Song Analysis for Songwriters: "Midnight Sun" by Nilüfer Yanya
This post is the second in a series analyzing songs from the perspective of songwriting craft and technique.
Last time we looked at “Like I Used To” by Sharon van Etten and Angel Olsen. Today we’ll be exploring an interesting minor key song, “Midnight Sun” by Nilüfer Yanya↗(opens in a new tab).
“Midnight Sun” was first released in early 2022. In a statement↗(opens in a new tab), Yanya described it as a “song about recognizing what it feels like to be pushed down but wanting to resist”.
The lyric “midnight sun,” she tells us, “insinuates a light guiding you through darkness.”
The song plays on a number of ambiguities, and the lyrics reveal a deeply conflicted but defiant narrator. According to Yanya, “if I could pick what people saw and heard it would be seeing the beauty of confrontation and the necessity of rebellion.”
There is another side as well, a side that fully emerges only in the chorus. This is apparently what guided her choice of imagery for the music video. As she says, “the wings [from the music video] carry their own symbolism—freedom, lightness, flight, fantasy.”
Let’s explore how these themes are suggested, reinforced, and even challenged by the combinations of chord progressions, melodies, and lyrics found in the song.
As always in this series, we will end the post with a few practical exercises inspired by the song. You can integrate these exercises into your practice today, using them to explore your own new sounds.
Structure
Let’s start with a high level look at the structure of the song. There are three larger vocal sections I’ve interpreted as verse, pre-chorus, and chorus. Beneath each I’ve noted the length of the section in bars.
You’ll notice that some of the sections are repeated when they appear again. This is marked by (x2) next to the bar count. So the second pre-chorus is 8x2 or 16 bars in total.
The song begins with a dark and driving guitar line alternating between B minor and a strange A# major. The vocal melody enters for the first verse with short and deep descending lines. Then for the second half of the verse, the melody shifts to a floating falsetto before skipping uncertainly into the pre-chorus.
The pre-chorus starts with a brighter G major chord but this only lasts for a moment. When we return definitely to B minor two bars later, the vocals go off-kilter and then quickly lead us to the next verse.
The second verse closely resembles the first but the second pre-chorus is played twice. This time the pre-chorus comes with brighter strummed chords that drive to the chorus.
When the chorus arrives, everything drops out but the guitar. The entire first chorus is just guitar and layered vocals. We have entered a new harmonic context (discussed in detail below).
At the end of each half of the chorus is a kind of quick refrain: “always I did it for you”.
After the chorus, we find ourselves back at the main guitar line, this time with a droning scraped metal floating in the background. The drums enter slightly late, signaling a strong shift in context. After 9 full bars, the voice enters again.
The arrangement of the third verse is very similar to the other two. To my ear, this reinforces the idea that we are back somewhere unchanging and never-ending. That the world we entered in the chorus was fleeting, only a temporary respite.
This is perhaps indicated by the line “get me off this spinning wheel”.
The third pre-chorus comes with an even stronger version of that droning scraped metal.
Then the arrangement again drops out for the chorus, with guitar, bass, and vocals. But the guitar is doubled with a distorted fuzz.
This time the chorus repeats, and when it does, it re-enters to a powerful beat.
But in the end, we are led back to that same dark guitar line, this time for twice as long and surrounded by the droning metal.
I hear that drone as an alienating sound. Either this is the narrator’s realization of how hostile the normal world really is, or it’s the sound of her resistance. Or something in between.
Now that we have an overview of the song, let’s look in more detail at the individual sections.
Intro and main guitar line
The song begins with an eerie and driving guitar line that will keep reappearing almost unchanged throughout the whole song.
The line constantly falls from a high D to a lower D to B. Then it switches to high D to lower D to A#.
These notes outline the following unusual alternating progression. I’ve broken the progression into 4-beat bars. The blank bars indicate the last chord is continued. The song is at 144 bpm:
| Bm | | A# | | Bm | | A# | |
| i | | VII | | i | | VII | |
There are a couple of points worth mentioning about this progression. First, the low B on the guitar tells us the first chord is Bm, but what we hear most clearly is the higher repeating D. This poses an early question of whether we’re in the key of Bm or the relative major D.
The feel and development of the song indicates we’re in B minor, which is why I call that second chord A# instead of Bb. But the A# major chord is not clearly borrowed from any common mode. This creates a disorienting harmonic effect.
The high D note itself continuously changes identity from the minor 3rd of Bm to the major 3rd of A#.
And notice that an interesting note pops up a single time near the end of the 4th, 6th, and 8th bars. It’s an E, which acts as a kind of puzzle, perhaps a suspended 4th against Bm and who knows what against A# (#11? b5?).
But its identity doesn’t matter. More important is the uncertainty it communicates, keeping us off-balance as the progression drives forward.
Verse
The verse comes in late over the same guitar progression:
| Bm | | A# | | Bm | | A# | |
| i | | VII | | i | | VII | |
The Bm chord is our home chord, notated as the minor i chord. If you’re not familiar with the idea of a home chord, you can check out my quick introduction to the chords in a minor key.
Against this minor background, the initial vocal melody outlines a D major chord. This creates an interesting duality, particularly with that constant repetition of the high D in the background.
The first two vocal lines descend down to D. But the third line (“Unless that’s how I’m meant to feel”) reaches up to the F, a “blue note” in B minor pentatonic. She starts on the blue note on “feel” and quickly drops to E.
She then repeats the descending line one more time.
The structure of the melody here is reminiscent of someone caught in something they’d rather escape, with the 3rd line a momentary glimpse of something else.
Then in the second half of the verse, over the same guitar lines, she moves up to a floating falsetto over:
i VII
So maybe
i
I better tie this up
VII
I bet it all goes wrong
This same verse structure (and arrangement) repeats for the second and third verses later in the song. As mentioned above, I interpret this as a constant return to the same dreary or even hostile place that the narrator is resisting.
Pre-Chorus
The last line of the verse could also be heard as the first line of the pre-chorus.
A# G
Do what they say, say, say
On the last “say”, we clearly leave behind the churning guitar line of the verse for an unexpectedly bright G chord. This brings us clearly into the pre-chorus:
| G | | Bm/F# | | Bm | | E7 | |
| bVI | | i/5 | | i | | IV7 | |
The bright departure to G is fleeting. We quickly shift to an inversion of B minor (Bm/F#).
And when Bm returns more clearly at the second half, it is strongly reminiscent of where we were in the first place.
But that last E7 chord is notable. It’s not uncommon to hear a major IV (or dominant IV7) chord in a minor song. In fact, it’s one clue that we really are in B minor and not D major.
But as I’ll describe soon, it later plays a completely different role, something being hinted at even here.
Let’s see how these chords work in the context of the lyrics:
bVI
Do what they say, say, say
i/5
Could do with a drop of rain
i
I know when it's not ok
Can't keep my head down
IV7 | back to verse...
Don't like whenever I'm not in pain
The bVI is a bright destination in a minor key, but lyrically the narrator is clearly conflicted. And just when the darker i chord (Bm) returns, she defiantly sings that she “can’t keep [her] head down”.
This line is interesting for a couple of other reasons. So far (and for most of the song), the vocal lines come in on every second bar. This line breaks that pattern, but also skips to its own rhythm in contrast to everything around it.
Notice though that the melody of this line mirrors the high D (and puzzling E) of the main guitar line. You can hear the E on the word “head” (and in a later pre-chorus, over the word “mouth” in “can’t keep my mouth shut”).
i
Can't keep my head down
The final line is hard to make out (perhaps intentionally), gesturing at something else, away from here. The IV7 could bring us somewhere else (and it will soon), but for now it brings us right back to the main guitar line.
When the pre-chorus returns later in the song, the clear return to Bm at the halfway point is accompanied by a stronger and brighter strummed guitar leading us somewhere new. And this time we get a Bm7 and E9 (instead of Bm and E7).
The whole pre-chorus section repeats and then that last E9 leads us somewhere unexpected.
Here’s the whole part:
I’ll argue that the E9 acts as a pivot chord, helping modulate the song to the key of A major.
Chorus
The chorus begins with a lone, airy guitar rising up from D5 to E5 to F#5. Only layered vocals join on the first chorus, strongly contrasting with the more claustrophobic arrangement we’ve heard so far.
The feeling resonates with Yanya’s description of the wing symbolism, invoking “freedom, lightness, flight, fantasy”.
One thing is clear: we’ve arrived somewhere new.
And in my interpretation, it turns out that we’ve actually changed keys, moving from B minor to the key of A major. Note that I’ve marked the chords with Roman numerals relative to the key of A major (not B minor anymore).
| D5 E5 | F#5 | | | Bm | | F#m | |
in A: | IV5 V5 | vi5 | | | ii | | vi | |
| D5 E5 | F#5 | | | A | | F#m | |
| IV5 V5 | vi5 | | | I | | vi | |
What’s interesting, though, is that this modulation is left in question until nearly the end of the chorus. Let’s see how.
An uncertain modulation
Those power chords leading us into the chorus pose the initial question. Since they are neither major nor minor, they could be interpreted in different ways. But one way or another, it feels like we’re moving to a major key.
Perhaps the first thought would be that we’re modulating from B minor (in verse and pre-chorus) to its relative major, D major. That’s a common move in popular music, and the first chord to appear is D5.
Here’s how we’d interpret the first half of the chorus if it were in D major:
| D5 E5 | F#5 | | | Bm | | F#m | |
in D: | I5 ii5 | iii5 | | | vi | | iii | |
This is a plausible D major progression, with the iii and vi chords hinting at (or prolonging) D major. The problem is that the chorus melody is very much focused on A.
It’s also possible to interpret this as staying in B minor. In that case we would read the chords as:
| D5 E5 | F#5 | | | Bm | | F#m | |
in Bm: | bIII5 iv5 | v5 | | | i | | v | |
This is also a plausible progression, with the dominant minor v chord reinforcing a home chord of Bm.
There is one note that would help settle the question: the G# note. That’s because G# is the leading note up to A. It appears in the key of A major but not in D major (or B minor).
So if we hear a G in the melody then maybe we’re in D major (or B minor). And if we hear a G# then it’s more likely A major.
But for more than half of the chorus, neither note is sung!
To my ear, this creates an interesting ambiguity. We hear that we’re somewhere new, but we don’t know where. And this reinforces the dreamy, fantastical effect.
The question is eventually resolved however. Interestingly, it happens on the line “Never felt so sure”. On the word “sure”, she finally sings that G#.
Then, one line later, after continuing to sing on G#, she moves us for the first time to the A major chord. Listen again to this part:
D5 E5 F#5
Never felt so sure
A
You're my best machine
F#m
You're my midnight sun
In retrospect, there were a lot of clues we were in the key of A major.
The E7 and then E9 ending the pre-choruses already contained that elusive G# note. And as mentioned above, they seemed to be pointing somewhere new.
In the key of A major, E7 is the dominant chord most strongly reinforcing our sense of key. And the dominant chord is a common pivot chord to modulate to a new key.
Add this to the fact that the chorus melody largely centers on the note A and it seems we were actually in the key of A major for the whole chorus. We just didn’t know it.
Again, here’s how we’d interpret the chords if we were in A major:
| D5 E5 | F#5 | | | Bm | | F#m | |
in A: | IV5 V5 | vi5 | | | ii | | vi | |
| D5 E5 | F#5 | | | A | | F#m | |
| IV5 V5 | vi5 | | | I | | vi | |
The IV and V are core chords in A major. The vi can act as a substitute for the I, on which interpretation most of the chorus is preparing us for the home chord of A major.
A dream dissipates?
The spell of the chorus is soon broken.
Each half of the chorus ends on the repeated refrain “always I did it for you”. “You” is sung on E, the 5th of A major, which is a common place to end a phrase.
But the second time, this E takes on a new meaning as it transitions us back to the dark guitar line of the ordinary world. Remember that in that context, E was that puzzling (and eerie) note popping up now and then on the guitar.
F#m Bm
Always I did it for you
I think this dual effect helps dissolve the fantastical world of the chorus back into the now familiar but still foreboding background of the song.
The verse lyrics that enter soon over this part reinforce this interpretation:
I remembered every line
If we go through it one more time
So show me how to split the real
Get me off this spinning wheel
“Real” is the word that hits the blue note, meaning it gets the most emphasis. And the lyrics speak to a relentless repetition as well as a desire to break away.
Was the comforting world of the chorus even real?
When the second chorus comes, it repeats. And on the repeat, it is accompanied by the most powerful drum beat of the song.
This time, this world of freedom is asserted much more strongly. It seems to be finally overpowering the rest.
But the song ends ambiguously. We are back to the main guitar line, unchanged except for that scraping metal drone in the background.
A live acoustic version and the question of those first chords
It’s always valuable to compare different versions of a song. Not only does it help us better understand the song, but it also helps show that a single song can have many valid manifestations.
As songwriters, we often get caught up in a particular version of our own songs, maybe the one we just happened to start with. It’s useful to remind ourselves that there are many ways to reinterpret them.
Fortunately, we have a live acoustic version of “Midnight Sun”:
I’ll leave it to you to compare the whole thing to the original recording, but there’s one topic I’d like to return to in light of this version.
Above, I interpreted the verse chord progression as follows:
| Bm | | A# | | Bm | | A# | |
| i | | VII | | i | | VII | |
I also mentioned that this is an odd progression. VII is not a chord found in any common mode in popular music.
And actually, there’s no common mode that has a major triad one half-step below a minor triad. So Bm and A# make a weird pair.
If we interpreted them instead as Bm and Bb, we could label them as a vi chord and a borrowed bVI chord in the key of D major, but the song just doesn’t have a major feel despite the initial melody actually outlining a D major chord.
Now what I didn’t mention above is that in the original line we don’t hear the 5ths of the chords.
This means that it’s possible the A# was meant to be part of an augmented chord, which means it has a sharp 5th (#5).
And an augmented VII+ can be formed in harmonic minor (as an inversion of a bIII+ chord). Basically, harmonic minor includes the leading note (in this case A#) but otherwise is the same as natural minor.
And it’s definitely an option in minor songs to borrow chords from harmonic minor.
But that augmented 5th note has a distinctive, dissonant sound. And it’s never played on the guitar or clearly emphasized in the melody (though it does show up in the melody). So I thought the better choice was to call the chord A# major.
This acoustic version supports that choice. Unlike in the original recording, at the beginning you’ll hear the Bm and A# chords clearly outlined, including their perfect 5th notes.
It is only after they are clearly established that the guitar switches to the more ambiguous lines of the original (right before the vocals enter). Listen to the intro in the live version above to hear what I mean.
And it’s worth noting that the out-of-key perfect 5th note of A# major does show up in the original. It’s the same blue note that Yanya sings once each verse, though it’s always sung right before the switch back to A#.
By the way, if the song is really in the key of B minor, then we can’t call the A# chord Bb. That’s because normally the root note (here B) is never flattened. So A# is more plausible.
Exercises
As always, there is much more we could say about the song, but we’ve covered enough to come up with a few practical exercises to help you explore new sounds in your own songwriting.
As I said last time, these exercises will not lead you to copy the song that inspired them (unless you purposely do that). Instead, they are more general strategies that can be used for all kinds of songs.
I recommend you come up with your own exercises by analyzing your favorite songs. And you don’t need to go nearly as deep as we did here.
Exercise 1: Explore alternating progressions
The unusual Bb-A# progression threading through “Midnight Sun” created a compelling background to the entire song. For this exercise, you will explore your own alternating progressions.
Pick a key, whether major or minor. It might help to familiarize yourself with some of the common relationships in that key, whether for a major key or a minor key.
Play the home chord of your key over and over. For example, if you choose E major, the home chord is E. If you choose A minor, the home chord is Am.
If you really want to ground yourself in that home chord, you can try the musical centering exercise (which will also help you come up with a melody).
Once you’ve got the sound of the home chord under your skin, it’s time to start exploring alternating progressions. An alternating progression is one that goes back and forth between two chords.
So how do you pick the other chord?
You can choose from among common chords in your key to get a more conventional sound. Or you can try different randomly chosen chords until you find one you like.
Just make sure you stay grounded in your home chord. The reason this is important is that it will reframe the identity of those other chords. And you will be able to directly compare those effects.
Once you find an alternating progression that resonates with you, try singing various melodies over it. You can try some musical centering over the progression if it helps. Record your favorite melodies.
Exercise 2: Delay your melody
In “Midnight Sun”, most of the vocal melodies enter a full bar after the start of a section. There are only a few key moments where this pattern is broken. For example, the defiant moment in the pre-chorus (such as “Can’t keep my mouth shut”).
It can be tempting to start your melodies right when a section starts. This is a perfectly valid choice, but if you do it all the time, you are missing out on a lot of expressive possibilities.
In this exercise, you’re going to try delaying your melody.
Begin by either writing a new chord progression and melody or taking something you’ve already written. Or you could even take someone else’s song.
Now try starting the melody at different points. How does it feel if it begins right when the chord progression starts?
What if you delay the melody by one beat? Two beats? A whole bar? Two bars?
Notice how these choices reframe the melody. And also notice if they force you to rephrase it or make subtle changes.
When writing melodies for new songs, it’s valuable to always experiment with different starting points. This can even include starting the melody before the section begins, as Yanya does with the first line of the pre-chorus in “Midnight Sun”.
Exercise 3: Use a pivot chord to modulate keys
This last exercise will be by far the most difficult of the three. But keep in mind it can lead to interesting results even if you don’t end up “succeeding”.
I’ve presented some reasons to think the chorus of “Midnight Sun” modulates from the key of B minor to the key of A major. This modulation is arguably set up by a pivot chord at the end of the pre-chorus, the E7 (or E9).
The E chord is the dominant V chord in A major. And the dominant V is the chord most likely to reinforce our sense that we are in a particular key.
In this exercise, you’re going to write one section in a key of your choice. You’re then going to choose a different key to modulate to in a second section.
Modulations are more extreme the further apart two keys are on the Circle of 5ths.
If you’re modulating from a minor to a major key, you can look up the distance by first finding the relative major of your minor key. In “Midnight Sun”, we went from B minor to A major. The relative major of B minor is D major.
You can see on the Circle of 5ths that D major and A major are right next to each other. This means it’s a more subtle modulation. There’s only one note difference between the two keys, that elusive G# note we described above.
Ok, back to the exercise. Pick your starting key and your modulation key. Write a section in your starting key, using the common chords in that key. But end that section on the V chord of your modulation key.
How do you know what that V chord is?
Easy: look it up on the Circle of 5ths. For example, the V chord of A major is E, because E is one step clockwise from A.
I recommend you try modulating in the clockwise direction (for example, from C to G or C to D). If you do this, your pivot chord will come from outside your starting key. And this will make it a more convincing pivot chord.
Now, when you write your second section, stick to the common chords from your modulation key. You will now have two sections, each in a different key.
You might find that all of this is easier said than done. That’s ok. Just experiment.
Even if you fail to modulate convincingly, you might come up with chord progressions you wouldn’t normally write!
Wrapping Up
In taking a deeper look at “Midnight Sun”, we’ve found a number of interesting puzzles and ambiguities. And we’ve seen how the chord progressions, melodies, and lyrics work together to reinforce the central themes of the song: oppression, alienation, resistance, and even fantasy and freedom.
In the process, we’ve come up with some practical exercises you can integrate into your own songwriting practice.
And if you’re looking for more song analysis examples, check out my analysis of Animal Collective’s “My Girls” next.