I Want It That Way – Verse
I Want It That Way – Chorus
I Want It That Way – Chorus Lead-Out
I Want It That Way – Bridge
I Want It That Way – Instrumental
I Want It That Way – Pre-Outro
I Want It That Way – Outro
I Want It That Way – Outro 2
Related Music Concepts
Basic Chords
Chords naturally found in the key
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Song Stats
●
Key
A Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
A2 – C#4
Mood
Smooth, Simple, Classic, Bright
Most Used Chord
vi
Chord Complexity
9
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
51
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
12
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
8
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
A Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
E3 – F#4
Mood
Smooth, Bright
Most Used Chord
V
Chord Complexity
37
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
53
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
20
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
32
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
A Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
E3 – A4
Mood
Unexpected, Bright
Most Used Chord
IV(add9)
Chord Complexity
43
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
93
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
43
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
61
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
A Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
F#3 – E4
Mood
Bright
Most Used Chord
vi
Chord Complexity
34
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
91
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
40
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
33
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
A Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
F#2 – E4
Mood
Smooth, Simple, Classic, Bright
Most Used Chord
vi
Chord Complexity
9
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
56
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
10
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
8
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
A Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
A3 – B4
Mood
Smooth, Bright
Most Used Chord
V
Chord Complexity
38
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
34
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
9
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
35
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
B Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
F#3 – G#4
Mood
Bright
Most Used Chord
V
Chord Complexity
37
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
65
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
33
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
32
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
B Major
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
F#3 – B4
Mood
Bright
Most Used Chord
V
Chord Complexity
37
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
60
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
31
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
32
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Tempo
99 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop
Melody Range
F#2 – B4
Mood
Smooth, Bright
Most Used Chord
vi
Chord Complexity
31
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
73
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
19
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
29
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
About I Want It That Way
About the Key
A Major
It is the 4th most popular key among Major keys and the 4th most popular among all keys. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs.
I IV V
Most Important Chords
The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major chords (A Major, D Major, and E Major).
A Major Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Verse |
vi
IV
I
|
|
| Chorus |
IVadd9
V
vi
|
|
| Chorus Lead-Out |
IVadd9
V
I
vi
iiisus4
V/vi
|
|
| Bridge |
vi
I64
IV
ii
V
vi
I64
|
|
| Instrumental |
vi
IV
I
|
|
| Pre-Outro |
ii
IVadd9
V
vi
IVadd9
V
vi
|
|
| Outro |
IVadd9
V
vi
|
|
| Outro 2 |
IVadd9
V
vi
|
|
About the Melody
Melody data is compiled from all analyzed melody sections, so depending on how a user analyzed a song, "melody" might include instrumental notes.
F#2 – B4
Melody range across 29 semitones
0.79 beats/note
Across 287.5 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
99%
Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
73%
Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Edgy
Consonance
How smoothly the melody blends with the harmony (0 = dissonant, 1 = consonant).
Loose
Syncopation
How often the melody emphasizes off-beats. Higher = more syncopated.
About the Metrics
Chord Complexity
Chord Complexity tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
Melodic Complexity reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
Chord-Melody Tension quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Progression Novelty
Chord Progression Novelty measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Chord-Bass Melody
Chord–Bass Melody evaluates how smoothly the bass moves between chords, scoring higher when it travels step-wise, ascending or descending, instead of jumping directly between root position chords.
Hooktheory's metrics are calculated against the entire database of analyzed songs, where 50 is the "average song." Learn more about each of these metrics here.
Chord Complexity
31
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 31/100 — below average
Melodic Complexity
73
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 73/100 — above average
Chord-Melody Tension
19
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 19/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
29
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 29/100 — below average
Chord-Bass Melody
63
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 63/100 — above average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
I Want It That WayAverage Song
BPM Comparison
Melody Distribution
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Melodic Intervals
Distribution of note-to-note jumps in semitones (negative = downward, positive = upward)
Note Durations
How long each note is held (in beats)
Syncopation
How many notes fall on each level of metric strength (0 = on-beat, higher = increasingly off-beat)
Level 0
Notes that fall on the downbeat — the strongest metric position in the measure.
Level 1
Notes on a secondary strong beat (e.g. beat 3 in 4/4) — still firmly on the grid.
Level 2
Notes on the remaining primary beats (2 and 4 in 4/4) — moderate metric weight.
Level 3
Notes on eighth-note offbeats — between the primary beats. Audibly syncopated.
