There seems to be this trend in lots of modern music, across genres, where the song will be coming around for a repeat of the chorus and then it ticks up in pitch for that section, then drops back down for the ending of the song.
What is the purpose of this? What is it called? Is it supposed to produce some kind of mood? My level of music understanding is “major = happy, minor = sad” and that’s about as far as I go. Please go on the music theory.
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it’s an easy way to keep the listeners attention. key changes, tempo changes, chord progression switchups. all just ways to keep the listener engaged and keeping movement in the song.
if you look at classical music you’ll find a lot more expression. constant dynamics changes, frequent tempo changes, and plenty of key/scale changes.
edit: it could also be to achieve a specific mood or vibe as well like you said. they could go Major in a Minor song to allow a sort of uplifting section of an otherwise sad song, or emphasize the “motif” of the song if that makes sense.
in essence, it’s all about expression and retention. listeners find it engaging, and it’s another tool musicians can use to express what they want their music to feel like.
Do you have an example? Sounds like you’re talking about a key change. The Ramones “I Wanna be Sedated” has one. It’s just a cool way to make the song more interesting. There’s no real point to it. It could be done because the singer can’t sing that high for a whole song. Sometimes musicians will play songs at a lower tuning live so the singer can hit the notes better but that’s different from what you’re talking about.
It is called a modulation (it doesn’t always go up, it can sometimes go down). But many songs have a common structure such as :- intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro
The bridge part is usually fairly short so the listener gets two chorus parts fairly close to each other which can sound too repetitive. To add interest or “lift” to the song and sort of signal an end, one common technique is to modulate the last chorus before the end. This makes it feel different from the just heard chorus.
that’s the key change. it makes it sound more interesting. keep the audience entertained, basically
My favorite of all time is “livin on a prayer”, which not only has a key change but also [drops a beat](https://youtu.be/lDK9QqIzhwk?si=L09P1UA7s6CKpgcR&t=200) from the song, which really snags the listener’s attention
I think my fave is Man In the Mirror, lots of Gospel based tunes have modulation (key changes).
It’s what put Barry Manilow on top of the charts, and inspired Ray Stevens to write “I Need Your Help Barry Manilow” https://youtu.be/EsDXljjit30?si=2zVJA5bhRymW_z3c
Historically, the most popular way to listen to music was on the radio. With the way radio played continuous music, you would often tune in part way through the song. And with it being less than a few minutes long, it was fine to have it all the same tune throughout. Songs were recognizable because of their tune at any location within the song.
Since the invention of the digital CD player, and subsequent digital media, it’s much more common to play a song from start to finish in its entirety. So music had to evolve. Now the begining and end are the most recognizable parts, and the middle-ish often has a key change to maintain the listener’s attention.
Is that when the Bridge starts happening?
I call it the happy key change, it seems to lift the spirits of the listener, almost like a minor to major key, it works the same way
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