(G)I-DLE's first comeback, Hann, features lyrics about being alone, unsafe handling of animals, and elegantly-constructed melodies.
Let's discuss these in reverse order in this episode of Classical Composer Breaks Down the K.
Let's look at what makes a melody memorable — what makes it sound like a melody. Hann has good melodies, notably:
But it's possible to have a sequence of notes that doesn't really sound all that much like a melody, for example:
[if you're thinking "hey Sean did you prepare for this video by composing a simple but highly forgettable line," the answer is yes, I did]
Now it's definitely a line, not a chord, like...
...that. And it's even quite singable, but it doesn't really hold together much as a melody, even though it starts with the same five notes as the melody of Hann.
So what's the difference? How does someone go about composing a line that holds together into a satisfying melody?
We can model it in three concepts: recurring figures, rhythmic variety, and a sense of shape
These are things that I think Hann does unusually well, but these principles can be found all over Pop, not just (G)I-DLE,
As well as Western classical, and Jazz, and game music, and probably most genres,
And I recommend after you finish watching this video listening to other melodies you hear with these models in mind — you'll probably find that they apply frequently.
Recurring figures are similar, but often not identical patterns of notes within the melody itself.
I'm not talking about the melody being repeated across the song, but the blocks that the melody is formed of.
Let's look at those in Hann: the figure is a swirl...and a leap up to a repeated note.
And the second time, it's a swirl and a leap down to a repeated note.
Now, none of those notes were the same as the first time, but it's still a pattern of a swirl and a leap to a repeated note.
The third time in the intro and outro is a little different: ...with a larger leap down.
In the choruses the third time starts out the same, but then appends:
...which is a modification of the end of that figure which ended:
...with a leap down to a repeated note, but this time it's a repeated note with a leap up out of it, and then that repeats.
So altogether it sounds like:
Using different versions of the same figure ties the melody together, so it's not just a sequence of notes; it's a few small units that reinforce and relate to each other
And what helps give the melodic figures definition is rhythmic variety.
The swirl is short notes, holds on the last one, and then repeats a note short-long.
And this rhythmic contrast puts the different elements of the figure in relief. if all the notes were approximately the same length,
it would be much less memorable, and the connections between iterations of the figure within the melody would be much less clear.
A lot of how we recognize melodies is by their rhythmic profile.
Let's take the first several notes the melody but make them all the same length:
And let's take off the first three:
And let it continue a different way
And that's the first verse melody
But you probably didn't notice that the first time you heard it, and you probably weren't intended to, because the rhythmic profiles of those melodies are different.
It's subliminal — It's a way that Soyeon and Bick Sancho can make the verse melody feel like it belongs in the same song as the intro/chorus melody,
but have its identity obscured and altered enough that it doesn't feel like you're listening to the same melody that you just heard.
You also might not have noticed that (G)I-DLE's song "For You," composed by Minnie and Houdini,
references the melody that Minnie whistled in Hann, in its chorus, which starts:
Which is not exactly the same as:
But it's mostly the same intervals, but in a different rhythm, so rather than sounding the same, it's a subtle homage.
The pre-chorus and bridge of Hann share a similar connection to each other. The pre-chorus melody goes:
And the bridge goes:
So they both go through these notes:
...with various repetitions, and then turn around at the end.
Unlike with the chorus melody, this sequence of pitches isn't all that memorable.
This makes sense — choruses are generally designed to be the most memorable parts of songs; prechoruses and bridges are generally designed to lead into choruses.
Because the pitches of the pre-chorus and bridge melodies aren't as memorable, almost all of their identity is in their rhythm,
and because those rhythms are different, they sound like different melodies.
But because the pitches are similar, it makes another subliminal connection between sections within the song.
There's also more to it than just having figures recur — it helps to have a shape formed across the multiple iterations of the figure in the melody.
This commonly takes the form of an expansion of range over the course of the melody,
but it can also be that one figure ends open-ended and a subsequent one closes it off.
There are a lot of patterns that can be used to form these shapes,
but one common one, and the one most relevant to the topic at hand, is to have three iterations of the figure,
frequently with the third one a bit longer than the first two.
I learned this concept as tricolon, after the rhetorical device, perhaps most famously used in "vini, vidi, vici," or "I came, I saw, I conquered."
I've heard other people on the channel used "sentence form" to describe the same concept.
Either term works to express the idea that you do a thing, you do a thing again, but a little more, and then you do a thing a third time that completes it.
First phrase...
...opens up space. Second phrase...
...goes a little higher. Third phrase:
...goes longer, expands downward, and ties it off.
There are other ways to do this — you can have a melody that rises with each phrase:
Or a melody that has phrases in pairs rather than threes.
The important thing is not that a melody has a structure exactly like that of Hann,
but that there is some rhetoric or shape across the melody as a whole.
Composing a melody is very much a craft — it's several open-ended concepts to balance, not a magic formula.
I can't go: "What's Your Name? Yes, you — Give Me Your melody and I'll Blow Your Mind by doing one simple trick so you can Put It Straight into a pop song."
But it is something that can be learned, whether by terminology or by studying melodies and practicing composing them,
and it's something that Soyeon and Bick Sancho, as well as Minnie and Houdini, have learned.
As for unsafe handling of animals, we have avoided dangers of electricity and water this time,
But scorpions — scorpions have...hey Soojin, remind me what they have
Soojin: Sharp claws
Sean: Right — those will cut you. Do not touch.
Also don't lick your finger if they do; that's like face touching but worse.
As for the lyrics about being alone, they're reminding us to stay home and avoid spreading viruses unless you work in a health care facility or supermarket.
Just stay home and stream...hey, Future Sean Who Knows the Name of the Comeback, what are they supposed to stream?
Future Sean: Thanks for trusting me to fill that in, Past Sean — Oh my god.
Past Sean: ...
Future Sean: Like "Oh my god" is the title of the new title track. I'm not just saying "oh my god."
Past Sean: Thanks, Future S—
Future Sean: They should do a Queendom reunion, and get Oh My Girl to cover it, so it could be OMG singing OMG.
Past Sean: ...
Future Sean: Anyway, stream Oh my god.
Past Sean: Thanks, Future Sean — do that
Thank you for watching this episode of Classical Composers Breaks Down the K.
If you'd like to watch more episodes of this series, including those on Senorita and Put It Straight, a link to the playlist is in the description.