NCT 127's latest comeback, Superhuman, features such attractions as being awesome, people floating in the air,
and a combination of standard fancy chords, and some quite unusual for pop.
Let's discuss these in reverse order in this episode of Classical Composer Breaks Down the K.
To understand what's happening harmonically, we need to look at intervals,
and to understand those, we need to look at pitch.
Pitch is a spectrum — a continuum of higher and lower frequencies.
There are no inherent divisions within the nature of pitch.
But, much as we tend to parse the visible spectrum of light into particular named colors like red or orange,
we tend to conceive of frequency in particular named pitches.
And, in much of Western music, as well as in Kpop, there are 12 per octave.
Some musical traditions use different divisions of the octave.
the fact that we categorize into these segments doesn't mean that the points between them don't exist or that we don't hear them;
we can have a pure idea of blue, but we also see how there are many kinds of blue slightly different from each other while still recognizably blue.
We can hear the pitch continuum, but relate the pitches we hear to moving between or being adjacent to the ones we have names for.
The octave is the most basic interval — two notes that sound very similar [plays D4-D5, D5-D4], but with one higher or lower than the other.
Because of this similarity, pitches are named in a repeating cycle of pitch classes: ABCDEFG, If you're from America or a few other places,
or la si do re mi fa sol (라 시 도 레 미 파 솔), If you're from most of the rest of the world, including Korea
I'm using a piano keyboard to show this because it makes the pattern easier to visualize,
but always remember that there is no piano keyboard inherent in the nature of sound.
As you can see, there are other notes between some of these.
The note immediately above another note is that note's name with sharp, and sharp is represented by a symbol (♯) similar to a slightly rotated octothorpe (#)
Although the sharp symbol predates the octothorpe by centuries.
The note immediately below a note is that note's name with flat (♭), represented with a stylized lowercase b.
This means that the same note on the piano can be spelled either A♯, because it's immediately above A, or B♭, because it's immediately below B.
There are reasons why dividing each octave into twelve parts (as opposed to any other number)
has useful properties that explain why that division became common (although it's not universal). But those are beyond the scope of this video
Now that pitch is divided into 12 parts per octave, we can use those parts as units for determining pitch distance.
Each of those 12 divisions is called a semitone, or half-step.
Two semitones are called a whole tone but semitones are a more useful unit, so I'll mostly be talking in those.
So there can be an interval — that is, a distance in pitch — that is three semitones [plays E up to G by semitones],
or two semitones [plays G up to A by semitones], or five semitones [plays A up to D by semitones]. [plays EGAD chord, followed by "YEAAH" from the song]
In some contexts intervals are simply named by the number of semitones,
but more often, they are named in ways that associate intervals of somewhat similar sounds.
Intervals of one or two semitones tend to sound smooth if played in sequence, [plays E-F-G]
because they're so close, but have an active, dense sound if played simultaneously [plays EFG]
These intervals are called seconds: the smaller second — only one semitone — is a minor second [plays E-F], and the larger one — two semitones — is a Major second [plays F-G].
Intervals of three or four semitones tend to have a warm, colorful sound and are called thirds [plays EGB, CEG]
Similarly the smaller one is minor [plays E-G] and the larger is Major [plays G-B]
The interval of five semitones has a pure and stark sound [plays EA]. Rather than being Major or minor, it's called a Perfect fourth.
One semitone larger — that's six semitones — is quite unstable and dissonant — it's called an Augmented fourth or a tritone [plays EA♯]
After this, the pattern reverses — seven semitones is a perfect fifth [plays BF♯, EB], a somewhat more stable complement to the perfect fourth.
Eight and nine semitones are the major and minor sixths [plays EC (a minor sixth) and CA (a major sixth)], with similar properties to the thirds.
And ten and eleven semitones are the sevenths, with similar properties to the seconds [plays ED, FE]
The octave is, as aforementioned, 12 semitones. [plays D4-D5]
This reversal makes sense — imagine if you have a minor third — let's say E up to G [plays E4-G4].
If you move the E up the octave [plays E4-E5], now you have a major sixth [plays E5-G4] —
nine semitones, but because it's another configuration of E and G, it sounds similar [plays E4-G4 (a minor third), E5-G4 (a major sixth)].
There are other types of intervals, like augmented seconds and diminished fourths, but we're not going to deal with them in this video.
Most harmony in Kpop, as well as in some Western classical music, and a lot of jazz, is based on stacking thirds.
The lowest note in the stack of thirds is called the root, and the root is the beginning of the chord's name, like D major or Gm9
3 notes arranged in thirds, like [plays G-B♭-D] are called a triad because "tri-" means three, and there are three notes.
Four notes arranged in thirds, like [plays G-B♭-D-F] are called a seventh chord, because a seventh is the interval between the outermost notes in the chord.
Now, you might be thinking:
Right Sean: Hey Sean, if the one with three notes was called a triad, shouldn't the one with four notes just be called a tetrad?
Left Sean: Yeah, it should be called a tetrad. In related news, it's not called a tetrad.
[The] system for naming chords is messy and poorly designed, but we're stuck with it.
If you add another third up, that's called a ninth chord [plays G-B♭-D-F-A]
Keep stacking thirds and you get 11th and 13th chords [adds C and E on top of the existing Gm9]
In general — and this is a simplification that misses a lot of subtleties, but going into more nuance will have to wait for another video —
the more notes in a chord that are major intervals above the root, the brighter the chord will be,
and the more notes that are minor intervals above the root, the darker the chord will be.
For example a G Major 7th chord (GM7) with a Major 3rd [plays G-B], Perfect 5th [adds D] and Major 7th [adds F♯] above the root [plays GBDF♯] is pretty bright.
By contrast, a G minor 9th chord (Gm9),
with a minor 3rd [plays G-B♭], Perfect 5th [adds D], minor 7th [adds F], and Major 9th, that is a Major second plus an octave [adds A] above the root is somewhat dark.
It's not as dark as it could be, but it's a lot darker than the G Major 7 (GM7) chord.
I realize I'm dropping a lot of names for chords —
if you haven't learned them before don't worry about knowing exactly what each chord name means; just pay attention to the intervals above the root.
So let's start out with a D Major triad [plays D3-A3-D4-F♯4]
This might not look so much like a stack of thirds — D to A is a Perfect 5th, A to another D is a Perfect 4th, and only D to F♯ is a Major 3rd,
but if the A were one octave higher [plays A3-A4], it would be a stack of 3rds [plays D-F♯-A], so it's still a D Major triad.
and the third at the top Is still in the original chord as a [Major] 6th so the sound common to 3rds and 6ths persists.
This highlights how stacking one sort of interval results in other sorts of intervals. Stacking two 3rds [plays D-F♯, F♯-A] creates a 5th [plays D-A].
Adding another 3rd [plays A-C] creates a 7th [plays D-C], which adds the energy that comes with 2nds and 7ths to the sound of the chord.
This is part of why harmonies using a lot of chord extensions — that is, stacks of a few thirds — tend to sound so full and colorful.
The 3rds are vibrant to begin with, but the other intervals resulting from stacking them add a lot to the texture of the chord.
So a progression like D Major [plays D-A-D-F♯] to a G minor 9th chord (Gm9) [plays G-B♭-D-F-A], as happens early in the song,
is a move from a bright, pure chord, to a darker, much thicker, fuller chord, creating a sense of adding depth and of colors blooming out.
In the pre-chorus there's a progression like this:
These are all seventh and ninth chords, so each chord is quite colorful and SHINee,
but while the root isn't moving much, each chord shifts between bright and dark colors.
So each color contrasts with the last, making the others stand out.
Let's look at perhaps the most iconic part of the song, the "YEEAAAH" chord, it's EGAD — that has a 3rd [plays E-G], but also a 2nd [G-A], and a 4th [A-D], [plays E-G-A-D],
and unlike the previous D major triad, there's no way to revoice it into being a stack of 3rds.
Move the G up, and it could be a stack of 4ths [plays E-A-D-G], but under no arrangement is this a chord built of thirds.
And the greater proportion of 4ths or 5ths, with their starker sound, fits the metallic aesthetic of many of the backgrounds or of them transforming beyond humanity
The fact that the "YEEAAAH" chord is so unusual in pop, as well as the fact that it's the entrance of the singers in the song, makes it instantly memorable.
We generally think of melodies as being thematic, because you remember a tune;
in this case, the chord alone can be thematic because it's so striking on its own.
And that's one of the ways that Superhuman transcends — like most Pop, it uses third-based harmony — and does so very effectively,
but it also ascends beyond the limits of regular pop harmony as NCT 127 become Superhuman.
As for floating in the air — after last year, they decided not to Touch...the ground, that is, and instead to follow their Dreams, and Go Up.
As for Superhuman being so awesome, there's a lot that's worth talking about in this song.
This is all that I could cover within one episode of this format,
but if you like this — which is to say if this episode goes over well — I'd like an excuse to talk more about Superhuman.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Classical Composer Breaks Down the K. Now go listen to Superhuman some more.
If you add another third up, that's called a ninth chord.