Best Key Changes

Same song, one step higher, and suddenly everyone is standing up.

Entries
10
Category
Music
Updated
  1. Five airport-terminal chairs facing a giant window at night, an acoustic guitar leaning against one of them.

    10. I Want It That Way

    Backstreet Boys · 1999

    A major until about 2:25, then up to B major. Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson wrote it, and Carlsson says the guitar intro came from Metallica's Nothing Else Matters. The lyrics have never quite made sense. The key change makes sure nobody minds.

  2. A white dress hanging from a stone balcony, a single rose and a ring box on the railing below.

    09. Love Story

    Taylor Swift · 2008

    After the bridge, the drums speed up and the final chorus jumps a whole step, D to E, just as Romeo shows up having talked to her dad. Shakespeare's version ends with two deaths. Swift's ends with a key change and a proposal, which is a much better business model.

  3. A tin whistle resting on the bow railing of an ocean liner at sunset, a basketball rolling across the deck.

    08. My Heart Will Go On

    Celine Dion · 1997

    E major for the whole voyage, then it modulates up to A-flat at the end, and the tin whistle steps aside. By the late 2010s, YouTube was editing that key change into buzzer-beaters and winning goals. The song is now about every sports comeback that has ever happened.

  4. A twelve-string guitar plugged directly into a vintage recording console, a surfboard leaning against the studio wall.

    07. Wouldn't It Be Nice

    The Beach Boys · 1966

    Eight beats of intro in A major, one drum hit, and the song lands in F, a remote key with no business being there. Composer John Adams said Brian Wilson understood harmonic surprise better than anyone of that era. Most bands save the key change for the end. Wilson opened with it.

  5. A Union Jack-patterned amplifier with a guitar smashed in front of it and four stair steps leading up behind.

    06. My Generation

    The Who · 1965

    The song climbs from G to A to B-flat to C, getting angrier at every step, like the Kinks' You Really Got Me on amphetamines. Townshend tuned down a whole step to record it, which means it is even higher than it sounds. Four keys, two and a half minutes, no patience.

  6. A tall bathroom mirror on an empty gospel stage with choir robes hanging on a rack beside it.

    05. Man in the Mirror

    Michael Jackson · 1988

    G major for 2:53, then up a semitone to A-flat, with the Andrae Crouch choir arriving to carry everyone the rest of the way. Time called it the best use of a gospel choir in a pop song. The change is the moment the song stops asking and starts testifying.

  7. A curly blonde wig on a stand next to a glittering 80s dance floor, colored lights reflecting off a lone pair of heels.

    04. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)

    Whitney Houston · 1987

    It starts in G-flat and, after a tense minor bridge, steps up a half step for the finish. Billboard put it among the few songs with truly perfect key changes, ones that send a soaring pop song through the ozone layer. Whitney is the only artist on this list twice. Earned.

  8. A talk box tube coiled around a guitar on a wet dockside at night, a diner waitress apron hanging from a pier post.

    03. Livin' on a Prayer

    Bon Jovi · 1986

    E minor through the verses, then up to G minor for the last chorus, after Richie Sambora's talk box has done its part. ShortList called it one of the greatest key changes in history. Karaoke bars have been losing customers at that exact moment ever since.

  9. A New York penthouse dance studio with four outfits hanging on a rolling rack, each brighter than the last, the Hudson River in the window.

    02. Love on Top

    Beyonce · 2011

    Four key changes in the final choruses, each one higher than the last, and the video changes outfits with every one. A BBC critic joked the album 4 was named after them. Most singers would need oxygen. She did it live, on the VMAs, and announced a pregnancy the same night.

  10. A single floor tom drum on a dark stage under one spotlight, a drumstick frozen mid-strike above it and snow falling behind.

    01. I Will Always Love You

    Whitney Houston · 1992

    Kevin Costner suggested the a cappella opening; producer David Foster thought it was ridiculous. Then comes a single tom hit from Ricky Lawson, A major to B major, and the final chorus. One critic said it drained the sadness out of a Dolly Parton heartbreak. That was the idea.

Honorable mentions

  • A barber's pole beside a fire engine and a bus shelter on a quiet English street, a piccolo trumpet on the bench.

    Penny Lane

    The Beatles · 1967

    Not one big key change but a constant, invisible shuttle between B major verses and A major choruses, hinged on pivot chords. Most people never notice it, which is the trick. Neil Innes singled out the key changes as mould-breaking. Paul made it sound like a stroll.

Dishonorable mentions

  • Five tall bar stools on a soundstage, all empty, with five microphones on stands placed one step in front of them.

    Flying Without Wings

    Westlife · 1999

    The key change that launched the boy band stool stand. The Official Charts Company says that after this song, no self-respecting boy band would stay seated for a key change. It has soundtracked a thousand TV talent montages since. The stools have not recovered.

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