HIT SONGS AND THEIR OBVIOUS (and not-so obvious) INFLUENCES

There is nothing entirely new under the sun. Every piece of art in every medium, no matter how passé or experimental, is influenced by other works, whether by conscious or unconscious design on the part of the creators. This thread will detail what I believe are influences for some of the biggest songs in music, using research, knowledge of music theory and industry songwriting practices, and just plain old ear. Hope you enjoy and are encouraged to engage and take something away from each entry

- BRAVE

Song

Influence

Background context
Monica’s Angel of Mine was a 1998 chart-topping smash hit. I Want It That Way was written and recorded in Fall that same year, so the timelines add up.

SIMILARITIES

Production:

• A downtempo 90s r&b swing with a double-kick pattern that occurs every bar. The first kick lands on the first beat then the second kick lands two steps after the second beat
• Programmed acoustic guitar and rimshot/programmed drum-based late 90s r&b sound
• The entire song is centered aroun an arpeggio programmed acoustic guitar
• The verses are built around the guitar only for the first half, then build in percussive elements for the second half before including the full production in the hook

Chord arrangement:

• The chord arrangement of the hook is based in a repeating arpeggio IV-V-vi movement with a harmonic rhythm of a whole chord followed by two syncopated quarter chords.
• This movement repeats twice with its third iteration ending on a I chord. The hook resolves with a syncopated quarter-8th note vamp of a few chords.

Melody:

• The main melodic line in the hook is a descending stepwise 8th note melody that travels from the V to the III, ending with a syncopated quarter note interval of VII-I. This line repeats three times, which includes a slight variation at the end of the third iteration with an ascending II-III interval. The final line is a syncopated motif of quarter notes that include the title.
• The title motif (and title) ends each section of the verse

Vocals:

• A soft lead vocal in the verses before explosive full harmonies in the hook

DIFFERENCES from influence

Production:

• Slightly faster tempo; more dance oriented
• More programmed pop sound

Chord arrangement:

• The verses contain a different chord progression from the hook

Melody:

• The main hook line descends in two more steps before its final syncopated quarter note interval
• The hook is made up of less rhythmic information and mostly doesn’t embellish upon its contour
• The hook has a call-and-response structure with a repeating motif (“tell me why”) before each iteration of the main hook line
• The verse melodies are unique from the hook melody
• There is no pre-chorus

Vocals:

• Male pop vocals

It will be a slow burn but this thread will get poppin in due time and so much knowledge will be learned for everyone

🤔 this is making me go hmmmm

Many more to come and feel free to share any songs you feel may be inspired by another. You never know we might find some interesting stuff once we look deeply into it

You talking artist lingo Brave

You know it. It takes an artist to know one

newspaper article that grouped them said '5 Caucasian men who sound like boys 2 men'

@Brave just hits or album cuts too?

Blurred Lines & Marvin Gaye’s discography (vaguely)

Both definitely. It’ll mostly start out with hits cause the influences are easier to trace, but if any of us notices a similarity between a deep cut and another song it should be posted and looked into

That was the intent too. Sideways goes into great detail about the history of it, worth a full watch

definitely hear STRONG similarities

still shouldn’t have ruined the entire music industry with that lawsuit

brave classic btw

Hit song: Lollipop
Influenced: 808s

Song:

Influence:

Vibe: It seems like this album (Nothing Was The Same) ventures from the 808s & Heartbreaks-influenced sound of Drake’s So Far Gone days.

Noah “40” Shebib: The irony is I don’t listen to music. When it comes to 808s, for me, that was an influence of “Say What’s Real.” Drake rapped on Kanye’s “Say You Will” and it sounded so good that I just ran with that, which developed into something that me and Drake embellished upon moving forward.

vibe.com/gallery/exclusive-noah-40-shebib-talks-drakes-nothing-was-same-producing-nas-and-status/noah-40-shebib-vibe-winter-drake-interview_0

Song:

Influence:

VIBE: With its beat progressions, “Tuscan Leather” opens Nothing Was The Same in an epic way. How much time did you spend on the intro?

Noah “40” Shebib: “Tuscan Leather,” that’s where I came from. That’s what I used to make—not to say it’s not a blatant Heatmakers/Dipset beat laughs. I love taking s*** and flipping it. There’s nothing I can’t do. Literally. I’m not trying to be a facetious a******, but I’m serious.

Drake:
I was in Atlanta with 40 and I was like, man, just make me some Dipset, Heatmakerz s*** (from the Stay Down Intro)

vibe.com/gallery/exclusive-noah-40-shebib-talks-drakes-nothing-was-same-producing-nas-and-status

The hit:

The influence:

not sure i’d call Say What’s Real a hit, and it’s not even the right song for the example you’re giving..

Say What’s Real would be the influence, with songs pre-NWTS being the influenced songs

@mods right here

Say You Will was basically the blueprint for Drake's sound at the time. A number of songs on So Far Gone and Thank Me Later could've been used but I decided to go with the first song he recorded with that sound. Which was basically a freestyle over the beat.

but 40 didn’t produce it, that was the song that influenced 40 to produce the other songs

You're right. I got the song to replace it with.

👀