[Caution: music theory below]

I came across a song named “Midnight Mission” by Midnight Grand Orchestra a little less than two years ago, which really caught my ear in an interesting way. At the time, I couldn’t exactly pin why, but after all the build-up, it seemed like the song didn’t even switch keys like a lot of J-Pop songs do. Even so, it still felt like a chorus and was still satisfying to listen to. Curious, I listened over and over and over again, and I finally figured out why.

For those that don’t know, a “key” in music is a group of 7 pitches, which are raised or lowered, which act as a tonal anchor for sections of music. Major and minor chords can be made out of these 7 pitches by adding more notes on top or below the root pitches. These chords are “I” through “vii” respectively, with the “I chord” basically being the home base. Typically, a song will set its key right at the beginning, and “Midnight Mission” is no different. Using the “A Major” pentatonic scale, the song firmly plants itself in the key of A Major. Yet although A Major is home base, rarely are I chords used in the song.

For all sections outside of the chorus itself, the song hovers around minor and major II chords. This keeps the momentum of the song going without ever having a sense of finality when repeating musical patterns. When we finally get to the chorus after a funky transition, the first chord that can be heard is an A Major chord. But that A Major chord isn’t a I chord this time; rather, it’s a VI chord in the new key of C# minor. The only way it is possible to tell that is the case, is because the chorus now uses D# notes, which are not natural pitches in the key of A Major. But because the song hovered around ii chords in the key of A Major for so long, it’s able to pull a fast one on listeners by using that I chord as a pivot to smoothly transition into the new key for the chorus!

It’s like a sleight-of-hand but for ears: I focused on a couple of chords for a long time, so when the song finally hit home, I didn’t even notice the key was switched until many, many replays later. That’s what is so cool about this song: between all the weird chord progressions, patterns, and rhythms, somehow, it manages to slip something which is normally very noticeable by listeners.