The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time
Rick BeatoCited 3× on HN, 2022–2023
explainer · intermediate · evergreen · 2022–2023 on HN
Rick Beato analyzes a pop song he argues is among the most harmonically complex ever, breaking down its chords and key changes. It is a music theory deep dive aimed at general music fans.
Cited in discussions of chord complexity and key changes in pop music.
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3 comments from Hacker News
That's amazing, congrats to the authors. Wonder how it would perform on harmonically more complex pop songs (e.g. ▶ this video ).
Reminds me of this breakdown of "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Sergio Mendez: ▶ this video That song makes everything else look like amateur hour. Somehow it hit #4 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1983. I think I'll stick to bluegrass. In G.
The obligatory video is of course "Four Chords" by Axis of Awesome: link Rick Beato has kind of the opposite video about "the most complex song ever": ▶ this video The song in question is Never Gonna Let You Go by Sergio Mendes; plenty of videos exist of it; here's one live: link