Devil In A New Dress, Take The A Train

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Throughout this course, I have been introduced to numerous new songs and variations of music over the last ten weeks. I’ve chosen three new songs from the selections which stood out to me to compare the musical elements of. These three songs are: “Devil in a New Dress” by Kanye West, “Take the A Train (1962)” by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, and “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift. These songs vary vastly from one another regarding time period, genre, and the style of the performers themselves, so it will be interesting to see their differences and similarities. I will be specifically focusing on the timbre and rhythm of the songs, essentially drawing on the overall sounds and rhythmic factors. Kanye West’s, “Devil in a New Dress” is quite popular …show more content…

This is a classic jazz piece with a consistent pulse driven by the rhythm section (drums and double bass). The walking bass line definitely emphasizes the pulse and provides a strong foundation. It does happen to be in a 4/4 meter like the previous song, but jazz musicians often like to play around with the meter by adding their own variations and also “swinging” the beat. Swing refers to the rhythm in which beats are divided unevenly. This gives it an incredibly distinct “jazz” sound and also shows that the song will be different every time it is played based on the performer’s decisions. This is a key aspect of jazz and is what separates it as a genre. Syncopation goes hand-in-hand with the swing and leads to unusual accents on offbeats or unexpected parts. The tempo can vary per performance as well depending on the musician’s mood and style, but in this case it also sounded moderate. The timbre of this song is significantly rooted in traditional jazz instrumentation, consisting of brass, woodwinds, piano, double bass, and drums. The nature of these being acoustic instruments –rather than electronic—contributes to the rich and warm ensemble sound. This song also features a few soloists such as the alto saxophone and muted trumpet which are their own unique timbres separate from the collective tone. …show more content…

Unlike the other two songs, the beat is driven by a combination of electronic percussive sounds and what sounds like live acoustic percussion. I have seen videos of Taylor’s performances before and she does have a band performing live on some instruments, but there is also a heavy backing track to cover the electronic sounds. This seems to be reflected in her studio recordings as well, seeing as how I can distinguish the sounds within the song. Once again, it is in a 4/4 meter providing a stable structure. The tempo can also be considered moderate, providing a lively and energetic feel. It seems like the idea behind these pop songs is to create something catchy and fun. I believe this song exhibits a variety of rhythmic patterns and catchy percussion elements that drive the song and make it “danceable”. It stays consistent throughout and is also synchronized with the dynamics, adding intensity whenever there are buildups or breakdowns in the music. It does however sound more monotone in the sense that all the instruments and sounds sort of blend together (which would be consistent with contemporary pop). In Kanye’s song, there was a lot less going on in the music which made the sounds that came out much more distinguishable and gave it depth. In “Take the A Train”, we also hear very separate layers as if you could break it down by section. The

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