New video: “Champion” by Fall Out Boy

Last week, Fall Out Boy released the song Champion from the upcoming album M A N I A. This is the second single from that album, and it reminds more of what we’re used to hearing from the band than the first single, Young And Menace, did.

For the first time, I thought I’d do some kind of list of my thoughts on the song. I might continue doing this for all future videos if it’s appreciated. Please share your thoughts about this concept in the comments below!

Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/YG1suntIwXQ

• For the verses, the chords are Am, Em, G and Dm in that order. None of the chords contain any sharps or flats (black keys on a piano), suggesting that the song goes in the key of either A minor or C major. The fact that every phrase starts with the chord Am, together with a general minor feeling, determines that the key is A minor. I implemented this in the sheet music by choosing a key signature with no sharps or flats.
• The first part of the first verse is very simple. In the second half of the first verse, and in the second verse, however, triplets are used frequently. If you have the sheet music, you can see a lot of triplets on the last row of the first page, for example (just before the chorus). This makes the melody slightly more interesting in my opinion.
• The chords of the chorus are F, Am and G. Those are very typical chords in the key of A minor. The fact that each phrase starts with F, rather that the home key Am, is a difference compared to the verses. In the verses, the beginning of each phrase feels like home – like it could end there. In fact, the end of the song is nothing else than just the beginning of a new verse. In the chorus, however, we don’t feel like home at the beginning of a phrase. So when a new phrase has begun, it’s clear that it will continue for a while – F will be followed by Am which will be followed by G.
• The melody of the chorus is quite monotonic – for the first two measures, Patrick Stump sings “If I could live through this” only using the note A. The choice of A makes sense since it’s included in the chords F and Am that are used in the first two measures. In the third measure, the chord is G (with notes G, B, D). This explains why “If I could live through this” is sung with the note G in the third measure – a slightly lower pitch than before.

If you like Fall Out Boy, check out this playlist full of piano tutorials for FOB songs! >>https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHO72XDWKOWFV-BuJuWKWheieFsadV5Io