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A piano teacher analyzes BABYMETAL by key. BABYMETAL DEATH, Megitsune, and more.

A piano teacher analyzes BABYMETAL by key. BABYMETAL DEATH, Megitsune, and more.
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Here, we will analyze and explain BABYMETAL’s songs in terms of key (tonality).

I hope it can serve as a hint or inspiration for composition and related work.

Image and key of the music

piano

http://o-dan.net/ja/

Many pieces of music have meter, key, harmony (chord progressions), and melody.

When I’m about to start sight-reading, the first things I check are the time signature and the key.

Also, when I’m planning to give a concert and deciding the order of the pieces, I often find myself strongly conscious of the keys (tonality).

When making a CD, the relationship between the track order and the key seems to be close-knit.

When I compose, I first think about the time signature and the key based on an image.

In this way, I quite often consciously sense the 'tonality.'

One time, while I was talking with my husband—who plays and listens to music as a hobby—he was extremely surprised.

「THE ONE feels divine because it's in C-sharp major. The composer chose this key on purpose, right?」

Something like that,

「Huh!? Really? It’s terrifying how my senses are being manipulated by 'tonality.'」

I got that response.

So, thinking it would be interesting, I decided to take BABYMETAL’s songs and…tonalityI decided to analyze it from the perspective of “X.”

We will present explanations of all the tracks in four installments.

「tonalityIn classical music, this has been used consciously and is sometimes associated with synesthesia.

I’ll write about synesthesia in another article, so I won’t go into it this time.

I also, as I mentioned earlier, choose the key that I think is closest to the image when I compose.

This is just my personal sense, and it’s a subtle difference, but it’s also something that’s introduced in books.

Although it is currently out of print, the characteristics of keys are summarized on the following website.

Music Trivia: Characteristics of Keys

I think the person who expressed it in words in the original work did a truly wonderful job.

We could also give a brief explanation about key and tonic, as well as key signatures (sharps and flats), but it would get long and feel like a lesson, so we’ll skip it here (lol).

Analysis of the music

Then, along with quotations about the characteristics of the keys, let’s analyze each piece.

For reference, I will also include the number of accidentals (sharps or flats).

Because I feel that the more sharps and flats there are, the stronger the coloration becomes.

Also, when major (bright-sounding) and minor (dark-sounding) keys have the same number of accidentals (sharps or flats), they are more prone to modulation and share a relationship.

I also think the choice of key is related to how easy it is to perform.

On the piano, the more sharps or flats there are, the more black keys are involved.

And it makes it harder to play, harder to sing, harder to catch the notes, and it gives off a more enigmatic feel.

Since BABYMETAL’s songs are performed with string instruments (guitar and bass), there are certain keys that are played more frequently.

When it comes to metal, there’s a key that’s considered standard.

They are the open strings: E (key of C), A (key of A), D (key of D), and G (key of G).

Each has both major and minor forms, and there are also chord progressions that particularly emphasize only the root bass note using power chords.

To achieve an even darker expression, a seventh string tuned to B (in the key of B) is also used.

Furthermore,Half-step down / Whole-step down tuningSongs by BABYMETAL that do things like this seem to allow for key choices that evoke a darker metal feel.

Analyzing it from the perspective of key/tonality is very interesting and allows for a deeper understanding of the piece.

Not only will you be able to feel the piece you are currently performing more deeply, but it should also benefit your composing and arranging.

Above all, let’s discover the greatness of the songs together and enjoy BABYMETAL.

Now, let’s take a look at each song one by one.

You’ll start to see a truly fascinating world. (From here on, I’d like to add colors, but since I don’t have enough knowledge about the relationship between color and impression and want to avoid conveying a misleading impression, I will refrain from adding color. Thank you for your understanding.)

BABYMETAL DEATH

B-flat minor(Along with A-flat minor, suitable for a funeral march.)gloomyDepressing and tragic) Key signature: five flats

This song is the opening track on the first album.

This track really leaves an impression that this CD is heavy metal.

Because it's in a key where the 7th string B is tuned down by a half step.

As a song, it’s just introducing one’s name—a self-introduction track.

However, as for the music,Strong heavinessis asserting.

Although tuning down a whole step would make it lower, I think they chose not to because they wanted to take advantage of the appeal of the key of B-flat minor.

If you lower it by a whole tone, it becomes the key of A minor, which has no key signature and results in a relatively gentle tonality.

The key of A minor is said to have the following character: simple, naïve, gentle sadness. It is the most feminine and can also evoke feelings akin to devout resignation.

Since even a half step can change the feel this much, it’s really something to be careful about.

Vixen

F minor(In a tragic tone,melancholy, dark passion) four flats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK3NMZAUKGwIt seems well-suited to expressing Japanese aesthetics.

By the way, this is the only song on the album that uses F minor.

When it comes to Japanese songs, the national anthem comes first.

The national anthem uses a uniquely Japanese scale that resembles D minor.

This is “Megitsune,” written in this key, which is close to the mood of D minor yet carries an unsettled excitement.

If we put it in D minor, it ends up sounding too austere. The gap with the character becomes too wide.

Also, resonating lower pitches would fall into a range that was still too mature for Su-metal at the time, making it impossible for her to produce.

By the way, when I searched for F minor, the following pieces caught my eye.

This piece is also in F minor.

Here, you can hear sounds reminiscent of traditional Japanese taiko drums.

Summer Festival – Whiteberry

Gimme Chocolate!!

EPower chords in E minor—sorrow, grief, unease.In fast songs, it becomes intensely ferocious.) #1 piece –E major（radiantlymild and delightful.nobleKey signature with four sharps (E major/C-sharp minor)

In the prelude, there are notes from E down into the range used on the 7th string.

Since the lowest note is not E, the lightness of E is lost,darkIt is made to order.

Even before the vocals come in, the bass line keeps repeating E–F.

Since F appears, we can’t call it E minor (which would have F♯), but it does include characteristics of E minor.

Does that mean the warped worldview is also reflected in the tone?

If you let power chords alone dominate a song, it stops being BABYMETAL.

By modulating to E major in the chorus,That distinctive sparkly vibe unique to BABYMETALIt comes up, right?

However, the performance continues in E.

With the third note C♯ appearing in the chorus, the performance is also in E major, but it's basically using power chords.

It’s a single track that expresses BABYMETAL while retaining a sense of metal.

Perhaps the groundbreaking part was that it shifted to E major.

Also, while “BABYMETAL DEATH” and “Megitsune” are in flat-key signatures, this song is in a key with four sharps, which is a striking contrast.

By bringing in an E power chord, you can segue into Gimme Chocolate!! without it feeling out of place.

Nice!

C-sharp minor(One of the darkest tones. Brutal, ironic, and tragic,eerie) ♯ four–G major（young peopleTone, sincerity, meditation, grace. Quiet.rural; pastoral; bucolicAtmosphere. Also called the tone of spring) #1

It's in the same key with four sharps as 'Gimme Chocolate!!'.

This flow is very natural.

But what a surprise! Right at the chorus, there's a sudden modulation to G major.

It suddenly became refreshing. It even feels wholesome.

Speaking of G major, I—blue skyIt reminds me of “”.

The dark world is "nightIt evokes/recalls/associates with “”.

You really pulled it strongly toward BABYMETAL, didn’t you?

I think this is why a sense of familiarity arises.

I expressed metal in C-sharp minor.

And actually, right before the chorus, it pretends to move to E major with four sharps.

The part that goes “All alone ~”.

E major is a key that appeared once in Gimme Chocolate!!.

However, no one would have thought it would modulate to G major.

It defies expectations—if anything could be called a foreshadowing, it would be the A minor chord two chords before the chorus—and then makes a surprising move in the chorus to G major, a third above.

After the chorus ends, it immediately returns to the original C-sharp minor.

It dives boldly into G major, only to snap back so quickly that you’re left wondering what that was—so you can’t help but expect another G major chorus to come around.

Fusion of metal and idolsIt seems to be themed around (something).

Akatsuki

C-sharp minor（Dark and mysterious, yokai-like, yet passionate) ♯ three

Su-Metal's characterI think they considered how to create it and chose the key of C-sharp minor.

In the same sharp keys, B-sharp minor (#2) feels a bit fragile, while C-sharp minor (#4) feels strong and masculine—it even gives off a distinctly metal vibe.

E♯5 in infant G minor is beautiful.

This is good too, but the song’s vocal range might be on the high side.

Akatsuki also feels nice in this key.

If high-pitched sounds are okay, that is.

This key of G-sharp minor, along with B major which also has five sharps, has not yet been used by BABYMETAL.

It feels like a slightly more mature song would suit it.

I think I’ll take on the challenge in the next album.

It was just my own guess and wish. There’s no basis for it at all (lol).

After all, maybe C-sharp minor is the one that can balance metal and beauty just right.

Also, despite being a relatively long piece, the fact that it consistently remains in F-sharp minor makes me feel as though it expresses a single, strong conviction running throughout.

Do-Ki-Do-Ki☆Morning

A major（Radiant, full of confidence and hope。simple, pure, cheerful, sincere(suitable for such feelings) #3

Since it starts in the same key with three sharps as Akatsuki, there’s no sense of incongruity in the connection between the pieces from a tonal perspective.

Why can we say it doesn’t feel out of place? Because in tonality there is a concept known as closely related keys.

Major and minor keys with the same number of sharps or flats (in this case, B-sharp minor of Benitsuki and A major of Doki Doki Morning) are closely related keys.

Because the same scale is basically being used, there is a difference between major and minor keys, but since many of the notes are the same, they sound similar.

Also, keys like C major and C minor, where the tonic “C” is the same, are considered closely related keys, and keys whose numbers of sharps or flats differ by one are also closely related.

This song starts right off with the chorus melody, but actually...A song that's mostly metal-leaning, with only the chorus in A major.It is.

And the metal section moves around a power chord of A or D as its axis.

Therefore,The chorus, which expresses the cuteness of the three members up front, actually makes up only a small part of the whole song, yet it begins and ends with the chorus—and only the chorus is in an exceptionally bright A major—so the overall construction leaves a very strong impression.It has become ~./It is ~ now.

Of course, melody and rhythm have a great influence as well, but here I will focus solely on tonality.

So they were three people who only took the tasty parts, huh? (lol)

It’s like saying, ‘Forgive me because I’m cute,’ isn’t it?

The guitar riff in the darker part expresses “do-ki-do-ki☆” (a pounding heartbeat).You are doing it, right?

Honestly, it's so wicked that it makes my heart race.

Operation Begging

C minorWithin gentleness, there is a serious passion.tragic power, supernatural emotions, intense emotions) three flat

This key has a very powerful feel; it simply fills me with fear.

It doesn’t evoke particularly complex emotions; rather, it continually imparts a sense of truly supernatural strength.

I think “BLACK BABYMETAL” is meant to evoke a connection with black metal, but BLACK—that is, black—gives an impression very similar to C minor, and probably,C minor is the key of BLACK BABYMETALI believe that is what was stipulated.

BLACK BABYMETAL is begging like that—you can clearly see their dark heart—it really comes through.

In fact, across the two albums, this is the only piece in C minor.

A new song as BLACK BABYMETAL will surely come out on the next album!

I’d like to hope so.

That's it for my analysis of the first half of the 1st album.

I want to analyze it all in one go so I don’t want to split it up, but it’s just too long, so I’ll continue in the next article!

Stay tuned.