their expectations.
Lastly I want to make it absolutely clear: it saddens me that people treat each other so harshly on the internet (or anywhere).
@@gershommaes902 but not liking the harmony doesn't give you any reason to harass her though
@@gershommaes902 not liking her harmony is not a pass to harass her though
@@grecco4037 @q2 @grecco of course not, I hope I didn't imply such a thing! :)
@@gershommaes902 yeah, i was just pointing out something else!
That harmony is haunting, it really fits the tone of the song. She's honestly just 1 or 2 db too loud and otherwise that dissonance would sit really well
Best of all, I'm pretty sure TikTok allows for "mixing" of audio... all this would've taken for a frankly perfect duet is a reupload with her volume slider like, 5-10% down lol
Very good point, exactly what i thought too
Agreed. When I first heard it, it threw me off because of the sudden loudness of the audio- especially when I saw Tiktoks using the cover that, at the time, I didn't know about and wasn't expecting to hear. I do like it, but yeah, I do think it would be better if the volume was lowered.
i disagree so strongly it makes my stomach hurt
Yeah that was my thought. If she was a bit under the volume for the original it would mix a bit better
i loved the harmonization when i first heard it here hahah. the “sounds like they’re singing to each other” is so true. it reminds me of that climax in a musical or something where the lovers are on two different wavelengths and can’t sing a “proper” harmonization but it’s emotional and they’re trying so hard to sing with one another but they’re too dissonant, they aren’t “perfect”. like i can see the entire scene play out and how much it would make me cry like a little baby because of how uncomfortable but beautiful it can sound like.
The harmony she added adds this kind of...finality to it, if that makes any sense? Like, just the melody sounds bittersweet, but with that particular harmony it really does feel like the world's caving in. I personally really really like it.
Yes, this is just how I felt when I heard it. I don't know a lot about music or anything, but her harmony adds such an edge of desperation to the gentle sadness of the song. I love that in places fiftyshadesofswag is overtaking the original. It feels like two people reaching out to each other, the original is delicate longing, while the harmony is anguished and determined, and at "locks in" they reach each other and come together.
Totally agree, I don't love dissonance in everything, but on a song about the world falling apart and love ending it suits it perfectly to realize in music form the emotions and make you resonate with them
It sounds lovely for me
@@PabloEmanuel96 this ❤️
EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING
Adam: "The lesson we can take from this..."
Me: "Don't harass people?"
Adam: "Western-European polyphonic aesthetics are being relentlessly upheld as what is good."
Me: "Ah..yes..of course."
but yes that too lmao
This was my exact reaction. Well almost, I was thinking, “Obey Wheaton’s Rule?”
Yeah. While I don't disagree with any of the things that Adam says in this video, I think his message is muddled, and that he places some of the most importance on some of the least important aspects of this situation.
He is a music channel so that's likely why he focused more about the theory
Lol
"young people demand conformity and music is a powerful cultural tool for enforcing it" WOW
Reminds me of the Arcade Fire song "Rococo"
DANGGGGG so true oh my god
That’s why only industry plants succeed in the modern industry
bro it is not that deep lmfao
@@maverickREAL it really is, though
"Young people are all about conformity"
Ugh. This got me in the feels.
That’s sadly mostly true, but we need to remember that not all young people are like that. I would consider myself a young person and love dissonance and harshness in music.
It’s my fundamental issue with TikTok as a platform and on a similar page, social media in general.
The whole idea of a trend on TikTok just sees people copying and repeating the same idea over and over, rarely with any actual innovation or change to it.
Like how many times do you see the same video but with someone else’s face mouthing the words over and over.
Trends can insight creativity, but it’s the least creative ones that don’t change anything in the trend that tend to do the best.
It’s quite the opposite, actually. Nowadays, it’s popular to be non-conforming. In fact, it seems that everyone has this mentality that everyone else is conforming and they’re somehow the special one. But if everyone’s special, then no one is.
That's such a boomer thing to say and not really true anyway. It can be said the same about adults. Maybe the lesson from this is that there's a huge work to do with kids on harrassement, not stupid generalizations.
@@bunsenn5064 i have to disagree. Although my perspective is narrow, at my school at least, those who appear to believe they are the 'special one' are ridiculed for thinking they're the 'main character'. At my school, it's narcissistic to think you're special, cringey to act different, but funny to act different if you do so ironically. There ARE plenty of non-conformers, but few who are half as respected by their peers as those who do conform. Conformers and non-conformers also rarely mix.
Conclusion: She harmonized in a way that was bold and stuck out, and it worked out like the Chinese proverb, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
The reasons for it being obvious.
@@mito._ Obvious but wrong. I have about as much music training as you can get, and I think her harmonization sounds awesome, playing off tradition but still sounding fresh and audacious.
@@stephen6691 I think your opinion on the matter is no more valid than anyone else's. But the fact that you think your opinion makes you more "right" than others seems to indicate you don't understand what opinions are.
I don't have to like pineapple on pizza, but I can agree that it's a valid topping. Similarly, the choice of harmonization here isn't "wrong" but it does make my stomach hurt. So yeah.
@Hooman Being That's the thing about reinforcing racial hierarchy. You don't have to do it on purpose to do it. It's all around us and we're indoctrinated into it.
A fish doesn't know what water is.
@@michaellessel5532 wtf does music and harmonies have to do with white supremacy i am so confused
The brilliant musician who taught me improv singing said that any note, confidently sung, is part of the chord. It may be an unexpected chord, but that doesn't matter.
That is a great plan and big mood
Big fan of jazz I take it lol
Welcome to Jazz
You're doing Good, Craig.
i learned something close to that from my old guitar teacher and its if you play the "wrong note" intentionally they will think its intentional and mixed with adamy neely's repetition legitimizes works pretty well
when she gets to the "a-tom bomb locks in " 7:11 part it comes together so nicely {chef's kiss}, makes the dissonance well worth it. I dig it
very satisfying release tbh
Yeah, it sounds super powerful. My only "issue" is the "lie with" part, it sounds a little off to me, but I like the rest a lot. Tbh, I like it all, but the "lie with" part the least, although it's growing on me whenever I hear it. ~~Although the way she moves her mouth as she's singing looks funny~~
@@konstant_ly for me it's just when she sings "that I'', it really sounds like she's out of tune (not because it's dissonance, it really is pitchy). Also, her voice is too loud and too sharp so it doesn't blend well
Right, I think its more about that payoff on the release and pushes through so perfectly.
That's the point of the dissonance
It's a very interesting harmony imo.
It's sung with excellent pitch, so the listener's ear won't think it's just a note accidentally sung a bit sharp. The major third over the root note is "happy" sounding, while the minor third is "sad" or "dark" sounding. Combining them together (with a guest appearance by the major 7th over the root) makes this comforting yet deeply unsettling sound.
How does this man just keep saying fifty shades of swag with a completely straight face-
Literally my thoughts as I watch the whole vid
and chickenthighs 😂😂
The “lie with” part sounds not so good but the “as the atom bomb locks in” part just wow. The dissonance made it sounds like the song was being ripped apart, in such a crazy emotional contextual way . Its like song is being ripped apart as the world caves in (roll credits, i said the thing)
What’s wrong with the first part??
That's exactly what I was thinking and I completely agree with the video that she isn't singing in the same style as the cover artist is. Her voice is more coarse, and while on its own I think it holds intense emotion, once combined it gives this very disjointed feeling. In the second verse her singing with the cover aligns and I think shows what the dissonant cord can really bring to the table.
4:39 explains why you feel that way, "lie with" feels a lot spicier
I like all of the parts
@@OskarSvan loud and annoying
When the lower voice moves up to a unison before the last two notes is such a good way to set that last harmony. So good.
I was thinking the same thing, narratively works wonders, as it makes the line "atom bomb" even more impactful.
omg I know it just felt so dynamic
I remember my choir teacher in high school, when teaching us our harmonies with each other, called any written dissonance "crunchy". And so, to this day, I hear this type of stuff and go "Ooo, that's *cronchy* ". I was also in one of the sections that the harmony was typically more dissonant in, so I got to hear it for myself. Not saying that my musical palette is better than anyone else's or anything. I just like the *cronch*
My husband calls them crunchy as well - also came from his school choir teacher!
"do you like this harmony?"
Adam you fucked up my musical taste i don't even know
It's definitely not ghost pepper spicy.
@@ItsMrBozToYou god please don't remind me of that
I fuckin' cackled; good job
Good, good. His work here is done, then.
Same
ah yes, the internet, where people willingly start drama over others living their lives
God, tell me about it
the internet is also a place where people like Adam talk about subjects like this and spread their passion and awareness about such singers
No.
Yo omicron love u
Btw stop commenting on nusic theory videos and star uploading vids😠🤕
Well, she ain't living her life, she uploaded it to the internet. When you put something out in the public, you better expect at least a little negative feedback, especially if you're doing something against the cultural norms or whatever.
"No parallel fifths!"
The entire heavy metal genre: "Guess I'll just die."
If is one voice its okay, just like you jump around with octave hands on a piano ;)
@@Gabe-ch2ol are you talking to me?
@@Gabe-ch2ol cause most of metal riffs are played moving the same power chord (1, 5, sometimes 8) shape around the fretboard and basically building a single voice playing parallel fifths and octaves. But rhis is okay cause those rules exist to emphasize voice independence, which is not what metal is looking for. Metal wants just one huge voice, because of that often the guitar is doubled an octave below by the bass and we have four line playing the same voice. Also the kick scans rhe rhythm of this voice.
That's part of the point, though. The rule is there because it sounds good, but metal was a genre born out of rebellion and rule-breaking. Parallel 5ths / octaves? Naked tritones? Check. Part of the in-your-face aggression is due to this rule breaking. It sounds harsh instead of sweet, but that's the point.
In a way, the existence of that rule helped inform metal because you can't break the rules if there's no rule to break.
This is also why it's important to learn the rules, so when you break them it's intentional and you know why you're doing it.
Despite Adam's recent vendetta against western music theory, I doubt he would choose to ignore it if he could do it all over again. It's too useful of a system, even if you choose to subvert it.
@@bluesdealer I think it's more appropriate to analyze para5s in metal as as "line independence isn't completely necessary" than making the jump to "it's specifically because punk wanted to break the rules." There are plenty of theory rules that when you break em they just sound awful anywhere (horror soundtracks the exception)
Here in Iceland we have a traditional way of singing called tvísöngur, where melodies are harmonized using parallel fifths. We were so isolated that we missed the memo that parallel fifths were bad. I am so used to singing these traditional songs that harmonizing in parallel fifths does not at all sound odd to me.
If you are interested I recommend the song, Ísland farsældar frón
PSA to all Adam Neely fans who are on tik tok: If you ever hear anything on tik tok that takes any ounce of music theory to explain, or has any sort of following by people who know stuff about music theory, Adam Neely WILL make a video about it, and that is a proven fact, so just sit tight whenever you come across something new
TL;DR: please shut up please
Exactly I literally saw this on my fyp and didn’t know what they were talking abt now I see Adam’s video and it all makes sense
This explains why with the millions of hours of Tiktok footage, Adam has done 2 or 3 20 minute videos on it, tells a lot about the complexity and music theory on Tiktok XD
@@sengroagers1111 did you just tell Jason to shut up
@@BenjaminMorrenMusic nah i was referring to adam neely fans those mfs need to learn how to chill out sometimes‼️
"Like they're singing TO each other."
Yes! It sounds like a chaotic love duet from something dark and unsettling. Almost like a Sondheim duet turned up to 13. They're saying the same words, but somehow inflecting the sentiment differently, and something is just *off* about it.
It reminds me of those relationships when partners think they're on the same page but neither realizes yet that they're saying the same things but meaning something different- it's kind of an eerie subtle meaning
YES there is something very Sondheim to it! Eerie & sentimental at the same time.
Matches the seemingly sweet but ultimately dark lyrics as well. Without this harmony, it's just too sweet and typical.
i immediatly thought of a relationship dynamic in which one girl is soft and delicate and the other is dark and brooding. to me it definitely sounded like they were addressing each other. it definitely has that "beautifully tragic" sound
It is an emotionally rich interpretation: I really love this idea.
Can we take a second to appreciate how cool the moment is when she reaches up to a unison G with the first singer, then stays on it until resolving it down as a traditional suspension? It's a pretty sophisticated harmonization that works well with the tune, and stays away from boring parallel 3rds. Dare I say, if you change the backing track so that there isn't that E/Eb clash, this would be a plausible Beatles vocal harmony.
Play a Gm #13
@@bravecow69420 True! Someone needs to do this
But the clash was my favourite part!
It's so crazy that someone can think the harmony "sounds bad" and therefore believe that the harmony doesn't deserve to exist, as if they themselves are the gatekeeper of all music. Social media is rotting all our brains.
Most people are conditioned to think in black and white terms of right and wrong. It makes life much simpler
The intention of the musician matters. When they intend to create a dissonant harmonization, the work makes sense. When they're dissonant and intended to sound consonant, they need ear training.
Same people that listen to npc music like ava max and taylor
@@potatotaxi Calling music “NPC” music and insulting people for listening to it isn’t any better. All music has value.
@@sharpeningtheaxe Monetary value < artistic value
Bulgarian folk music is so powerful and severely underrated, I recommend the mystery of the Bulgarian voices for some kickass traditional ensembles that are pretty unique to the region
bulgaria .o.
LES GOOO MY COUNTRY IS ACTUALLY GETTING RECOGNIZED
Най-накрая някой говори за нас, честно казано на мен не ми харесва толкова българския ни фолклор, на разбирам защо хората го харесват!
@@kameno7476 helu
@@kameno7476 fellow bulgarian пичага
Stara Planina was used in Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the end of the world. Absolutely chilling.
when she first enters the harmony, i cringe a bit, but once she starts getting into it i LOVE IT- so much so the original tik tok feels strange without her voice in it? a rollercoaster with every listen i think its great
Yeah, when she gets to "atom bomb" it sounds great, idk what it is about the first part that is hard to listen to. Maybe she's singing a bit harshly? The last part is hauntingly dissonant in a cool way.
Repetition legitimises
Repetition legitimises
Repetition legitimises
Hey give me your thoughts on this. What if she stayed on that one note she sang during 'lie' for 'with'? and then flit to a D, maybe?
@@esined2386 not sure if u meant me but i personally dont know anything about keys/notes/whatever u call it so i have no idea how that would sound :( but "lie with" is the only part that sounds pretty bad imo so maybe it would make the whole thing go together better? less of a clash?
@@chloe2270 Haha I left that comment out for anyone who'd give their thoughts! I'll try it out on the piano and see how it goes or smthn
I got no idea why but the "bomb locks in" part of the harmony brings a tear to my eye, sounds so beautiful and sad at the same time. This shit is spicy in the best way possible i dont understand why people would bully someone over this wtf
yeah that’s my favorite part too!! so haunting.
it’s gorgeous
Probably because it’s not “haunting” in a subtle way but sounds like it’s trying to achieve that effect in a very obvious and ham-fisted way. Of course nobody deserves to be bullied, of course dissonance can lead to beautiful music, of course we should praise people who strive to make art… but this tiktok was nothing special and I found it annoying after the third listen. I’ll defend the girl for being brave enough to put herself out there, but not for making good music.
@@charliesaint you sound like if somebody touched you, your skin would melt at the point of impact
@@solarprogeny6736 not very popular, are you
@@charliesaint I don't think "you're not very popular" is an exhortation you can reasonably make after writing a whole paragraph about how a Tiktoker's harmony wasn't subtle enough for you.
I'm not exactly sure why, but you talking about parallel fifths with so much passion gave me goosebumps lmao
Damn, I love jazz
i think that her harmonies, especially during "atom bomb locks in," were fantastic
i agree with the point that her vowels are very wide and that she's overwhelming the main melody, but the harmonies themselves are not the problem
Yes i agree
yeah, i think it went hard af. super powerful stuff
I was trying to put that into words, thanks for doing it for me 4 months in advance!!
Yeah I personally dont enjoy the first part of the harmony, but the end is fantastic.
also it's not meant to be a pro quality singing job, just for fun.
it makes me sad that musicians are less and less comfortable with playing dissonance. your song doesn't HAVE to have dissonance, but why can't it?
It’s like everything has to be covered in sugar and sound smooth at all times
meanwhile metal can't get ENOUGH of it
minor seconds, sharp 7ths, diminished fifths, etc.
I've seen metal people add "dissonance layers" on top of their riffs as well; so
woo!
because it sounds like literal shit?
if music didn't have ANY dissonance, there would basically be no point in listening to it at all...
@@expilectakunai difference between dissonance and trash
I’m so shocked that people are upset over harmony. The harmony she sang was such a standard cadence used in musical theater it sounded completely natural to me.
the industrial revolution and it's consequences; the main one being the internet revolution
In the immortal words of George Carlin: "Imagine how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." You shouldn't be shocked by idiots on the internet anymore, basically.
Idk it didn’t blend. Something was off. Maybe the volume of the two videos? It’s just the “lie with” that I can’t get
@@leviathan5908 that was my favorite part lol! it’s so cool how different brains interpret sounds in positive/negative ways
@@leviathan5908 it sounded great to me. Nothing was off.
Bob Ross never said...."omg...you are using the wrong colours in that painting!"
Ok but bob ross never painted in exclusively light yellow and white,
@@ticklesdust he probably could’ve if he was asked, he did a painting just in grey for someone who was colorblind.
a note like that is what Bob Ross would call a "happy accident" 😉
@@bradjtx That's not really comparable though, by using grey you can paint very precise values and the contrast just looks way clearer than by using white and light yellow. In fact, it is a very common digital art technique to paint in only grayscale and then put in the colors when you're finished setting the values, it's not unusual.
im sure he would've if one of those damn cosmic entities started painting in octamarine
The "Shoernberg harmonies" killed me, because I knew what was coming as soon as I saw it, but it still hurt all the same.
the "it's you that i lie with" part sounded off to my ear(that doesn't mean i think it Is its just not what im accustomed to) but hearing the "as the atom bomb locks in" and how dark and amazing that sounds, it is very obvious that no matter how her harmony sounds to anyone's ears it's _what she meant to do._ and people who think it's Wrong confuse me quite a bit
Hard agree! Specifically “bomb locks in” for me sounds SO beautiful, and I think if she’d just sung a bit quieter on the first half of the harmony it would sound just as good- it’s the overwhelming of the melody there that I find unpleasant, not her harmony.
agree. when i paid close attention to “bomb locks in”, man… i had goosebumps. stunning.
the Internet. where you threaten to kill someone when they sing a dissonant harmony
You wouldn't want an augmented octave to marry your sister.
The true nature of people comes out best behind anonymity
I shouldn't have, but I laughed
👏👏👏
what a lovely place huh?!
Imagine harassing someone because you didn't like their harmony. Bruh
tiktok never fails to amaze me ... 🤦🏾♂️
Harassment online is complicated, because for the harassers it feels just as a single joke or opinion thrown away. It feels a lot worse for the harassed because it's coming from a ton of people at once. That's the problem with the internet, everything is amplified.
Sounds like a typical conversation between two musicians from opposite genres, nothing new
Well when your stew brain only knows 4 chords from hearing the same pop song on the radio 6 times a minute and not knowing anything about what youre listening to. I kinda get that when they hear something creative and not entirely polished autotuned and watered down that it might sound "bad" to them.
Imagine expecting a nuanced response from the tiktok majority, seems like a dubious proposition...
The dissonance makes really enhances the song’s bittersweetness. It’s a song about romance, saying that the singer will stay with their love until the end, but it also talks about atom bombs and armageddon. This clashing of themes, makes the dissonance really fit the song. I absolutely love it.
i really love this harmony, really fits the song.
It’s important to remember that most TikTok users are children, and children have a tendency to be mean and under-educated.
I hope that poor girl sees this video so she knows the Internet isn’t all hate
I agree, but you see them a lot UA-cam too. Like the comments from twosetviolin's fanbase on any video with violin(played in an "unconventional" or historic manner) and over 10,000 views.
@@starsocks4736 Children are awesome, Children (on Tiktok who use the comment section) are awful
@@starsocks4736 I didn’t think about how generalized my comment was until you said, you’re absolutely right, I apologize.
@@starsocks4736 have you spent time with children lol??? Kids can be absolute jerks because they haven't developed the emotional maturity to have appropriate levels of response to things. If they don't like something isn't the worst thing ever. If a person is bad, they're the worst person ever. They haven't yet learned to think "I don't like that but it's not a big deal."
That's bullshit. Children are definitely not the majority of TikTok, nor solely the reason of it's toxicity. I've seen much of said toxicity in every platform over the years, specially UA-cam. That's just people being assholes
I feel like a lot of people tend to conflate "I don't like it" with "it's inherently bad"... especially when talking about the arts. :(
Personally, I really enjoy unexpected or unusual musical structures - and this video was no exception!
The issue is that most people no longer receive much of any music education, so they assume she is singing it WRONG because it sounds unlike the music they'd be exposed to (pop or some other billboard popular genre). You'd need to know at least the basics of music theory to know that dissonance is done intentionally to create a sense of depth or tension.
If we want people to understand art, we need to make it accessible for everyone first.
Why yes, anyone who disagrees with me is objectively wrong. How'd you know?
@@poralitical Unfortunately it's not just about music; the internet likes to do this with literally any form of media.
@@poralitical "no longer receive musical education"...? I think you'll find that more people are educated in music than ever before. While I agree with your statement, you seem to be, purposefully or not, exuding big boomer "back in the day people were musically literate" energy.
There's a difference between "I don't like it," and "It sounds bad."
People still eat pineapple on pizza. Doesn't make it a bad topping. Just a topping many pizza consumers don't enjoy.
The harmony she sings for the lyrics "locks in" literally sends shivers up my spine. I'm a musician that loves dissonance, so maybe that's why but I think it's way better and more exciting than any of the other harmony lines I've heard, and those are the notes my brain reaches for now anytime I hear that song
it is far, FAR more interesting and exciting than anyone posting their corrections(unless it's satirical; those are hot shit too(i am using hot shit to mean good here*)).
the whole thing is gorgeous but that "locks in" dissonance? literal goosebumps almost every time for me.
Yeah that's because that part isn't in paralell 5ths anymore. She goes back to 6ths there if i'm not mistaken
@@me_mal i'm sorry, but "locks in" isn't dissonant anymore
@@dominikweber4305 even though it's no longer parallel fifths it feels as if it hits harder because of the dissonance before ,, deffo wouldn't get the shivers if it was 6ths throughout for me at least
@@me_mal legit the Schoenberg 12-tone duet made me lose my mind i was DYING 😂😂😂😂
That harmony is really beautiful. Like, it's so crunchy that I love the feel
"Only Schoenberg melodies work for this song"
What an absolute chad
I'm a curious noob, can anyone please explain that clip for me?
@@cheesecakelasagna Well, I am not exactly an expert myself, but Schoenberg was a German composer who was one of the first to experiment with using the 12-tone technique. It meant that, in the piece, all 12 notes the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another to prevent the emphasis of any one note. The dissonance that came along in his pieces also made his music sound quite 'unusual', in a sense. An example of this would be his 3 Piano Pieces Op. 11. It is an acquired taste, but if I was to recommend any of his music, it would probably be his violin concerto or verklärte nacht.
@@dzordzszs iirc that's enforced in Schoenberg's technique specifically by basically writing out multiple permutations of the 12 equal tempered notes. So when taking chunks of 12, every pitch will be included exactly once. I assume the joke is how atrocious this usually sounds to many.
@@jonathanscherpenbach9913 yes
If there's any takeaway from this video its go and listen to some schoenberg if you have not
I read the title as “tiktok and discourse do not mix” which is completely different but equally if not more correct
True lol
@Tournel Henry because of ADD brains like mine. I hate it, but it's who I am xD
The worst thing about this is how smug all of the responses were
or how people just butchered music terminology they didn't know to harass this girl like-
Welcome to Gen Z on social media. This is said as someone from Gen Z, social media is fucking unbearable any time somebody makes something that could even be perceived as a mistake.
@@blarghinatelazer9394 It only seems like Gen Z because those are the people that mainly use tik tok. Seriously, go to any music video popular with any other generation on youtube and you will find smug people being unbearable. It's how a lot of people act behind the protection of their computer/phone screens. Human nature transcends arbitrary generations.
@@harryiii3361 It's easy to behave like an asshole when there's no risk of being punched in the face.
@@harryiii3361 boomers have awful takes on music so I agree with you
Video is two years old, I know. But I've gotta say,
That harmony that she came up with is actually so f-ing sick dude, the dissonance to the resolution is actually the sickest thing I've heard in a while.
My favorite composer is Shostakovich, I should probably mention LOL dissonance is sick guys, i promise LOL
throwing out a like for Shostakovich love
I can’t quite fully put my finger on which song, but the dissonance makes me think of various 90’s bands like Faith No More and Mushroomhead who definitely played around with weird intervals and arrangements. it sounds lifted right off the Angel Dust album
Honestly, I prefer the way that she sang it. It's definitely not as "pretty", but I feel like it is more haunting, and something that comes from deep in the soul. Definitely a refreshing sound to what we constantly hear!
I strongly agree. I think the harmony she added made the song feel nostalgic in a bittersweet way, like it makes me physically feel excited and also sad somehow
@@haylinicole7358 “physically feel excited, but sad” OMG SAME! Perfect way to describe it!
@@user-zn1bx3ct3u It's that kind of melancholic, overwhelming effect.
@@Musician837 exactly
nowadays people is so fucking low in the art question to be honest, it makes me sick.
My HS all girls choir did that Bulgarian song and hearing it live was unlike anything else so amazing and the last chord was screamed so perfectly it sounded fantastic
Sound's great indeed. Reminds me also in harmonic richness of Ghost in the shell film theme 'Making of a Cyborg'
@@dwsel I queued up that song because of being reminded the same way! I should look up comparisons of Bulgarian and Japanese traditional music. (Or… isn’t it a traditional Chinese piece actually?)
@@dwsel Yoko Kanno, the composer of Ghost In The Shell's soundtrack, has worked with a Bulgarian choir, Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria, on many albums! They are a fan of Bulgarian folk music, and have mentioned it was the inspiration for Making of A Cyborg. If you want to hear another one of their compositions the t sounds similar, look up "Atomic Bird" by Yoko Kanno.
@@dwselFrom the GITS Fandom: "Kenji Kawai originally wanted to use Bulgarian folk singers, but was unable to find any, so he relied on the Japanese folk song choir he used earlier in the Ranma 1/2 anime. The song uses an ancient form of the Japanese language mixed with Bulgarian harmony and traditional Japanese notes."
I think "sung" is the verb you were looking for there.
Dissonant harmonies are super hard to sing, your voice just wants to slide towards a more logical note, but if you can do it strong and brave, it can be wonderful.
this was not one of those times
I’ve come back to this video so much that whenever I sing along with this song I naturally slip into this harmony
This is the most long winded and informative "haters gonna hate" ever.
Apparently he believes that they only hate women?
@@jaimeduncan6167 I don't believe that was what he said.
@@noahmay7708 IF the reason they piled on her is misogyny then yes, that is what he say. Misogyny is real, so for example, if they called her the c word clearly that is a misogynistic attack, or they say stuff like "only a woman" etc. He could have say "she was insulted and degraded including misogynistic attacks" that will be different and I guess (based on my experience) correct. The examples he quote were from people telling her that her art was ugly, and that happens to men and women, and if one put his art online it comes with the territory. I agree that not pushing the like button is more than enough but one know how it goes:haters gonna hate.
@@jaimeduncan6167 again… that is not what he said
@@jaimeduncan6167 I'm pretty sure he just meant misogyny played a role in people's hatred of her singing because for some people that'd be like the cherry on the top, for instance thinking she isn't as attractive as the girl on the right and/or her singing voice isn't as elegant as the girl on the right and/or her singing came off as obnoxious instead of attractive and other misogynistic reasons like those, and those misogynistic reasons further justify hatred towards her singing.
I love the "wrong" version so much. I would probably mix the volumes a bit differently, sure, but the notes are fantastic, and there is just so much emotion in this. At the end, the way she climbs up to that G unison and holds that harmony until after the upper note drops... oh... so good.
I think you're right, a little balancing could go a long way and make this sound perfect. The dissonance makes a lot of sense when talking about atom bombs lol, I think it's grea
She had an idea for a harmony, recorded it on her phone, and put it on TikTok. People reacted like Apple pushed this version to all their phones. Damn, relax.
Such is a reactionary tribalistic community. Us vs Them mentality is sometimes dangerous
@Hacking On The Spectrum
That's not true though. Racism hasn't always existed because the concept of race hasn't always existed. Human nature is more complicated than "us vs. them" and saying otherwise is simplistic and ignorant; mutual aid is a huge part of human existence, and I'd even argue it's much more important to our nature.
Systematic oppression and cruelty exist because of systems and material condition, not because "humans are born evil." The hobbesian notion of innate human cruelty is as ridiculous today as it was during his lifetime.
@@IvanSN Prejudice against those who differ in appearance is human nature. Tons of research bears this out. Racism is just one example of this prejudice, and it existed long before the concept of race was codified. Those who look, sound, or act different are foreign and dangerous. Those who look, act, and sound familiar are safe. It's an innate human trait, and probably one that had survival advantages in the past.
@@sophielatterno6364
Prejudice is innately a human quality, but it doesn't innately define humans. We are more than capable of overcoming our prejudices
@@IvanSN Racism hasn't existed before the concept of race? That's... simply false lmao
3 years ago i remember genuinely disliking her performance but after joining choir and honestly falling in love with music this song just hits me in a new way
Please dive more into Bulgarian choirs and pieces. And Armenian! Like Komitas
Let's upvote this comment, please
And Georgian polyphony! Stravinsky's favourite.
Yes please!
Yes pls
Aram Khachaturian!
The phrase "correct harmony" in any context just annoys me to no end
same thing as saying "you have the wrong opinion"
"correct" anything in music is pretty hard to listen to people talk about.
Correct for the song maybe, correct for a specific genre maybe, correct overall? Never.
its an empty phrase because harmony is not a singular answer. this is phrase is of course used to describe the intervals that sounds better according to the maker. harmony is an opinion not a fact. and in my opinion it sounds pretty good the way it is.
Oh well, using that particular phrase instantly shows you know S**T.
I take it you are annoyed by Western classical music up until Debussy, then.
I think the problem is that they're both near the same volume. Instead of the voices being homophonic, it's like 2 different pieces of monophonic clashing. It's not going with the melody, it's fighting it.
If the volume was just a bit lower, I think it would've worked.
Yeah. But Its a fking tik tok video tho lmao. Not mixed song. Ppl are losing it
@@friendlyplayer92 fr
how can singing be homophobic
@@5thgrdrz homo _what_
@@5thgrdrz homopho*n*ic
That overall sounds absolutely amazing, I love it so much
its a beautiful harmony, especially with the release at the end. for me why the beginning sounded off was because of her voice (the vowels) clashing with the other’s, not necessarily the notes.
Fully agree. They kind of grind against each other. They don't fit.
It's not harmony, but timbre, however timbre it's not the first thing that comes to peoples minds, so they chalk it up to harmony and go home.
Agreed. She isn't blending her enunciation, as Adam mentioned. Which is super important when harmonizing.
I’m slowly starting to learn a modest amount of music theory, and one of the biggest things I’ve learned so far, is that even though there are chords, notes, and intervals that sound “correct” with each other, they are merely suggestions based on what we are used to hearing. There’s no such thing as “wrong music” as extreme dissonance can be beautiful with extreme resolution, it’s all about the context that music is written within. It’s one of the reasons I love jazz fusion metal/rock. It takes sounds I’m familiar with because of the rock music I grew up with, but throws in very colorful jazz chords and melodies that really push the boundaries of what sounds “proper” to most.
I agree so much with this!
I grew up listening to a lot of hardcore rap as a teenager in the 90s, and tons of jungle and techno. Those genres are absolutely full of widespread unorthodox chords/harmonies/dissonances, samples and synths thrown together that are dissonant but create beautiful timbres, etc etc. I genuinely think it's mostly just pop fans who are so narrow minded they can't accept anything outside their small drawer of "acceptable" possibilities in music.
This is something that I think is seen by musicians that find their own way with music. I don't choose a chord progression because of how it fits into a system but simply because of how it feels to me as the artist - when you don't understand the systems you've got nothing else to go by. I found out much later that I really like working in minor chords - but that's not because there's anything special about minor chords - they're just the harmonies and progressions that I personally respond to - nostalgia especially is an element I love in my music and that association is purely learnt, and wouldn't neccessarily translate across cultures. It's fascinating really - like flavours on a palette these things can be totally subjective, and yet what works in our ears can seem so concrete that it must be universally 'correct'.
Can u recommend some jazz fusion rock songs/artists?
@@saiearth I'm not sure what technically counts as jazz fusion, but Snarky Puppy, Cinematic Orchestra, Jazztronic spring to mind. If you're after metal/rock with jazz influences then Intronaut are a great band.
I very strongly dislike anyone capable of saying 'the correct harmony' with a straight face. You'll limit yourself creatively and spread misinformation and prejudice with that attitude.
It's just smug elitist nonsense
Saying a harmonization is "incorrect" is like saying a certain color is "incorrect" in an abstract painting. It's just a fucking nonsense idea.
u got it simon. There is no right or wrong in music. The 808s in Congratulations are detuned and it went platinum
this is the incorrect opinion. 😂 jk lol
I can sometimes understand the phrase when they're referring to the specific harmony used by the recording artist who wrote the song. Even then though... leave room for artistic freedom.
one of the first things I learned in high school music class was that you can’t label music as objectively bad and if you dislike it it’s important to know why. This is such an informative video and I love how you broke down the theory in very understandable ways!!
Props to Lady Schönberg at 12:07 for being able to sing that, and with a straight face, totally cracked me up
Music teachers: Don't use parallel fifths, unless it fits the following 999+ scenarios...
There's also the factor of the original vocals having post-processing while the duet was being sung into a headset mic.
youre absolutely right
Didnt the tiktok itself state it was a joke?
Yeah, that certainly didn't help the blend. Good point.
@@freshlymemed5680 actually no
@@freshlymemed5680 i believe she said it was for fun
The first time I heard the harmony I didn't really like it very much. Nowadays whenever I hear the cover I can't help but hum it along to it. To me as someone who mainly listens to pop music, I definitely couldn't appreciate it at the start, but it's also interesting and stands out a lot. I like it. Thank you for breaking the reasons down, it's great to understand why I felt that way.
“This is the cardinal sin of European polyphonic aesthetics from many years ago” -Deadmau5
Fifths really work for dance music because they emphasize the lower note like what Adam said.
LMAO PLZ
It would sound a lot better if you
SLAPPED ON AN SSL G SERIES COMPRESSOR
Deadmeme5. I still love it though.
*WHEEZE*
I like it when people sing their asses off. And this young woman was in the moment giving it her all
there are, in my honest opinion, no "truly correct" harmonies. look at how many different spins we've put on jazz. on music as a whole!! Music is an extension of the soul. That soul will always have it's own scars and bruises. These "scars and bruises" have made music what it is today.
So true!
ZEIN! ZHE MUST ONLEY USEA DE TIRD ODER FORTH!
That's not an opinion. There literally isn't a "correct" anything in music.
You can say that, but you are choosing to redefine harmony then. The reason there are dissonances is because they “beat” and physically in an air moving way stand opposite to harmony which …well harmonize. Harmonizing in a physical sense is when the vibrations’ crests and troughs line up with each other and do not create a “beat”. That is my definition of harmony and dissonance.
Dissonance is every bit as viable as harmony.
dissonance is a special thing. Our brains immediately pick it out in a song but when it resolves into harmony its an insanely powerful transition
It's chilling really
nah, it´s a cultural thing. People in Indonesia loves "beating" notes, the instruments are tuned in a way that they have dissonances less than 1/4 of a tone, so the people hear the "beats" between two notes when 2 musicians play at the same time. And of course their scales are different (the same happens with Arab or Turkish music and the maqam system. For westerns ears it sound "out of tune")
The dissonance on the "lie with" verse gives a more euphoric effect on the following verse. A bigger release, and I appreciate it.
Jazz ruined my ears, there was not a moment I didn’t ADORE her rendition
Hard same. So much life.
Ahahahahah that comment made me laugh way too hard
Man I really like the comment about them sounding like they were singing to each other. I imagined it as higher melody being sax and home girls voice as trombone (my inst) and that's EXACTLY how what I would have went for in a duet. So rich 🥰
Gave me intense goosebumps, loved it
Me either, but not due to jazz. It was the dissonance and release. The dissonance increases, then partially resolves at the middle of the phrase--keeping that long note from feeling like the end--and then resolves completely at the actual end of the phrase.
honestly, in the "locks in" part, the dissonance actually sounded great! The thing that makes the harmony of the girl initially "unaesthetic" is the difference in texture or "timbre" and loudness or "dynamics" in their voices. If the girl on the left matched the soft flowing timbre of the girl and decided to town down a bit, her duet might sound better than the her original duet. Choir also do dissonance and it is honestly hard to master. The dynamics and timbre of every member will have a significant effect because of the clashing voices.
"The dynamics and timbre of every member will have a significant effect because of the clashing voices."
Absolutely!! Something I wouldn't know if I weren't in choir myself, so I wonder if many people know this. When I was in choir, before a concert we would spend a day of practice just going through our songs with our director rearranging us to hit that magic combination of voice placement, and avoid the odd clashes that come from natural vocal timbres matching/not. All of us could hear it when our director would rearrange and test voices, trying out one combination, shuddering when it was just no, and then getting chills when placement of voices was _just right_ . We then remembered where we were for the concert day and literally would rearrange before any song that required it.
Clashing vocal timbre can make a perfectly practiced and executed song by each individual sound just not quite right, in spite of doing everything right.
@@mrahzzz Whooa!! That’s cool! I was actually a member of my high school choir before and I remember on my last year, our regular trainer went abroad so we were not able to play a madrigal piece which she typically prepares for us. Instead, our school made a bold decision to let a rather musically inclined student to prepare the piece that we would be playing. He immediately informed us that our piece uses a lot of dissonance, so it might be difficult, and damn, he is right. Day before the event we were still practicing the piece, and a lot of our members are still having a hard time to adjust. It is so hard for it to blend and make sense lol, especially because some members are doing what the tiktok girl was doing where they’re not matching the timbre and dynamics of the group. And since we did not have our trainer, we basically got screwed in the event. but at least, we were second to the last lol.
this exactly!! i really want to hear professionals sing using this harmony, honestly scratched my brain right
as a metal head its crazy to see discourse about whether something sounds "perfect" enough
Dude that harmony sounds awesome tiktok just sucks at appreciating anything creatively unique. The dissonance fits the song so well too as it creates a haunting vibe that complements theme of the song perfectly, the end of the world
Edit: I'm also obsessed with the Bulgarian womens choirs so maybe this is just to my taste
yeah, the way it builds up and eventually climaxes in the "..bomb locks in" part - awesome, goosebumps
I'm obsessed with the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack so I guess our tastes would align somewhere lmao
I sent the tik tok to all of my friends who are professional musicians and "awesome" was not a word used by any of them haha
It's not just in Bulgaria. Its all over Balkans, and my ear is quite used to it.
Dissonance is an acquired taste, like lemons on tequila, or vodka and pickles, or aged seal blubber, culture and environment shape us all
Even if the harmony doesn't match there is absolutely no reason to harass someone for a harmless tik-tok duet... I even liked it even if it might not be "a fitting harmony"
Right? Like she could have been pitchy, messed up the lyrics, and farted at the end and I'd still say your a dick to harass a stranger over a harmless tiktok
You fail to realize how the average internet gremlin's mind works. They do not think in the same metrics as a normal person.
Well I guess they found a reason
it’s just tik tok being tik tok it happens to everyone, unfortunately :/
Adam just want those tiktok girls doin it right. Not as free as they want while it sucks!
I liked the tiktok, dissonance helps give something an eerie tone and the song is literally talking about atom bombs.
Can't have dissonance in my straight pop background ballad about death by atom bombs.
its also about donald trump and theresa may being in love, which makes me as uncomfy as dissonance does so theres that lol
its so weird because reverb/dissonant remixes are HUGE on tiktok, its why the video went viral in the first place (it resonated with most users who got it shared on their FYP). The people flooding the comments with hate were just honestly jealous babies. I'm glad Neely decided to make a video on this
@@kamalei2888 nooo stop
Really interesting stuff here. Love music theory. The funny part is that this video was recommended to me because im addicted to Bulgarian Folk music/ chants. Absolutely love the minor notes they use and half steps. I recently caught some diminished dissonance too!
Every classical major is handed the Johann Fux "Study of Counterpoint" on day one, and I'm convinced it's simply a maturity test. (If so, I failed.)
@Quantum Passport yeah same
@Quantum Passport Sounds like "fucks"
Did you even watch the video before commenting...?
Not as of 2019, thank god
@Quantum Passport Fux solidified counterpoint as a complete system of melodic harmony, seperating them into distinct species. It's like the tutorial level at the start of the game but some people sadly never get past the tutorial and treat it like the whole game.
"Jake, lunch is ready! Get down here!"
"Mom! I'm busy enforcing European standards for polyphonic aesthetics on Tik Tok!"
Fr
To be fair all of europe has a quite diverse sound. From bulgarian like in the video. To hungarian. Greek. Spanish. Just a whole lot of sounds. I think a "germanic" sound is what most westerners think sounds good
F*ckn Jake
@@larsheuker that was informative, thanks
this made me cackle 😂
"western European polyphonic aesthetics are being relentlessly upheld as what is 'good' or 'correct' on social media"
** every tiktok user has left the chat
But is Adam's explanation as to why it is sufficient?
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer yes, yes it is.
@@johnangelfritzbaylon5327 How? Because they are all informed by a meta-narrative that supports white supremacy? How does he know?
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer nah, just they're unintentionally holding on to what was enforced thousands of years ago. Hes just theorizing anyway, because none of those people who say it's bad can even say why anhway
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer it's not "bad" because it's bad, it's "bad" because it doesn't conform to rules that people have grown up with and had their tastes shaped by. And when they hear something that steps outside of that, instead of going "oh cool" or "oh weird" they act like she's in the wrong, that the music is objectively Incorrect
the broader point is that some white european dudes hundreds of years ago decided what was correct/good and what wasn't, and their rules are still embedded in musical culture today. To the point where people with or without theory knowledge hanging out on tiktok are rejecting anything that doesn't follow those rules or fit with that style, all being the music police
Man, you're my rockstar of music theory. I love the complexity of the analysis that you propose. Not just dropping a rule or a particular personal opinion. That's some top tier harmony/counterpoint class you gave us here. Me, as an enthusiast of vocal harmony and counterpoint since I studied that at the university, I feel really grateful for this content, THANK YOU! You should teach at a music university.
"it's easy to say that something sounds bad"
"but harder to come up with a justification why you feel it sounds bad"
"and harder still to figure out why you selected that particular justification to confirm your own biases."
Damn that's a good quote, Adam!
if something should be allowed to be biased, it's people's taste in art, imo
I don't even think a justification is required
@@menteencoma here's the thing tho: just because YOU dislike it, doesn't mean it's universally bad. That's what he was getting at mostly. I find a lot of modern rap to be bad, but that doesn't mean the rap industry is completely bad. Get it?
@@menteencoma you’re allowed to dislike art without any justification; justification is only necessary if you say that the art is _bad_
And this, my friends, is why you always ask for gut reactions when getting feedback from folks! Most non artists (and sometimes even artists) will not know what the problem with a particular piece of music is, and this occurs everywhere!
Edit: spelling
@@menteencoma you are also allowed to keep your opinion to yourself, and encouraged to, if you can't keep it to yourself, keep it civilized. That's the point of this entire video. A response to uncivilized attack on the way she decided to sing in ''duet''.
"girl who passed music theatre classes with 100% here" "just listen to some classical" Yep that's the way to get back at people for alienating a certain musical concept, well done.
typical classical music elitism zzz
I mean, there definitely is a truth in listening to more complex music and thus appreciating certain musical concepts that aren’t heard in most western pop music, wether that is in classical music or something else more complex. But like, she didn’t have to be so smug about it yyou know
@@iemand2612 yes I do know, that's why I made the comment. I love classical music, it's the only genre of music I listen to (bar one or two bands). I just hated everything about that girls presentation of it - as a reason to claim intellectual superiority.
As a girl who also typically gets 100% in music class, i very much agree that classical music, a genre of music defined by its emphasis of beauty, structure and balance, loved filling it's music with major 7ths, tritones and just general dissonant chords. Sarcasm aside, the girl literally had the whole genre of Jazz right in front of her, and decided to go with classical because it probably made her sound smarter :/
...and it comes full circle. Original person does something and gets shit on, so someone else comes to shit on them, and now here we are shitting on them. Isn't life beautiful?
For some reason, every time I hear a sound, melody, rhythm or music that I makes me feel uncomfortable, far from staying away from it, for some reason I get stuck to it. It bugs me, but the curiosity of _why_ it bugs me gets me so engaged. When I finally find out why, I usually end up liking it.
YES
Same, I think it's mostly because we are attracted by the unknown, since we are used to certain rhytmical and melodical patterns used in popular music everything that doesn't respect them sounds "new" (or at least, my brain works like that)
Let's see if that still applies with these:
ua-cam.com/video/1D3dr4O9Xu0/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/eT4lErdaolQ/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/gRlTbiXF8GI/v-deo.html&t
ua-cam.com/video/iuZHrENKL3w/v-deo.html
100% agreed. Like that one TikTok of the people hitting the door out of time and I just can't unhear it
it's fascinating
This is a really old video, but I feel like a good part of it for me isn't the dissonance itself, but the mixing (or lack thereof). Because it's a tiktok duet, and not an actual mixed piece of music, her harmony overpowers the original in a way that really emphasizes that dissonance in a way that isn't very flattering to the sound.
Great point. I've seen another video with someone singing the same dissonant harmony, but it wasn't as loud as it was in the original. The quieter one was far nicer on the ears. Goes to show how important production and mixing is.
This is the type of stuff that discourages me as a beginner singer, and as both someone who enjoyed the dissonance. If someone can get bullied for creating such a beautiful harmony, I could just imagine the bullying I will get lol.
You gotta make art for your own enjoyment and fulfillment, first and foremost. If you’re enjoying it and improving, an unreceptive audience can’t stop you! :)
Are you making music that you like, or music that others will like?
Metal and punk were built as an underground genre of rebellion against popular opinion, and largely use dissonance; now they're popular. Keep going.
Well, it's TikTok after all
Man this is what I hate about social media. Nobody’s allowed to be bad at something, nobody’s allowed to try new things that don’t work out. It’s suffocating.
@@NutyRiver I’ve gone from posting all my WIPs to only posting the stuff I really like, once I’ve sat on them for a while so I can be sure I really want to and it’s not just the rush of finishing.
Not to forget the song is literally about spending the last moments of your existence with your lover as the world ends because of nuclear war, that tension and release is exactly what this song needs, that depression of being certain that it'll all end but that passion and love for dying with the one you love.
Fr, I'm shocked Adam didn't bring up text painting.
Don't keep reading if you don't want to be cursed with knowledge...
The song was originally written to be about Theresa May and Donald Trump. He's later tweeted that the song is no longer about them.
Quote from Genius:
"Maltese said in an interview with Northern Transmissions that the story was that of Theresa May and Donald Trump sharing a night of passion before the coming apocalypse. Maltese stated:
Hopefully it comes across romantic, sexy, but also sinister and stupid. It goes without saying but everything’s a bit sinister and stupid in 2017."
@@joninaninuninus very cursed but v interesting
@@joninaninuninus lmao no way... I picture in my head these dramatic scenes as the world crumbles, and ends... And now this. Be damned. Lol
exactly. the dissonance on LIE resolving on WITH is so apt!!
Someone give this man his Bulgarian citizenship already, he's been working his ass off for it.
Bulgarian girls gave me Lost Boys vampire vibes. lol
Poor man just wants a tasty banichka guilt-free.
Jazz king of Bulgaria: Adam Neely
I’ll tell you this…when I heard that harmony it hit me right in the feels…I tear up everytime. It’s perfect for the context of the song. And isn’t that the point of music? To give us all the feels.
It was so good that two years later I’ve landed here searching for it
The first time I heard it I thought "ooh crunchy" couldn't tell you if I liked it. By the third or fourth exposure it sounded great.
Almost like repetition legitimises.
And context is important.
0:04
right. the early part sounds off but at the end it feels good
To me it sounded natural the first time - seriously. Explore bands like Anathema and Valensia Clarkson ;)
As someone who grew up on jazz with it's much more forgiving approach to dissonance and reharm, the 'wrong' version of this harmony is just so delicious and evocative to me. A love song at the end of the world seems so appropriate for dissonance.
I also felt that the harmony sou d fine to me. My only "gripe" was how high her vocals wer in the mix. The fifth greatest on me if it is loud.
I like the “wrong” version too, but not because it's jazz-like. I'm actually not that much into jazz because the dissonances often sound arbitrary and lose their impact when the ensemble blends them together to a “good sound”, but in that video it's precisely the stark, unpolished nature of the fifths harmony that makes it really powerful IMO.
@@leftaroundabout "arbitrary" in context of music is something else
I don't know... I also care about the intention. I don't like dissonance for the sake of dissonance or dissonance as a glaring mistake.
@@dopaminecloud i think he means a lot of times there is no reason for so much crunch in chords except for the fact that its jazz and you feel obligated to.
That E on the "lie" is the best bit in that harmony, I can't get enough of it, gives me shivers, the way it descends in to the D on "with" is just so satisfying.