Basically, songs go through some rudiments beforethey are composed. Majority of music consumersdo not take into consideration these rudiments puttogether to make a song rock.
Reviewing the various sounds been composed andanalyzing the songs for consumers to appreciatewhat it takes to make music and educating newmusicians on musical techniques they can employto aid them write good songs is away we areassisting Ghana’s music industry.
“Therapy” by award winning international Dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy is going to be reviewed this time.
This song was Co-written with Daramola.
Produced and mixed by Izy Beats and Supa Dups
Musical elements
Vocal melody: The vocal melodies of this song areso much in tune. The chorus has a very interestingmelodic pattern. The chorus has a kind of melodythat would be easily remembered. Commercially,the melody of “Therapy” is alacrity; there isconsistency, congruity and uniformity in the vocalquality of Stonebwoy. His vocal quality is very richin texture for which I personally give thumbs up forthat. The singer through his vocal expressionsshowed how emotive he is about the lyrics he sings. The vocal melodies have the ability to be inyour head for days.
Lyrics: The lyrics of the song are very meaningful.Stonebwoy employed foreseeable and pleasinglyrics to show the originality of the song. Thewords and phrases of the song were not just usedfor their meanings. The lyrics truly show thesounds and natural rhythmic traits of the song. Thelyrics of this song “Therapy” has the ability forlisteners to relate easily because the lyrical contenttackled exactly what most lovers go through in their relationships .That is a good strategy, yeah.
Key Signature: F minor
Camelot Wheel: 4A
Background Chords: F minor – E flat major (VI –V)
Meter: Four crotchet beats in a bar
Instrumental arrangement
Rhythm: There is a cool down beat and strongengaging rhythm in the song that grabs and carriesyou along. That is a good feature in Afro beats with a Caribbean feel. In addition, there is coherenceand conviction with the rhythmic style used –Ostinato.
Instrumental variety and balance: If a song has arich variety of interesting instruments, it may bemore distinctive and memorable. “Therapy” hasessential variety of interesting musical instrumentslike Synths, percussions and pad that wereemployed in the instrumentation to bring out theAfro beat effect.
The instrumentation has a backgroundrepresentation of pure Afro beat with a Caribbean vibe this is so creative of the producer, Izy Beats.
Digital effects: The use of digital effects in this production was accurate. One could still feel theoriginality of Stonebwoy’s vocal texture and theother accompanying musical instruments eventhough there were some delays, reverbs and pitchcorrection VST plugins like the Auto tune used.There can never be a substitute for musical quality.The mixing engineer did a great job on that.
Artiste’s musical qualities
MELODIES: Catchy, tuneful, shapely, melodious,memorable and original.
VOCALS: The vocal production of Stonebwoy is distinctive, attractive, appealing, confident, clear,stylish, impressive and powerful.
LYRICS: Original, amusing, thought provoking,inspiring, heart-warming, meaningful, and clever.Stonebwoy has his unique style of writing lyricsthat have strong commercial potential.
ARTISTE: Stonebwoy is a great performer, talented, imaginative, creative, competent, carefuland sounds natural.
Above all, he is a good recording artiste.
Overall musical qualities of the song
STRUCTURE: The song has a familiar arrangementof sections–Intro, Verses and Chorus. This structureis easy for the average listener to vibe with it.
Ultimately, this makes the song more commerciallyattractive.
PERFORMANCE QUALITY: One can still get afeel of how much the artiste enjoy and believe inwhat he does.
Again, one can feel that, the performer is technically brilliant; vibrant performer who is fullof confidence, conviction, style and flair. Theseperformance qualities are far more attractivecommercially.
PRODUCTION AND RECORDING QUALITY: Theinstrumental accompaniments are balanced,rhythmic, engaging, smooth, creative, solid,original, exciting, powerful, good vocal – instrumental balance and ethereal.
The production quality of this song is on point.Performing “Therapy” live would not be much of aproblem for instrumentalists. Theseinstrumentalists do not need to employ much digital effects to make the song sound originalbecause of the samples used in the production ofthe song.
Panning, side chaining, reverb; equalizing andspatial techniques used in the mix of the soundhave made it a good – vocal instrumental balancedsong.
REVIEW RATING.
This is a great song and performance. The melodyis catchy and tuneful. Stonebwoy has attractivevocal tones and put real feelings into the lyrics he produces. The lyrics are interesting and meaningfulwith some memorable punchy phrases.
Instrumentally, the song has a rich, fullaccompaniment that complements the vocal tracksperfectly.
Overall, the song sounds distinctive and original,and I think it has strong commercial potential and it is a love banger.
Written by Libeson Beatz / Blogger Kobby Kyei
