THE CHAINSMOKERS Celecia Paredes Music 1010 Summer 2017

THE CHAINSMOKERS Celecia Paredes Music 1010 – Summer 2017

WHO ARE THE CHAINSMOKERS? • American EDM artist duo, Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall. • Andrew Taggart, born in Portland, ME on December 31 st, 1989. • Alex Pall, born in New York City, NY on May 16 th, 1985.

MUSICAL INFLUENCE Andrew Taggart • Deadmau 5 • Pharrell • Drake • Diplo Alex Pall • Steve Aoki

HONORABLE MENTIONS • First viral hit “#Selfie” • Single, “Don’t Let Me Down”, was on Bilboard Hot 100 for 52 Weeks. • “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Closer”, certified platinum. • Three GRAMMY nominations in 2016. • “Don’t Let Me Down” – GRAMMY winner for Best Dance Recording.

“DON’T LET ME DOWN” • Produced by The Chainsmokers • Wirtten by Emily Warren • Features Daya with the vocals. • From Collage EP

“BLOODSTREAM” • Song on Memories…Do Not Open LP • Produced by Jordan “DJ Swivel” Young, Mac & Phil, and The Chainsmokers • Lyrics by KIN • Background vocals by Phoebe Ryan • Released in 2017

“NEW YORK CITY” • Second track featured on Bouquet – EP • Produced by The Chainsmokers • Vocals by Victoria Zaro • Released in October 2015

“CLOSER” • Produced by The Chainsmokers • Features Halsey and Andrew Taggart on vocals • Inspiration comes from Blink-182 and Taking Back Sunday • Hit #1 in its third week

“DON’T LET ME DOWN” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 0: 00 -0: 12 - Intro 0: 12 -0: 36 – V 1 0: 36 -1: 00 - Chorus Intro to the song starts with the elecritc guitar plaing the melody one chord at a time. At 0: 06 a synthesizer fades in which starts the beat. This continues for 6 seconds. 0: 12 in verse 1 starts with Daya (an alto) on the vocals. This verse is leaning towards minor mode in triple/simple meter. The electric guitar is still playing the melody on single chords behind the vocals. The synthezier continues to produce the beat parallel to the vocals. The chorus starts at 0: 36 with a moderato tempo. The electric guitar continues to play the melody on single chords. At 0: 48 the tempo jumps to allegro with hand claps and drum beats starting on the synthesizer. The hand claps perform overtones on the drum beats. At 0: 57 the synthesizer starts to produce fast paced beats getting ready for the drop, but then there is the “switch up”.

“DON’T LET ME DOWN” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 1: 00 -1: 12 – Chorus add-on 1: 13 -1: 24 – V 2 1: 24 -1: 48 - Chorus The drop “switch up” happens in the chorus add-on. The tempo goes from allegro to adagio. The synthesizer plays an “electric horn” sound. There is a rest in vocals until 1: 04, then Daya comes in, and then another rest until 1: 08. The synthesizer goes from a high pitched “horn” sound, to a low pitched “horn” sound. Verse 2 starts in the same manner as the first verse. Daya is singing different lyrics; however, the electric guitar comes back to play the main melody. This verse is in triple/simpe meter. The second verse is shorter than the first verse. The chorus repeats all of the same elements for a second time.

“DON’T LET ME DOWN” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 1: 49 -2: 13 – Chorus add- 2: 13 -2: 24 - Bridge on 2: 24 -3: 28 – Chorus The second chorus add-on Once the post-chorus ends, a follows the same pattern as the bridge starts. The tempo goes first one; however, it is longer. from adagio to allegro. The synthesizer plays a trumpet sound. The bridge is in triple/compound meter with a hand clap on every third beat. Daya does vocals over her own vocals. The last chorus starts with vocals and the electronic piano playing parallel to each other. At 2: 36 the normal flow of the chorus starts until the song gets to 3: 00. Once we hit the three minute mark we see a retrun of the tempo and melody from the bridge. The song starts to fade out with horn and xylaphone acoustics at 3: 15 till the end.

“BLOODSTREAM” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 0: 00 -0: 12 - Intro 0: 12 -0: 52 – V 1 0: 52 -1: 14 – Chorus The song starts with a piano introduction playing the melody. The gloomy keys indicate that the song will be played in the minor key. There is also an electric guitar playing the overtones of the piano about every ten seconds starting at 0: 15 seconds. The piano continues to play into the first verse with male vocal accompaniment. At 0: 33 in the electric guitar becomes more pronounced, and the drums start to put empasis on the beat. The verse is in triple/simple meter. The chorus starts at 0: 52 with a synthesized cymbal crash. The main vocals are done by a male voice with Phoebe Ryan (an alto) doing subtle background vocals. The bass guitar plays single chords throughout the chorus until 1: 04. At 1: 04 the synthesizer produces quick beats leading up to the drop.

“BLOODSTREAM” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 1: 14 -1: 36 – Chorus addon 1: 36 -1: 56 – V 2 1: 56 -2: 17 - Chorus At 1: 14 the chorus goes instrumental. There is a mashup of the drums and the cello playing harmonics over the electric keyboard. At 1: 23 the male voice sings “yeah I meant it”, then the chorus goes back to instrumental. The second verse follows the same flow as the first verse, except it is about 10 seconds shorter. At 1: 45 Phoebe Ryan comes in with background vocals. The same instruments in the first verse are present in this verse. The flow of the second verse goes right into the second chorus; however, there is more accompaniment from the bass guitar throughout this chorus.

“BLOODSTREAM” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 2: 17 -2: 39 – Chorus addon 2: 39 -3: 00 - Bridge 3: 00 -3: 44 - Chorus This chorus add-on follows the same flow as the first chorus add -on. At 2: 26 the male vocals sing “yeah I meant it”, and then goes back to instrumental. When the bridge starts the male vocals crescendo and Phoebe Ryan does background vocals starting at 2: 42. The instrumentals follow the same flow as the first and second verse, except the piano plays one major key throughout. At 3: 00 the vocals stop completely and the synthesizer plays synthesized harmonic voices and “footsteps”. At 3: 05 synthesized drum beats fade in with male vocals at 3: 09, then the instrumentals go back to their original flow. The male vocals sing “yeah I meant it” throughout the ending chorus.

“NEW YORK CITY” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 0: 00 -0: 31 – V 1 0: 31 -1: 02 – Chorus 1: 02 -1: 32 – Chorus addon The song starts right away with vocals by Victoria Zaro (an alto), with a tune in the minor key. There is instrumental accompaniment by the piano and violin. The piano plays a single key on evey 9 th count. When the chorus starts the piano becomes more involved and does an overlap of itself. It plays simple keys in the background, as well as, it continues to plays on every 9 th count or so; but with multiple keys. The drums also take the place of the violin. At 1: 02 in the sythnesizer starts with a mashup of sounds. At 1: 10 Zaro contiues vocals, and at 1: 13 another mashup of synthesizer sounds come in. At 1: 17 there is slight drop, and the synthesizer adds in another mashup and then fades out to start the second verse at 1: 32.

“NEW YORK CITY” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 1: 32 -1: 47 – V 2 1: 47 – 2: 17 – Chorus 2: 17 -2: 33 – Chorus addon The second verse starts with the violin making an apperance again. The tempo is more upbeat, but still in the minor key. The snare drum makes an apperance in this verse, as well as some synthesized “shakers”. The electric piano plays on the downbeat in this verse. The instrumentals of the second verse flow right into the chorus, but with a more pronounced piano playing. At 2: 02 the snare drum stops, and at 2: 08 a synthesized mashup can be heard fading in. At 2: 15 there is a silent rest, preparing for the drop, and Zaro sings “tonight”. This chorus add-on differs from the first one in that it is conjunct and there is a smooth synthesizer mashup.

“NEW YORK CITY” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 2: 33 -3: 03 – Bridge 3: 03 -3: 51 – Chorus The bridge starts with Zaro on vocals, and then harmonic background vocals. There is only instrumentals from the drums until 2: 52, when we begin to hear a synthesizer mashup. Vocals fade out at 2: 56 and the synthesizer mashup is becoming more prominent. At 3: 02 all other sounds stop, and a new synthesized mashup gets us ready for the drop into the chorus. The last chorus has the same flow as the first chorus until 3: 34, at which time the focals and synthsizer fade out. From 3: 34 -3: 51 we hear instrumentals from the piano and violin until they fade out, indicating the end of the song.

“CLOSER” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 0: 00 -0: 10 – Intro 0: 10 -0: 51 – V 1 0: 51 -1: 11 Chorus The song opens with an introduction played by the piano. In the background at about 0: 02 in we hear a synthsized voice and then the meoldy played on a single key by the electric keyboard. We can hear that the song will be in duple/simple meter. Taggart (a tenor) starts the vocals at 0: 10 in. The first verse has instrumentals from the electric keyboard, and synthesized finger snaps. At 0: 20 synthesized hand claps come in, with a mashup playing the undertone. At 0: 31 we here synthesized cymbals crash, and a more mellow piano playing the melody. At 0: 40 we hear handclaps reintroduced. An synthesizer mashup will carry us to the chorus starting at 0: 48. The chorus is vocals accompanied by the piano, untill about 1: 06, when we hear the drums. This will carry us into the chorus add-on.

“CLOSER” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 1: 11 -1: 31 – Chorus addon 1: 31 -2: 11 – V 2 2: 11 -2: 32 – Chorus The chorus flows into the add-on with a conjuct synthesized mashup. At 1: 18 we hear Taggart sing, “We ain’t ever gettin’ older”. Around 1: 22 we hear “handclaps” accompany the synthesizer. At 1: 28 we hear Taggart repeat the previous sung line. Halsey (an alto) starts the second verse with instrumentals by the eletric keyboard and “finger snaps”. At 1: 41 “hand-claps” join in. At 1: 47 we can hear the same synthesized voice fade in. At 1: 51 there is a distinct “hand-clap”, followed by the synthesized cymbals. At 2: 03 Taggart joins in on vocals. At 2: 09 the synthesized voice carries us into the second chorus. The second chorus mimics the flow of the first chorus; the only difference is that the vocals are a duet. The drums come in on 2: 27 and carry us till the chorus add on.

“CLOSER” – MUSIC ANALYSIS 2: 32 -2: 52 – Chorus add-on 2: 52 -3: 34 - Chorus 3: 34 -4: 05 – Chorus add-on The second chorus add-on follows the same flow as the first. We hear the duet vocals around 2: 39 and 2: 49. The “hand-claps” arrive around 2: 42. Halsey fades out, and taggart picks up the vocals to sing the chours until 3: 14, when she joins back in. This chorus has a different flow because it is only the piano playing the melody, with a synthesizeer covering the overtones; until 3: 12. At 3: 12 a synthesizer mashup happens, and at 3: 28 drums come in to carry us to the chorus add-on. Halsey does slight background vocals throughout this chorus add-on. The flow remains consistant with the previous add-on’s. At 3: 4 and 3: 50 the pair sing, “We ain’t ever gettin’ older”. “Hand claps” join in around 3: 42. Around 3: 54 the synthesizer, and all other instruments; except the piano, fade out. The piano carries us until the end of the song and slowly fades out.

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