Hello there, it is your friendly neighborhood music major and Monsta X stan back again with some information that you probably don’t need but are going to see anyway, haha. Today on the agenda is a list of releases up until now (including the two No.Mercy songs), and the key they’re in.
Personal thoughts and comments below the cut. Warning: extreme nerdiness.
Alright so before I start, here’s a quick guide to keys and some things I’m going to talk about in just a sec.
sharps / flats minor key Major Key
n/a (0) a minor C Major 1 sharp e minor G Major 2 sharps b minor D Major 3 sharps f# minor A Major 4 sharps c# minor E Major 5 sharps g# minor (a♭ minor*) B Major 6 sharps / 6 flats d# minor / e♭ minor F# Major 7 sharps / 5 flats a# minor / b♭ minor C# Major / D♭ Major 4 flats f minor A♭ Major 3 flats c minor E♭ Major 2 flats g minor B♭ Major 1 flat d minor F Major
* -- Some people prefer to think in the seven flats of a flat minor instead of in g sharp.
-----------------------------------------
‘Adding the leading tone’: A standard minor scale uses scale degrees 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, and ♭7. However when the leading tone is added, it becomes 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, and ♮7. This gives a brighter sound to a song with a minor key.
Other terms: ‘dominant’ -- the fifth scale degree (5, usually having a major sound, even in minor where it is supposed to be minor)
Honestly I’m not too big a fan of either of the No.Mercy era songs, but I find it really interesting how the first is in the minor dominant key of the second,,, it was probably unintentional but a lot of Starship’s artists must be on the same wavelength lmao
Trespass: Now I’m like 900% sure that I’ve listened to the entire Trespass EP before, but some of these songs seemed pretty new to me as I was doing my proper research for this post. Anyways, isn’t it interesting how keys are paired? Trespass and No Exit are in the same key, as well as One Love and Honestly. It’s done more than you probably think, and is a good tactic and flow thing. Interstellar, of course, is a bit of an outlier since it was composed and performed during No.Mercy.
Rush: I personally love the key of A Major, but for some reason Amen and Broken Heart are bottom two in my preference on this album? Also I always forget of how good a jam Gone Bad is until I listen to it. Hero is the only song I’ve found so far in Monsta X’s discography to feature a non-chord tone in it: the A natural isn’t in its home key of f minor, and I believe it to be borrowed from the parallel major, F Major.
The Clan pt. 1 -- Lost: For some reason, this is the beginning of Monsta X’s journey into the land of crazy keys,,, Unfair Love is in g#/a♭ minor for instance?? who does that? (well, I have a probable answer: guitarists. I have yet to do research but I suspect that many of the songs on this album and the next one are written/co-written/arranged by a guitar player or players.) Of course, it might also be where it fit the boys’ voices best at the time, or the nature of MX’s changing sound. Here, on this album, we start to move away from the strict hip-hop base of Trespass and Rush and into a more electro-pop style. This album also features Stuck, which even in analyzing it here gave me a surprise. I’ve been saying for months that it’s in a minor key, however I realized while making this list that I was completely incorrect. It’s actually in E Major, but the verses are based around the minor vi chord, c# minor. I am shook !!
The Clan pt. 2 -- Guilty: More guitarist-written material??? Look at the flats :O This album is also very heavily in minor keys, with White Love being the only track in a Major one. Many people say that Fighter was totally different in sound than anything that came before it, and I am in partial agreement; it’s not actually all that far off from All In and Hero, but compared to Trespass, No Exit, and Rush....wow
The Tiger Moth: I have one thing to say. STOP SLEEPING ON THIS TRACK
The Clan part 2.5 -- Beautiful: We see a little bit of key pairing again. I think it’s also worth mentioning that Wonho’s two songs are in the simplest two keys on the album, d minor (Oi) and C Major (I’ll Be There). We’re also returning to simpler keys in general. Though seriously,,, All I Do is in g#/a♭ again???? I guess it’s alright, though, it’s one of my more favorite tracks on the album.
Shine Forever Repackage: Shine Forever and Gravity definitely added to the overall sound of Beautiful. Both songs are in simpler keys, too, Gravity being in that pleasing C Major and Shine Forever being in the often-mysterious sounding d minor.
Newton: I definitely get summer vibes from this track, and that’s no doubt in part because of the D Major key, which is very summer-y in itself. Also while I’m here on this song, I’ve just been feeling that Shownu is straining in his vocals a lot lately. It just doesn’t seem as natural as it once used to, on their first two releases. I hope he takes care of his voice. :((
This only deepens my curiosity, whether the boys know about these sort of things when they’re learning / recording / performing,,, or if they just learn a melody and sing it in whatever key they’re asked?? I don’t know if I’ll ever get answers, but it’s interesting to speculate.