June 6th, 1998: "The Boy is Mine" by Brandy & Monica starts a 13 week reign at no.1!
To me, this song is a defining symbol of "pop music." It has a strong drum and bass groove that loops throughout the entire song, only interrupted with an occasional stop, predictably leading off a phrase. It features two talented singers trading melismas, defining a style that would become the standard in pop music. There's also some deep arranging featuring harp and strings, each element added and subtracted to vary the texture of the repetitious groove.
The form of "The Boy Is Mine" is very simple and resembles Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" (1958), having no bridge and several verses that relay a story about the perils of love. The song ends with a double chorus, plus one final 4 bar statement of the hook that I labeled as the outro.
There are a few versions of the song that vary in intro length. The album versions start with a fun repeated sample of "the boy is mine, the boy is mine, the boy is mine" getting lower in pitch, followed by some dialogue to set up the premise of the tune. I have linked the "official music video" above, which skips the sample and dialogue and cuts to the chase a little quicker...AND we get the true flavor of the 90's with a Jerry Springer sighting!
Chord Progressions
This song is comprised of only two chords! F#min9 and C#min9 repeat with no relent until the end. We are introduced to this progression by the harp. This wild 16th note ostinato is interspersed throughout the tune.
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| Harp Ostinato |
The bass and strings join in next, outlining the chords and establishing the feel. Listen for the funky guitar part, a repeated two note motive that is also present for the entire song. It blends into its surrounds quite well, bridging the two chords by serving as 5th and 4th to F#min9 and root and min7 for C#min9.
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| Opening bass and strings |
Melody
The vocal melody in this song is fun. It is the focal point of the entire song and the variation from section to section helps it continually evolve.
The chorus melody is a series of 4 descending steps, ending with a step up. We hear this going down from the minor 7th E (E D# C# B) and landing on 5th of C#, moving diatonically through the scale. The second phrase starts on F# and goes down to eventually land on G#, over the C#min9, resulting in another resolution to the 5th.
In the 4th bar, we get the hook: "the boy is mine," intervalically outlining 5, root(C#), 5, min3rd, later varied with a bump up to the 4th (B) before going down to the min3rd (A).
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| Chorus 1 |
The verses (and chorus) are rhythmically and melodically rich and evolve until the very end. Each verse sees Brandy and Monica trading 4's, throwing shade on each other in attempt to claim this contested "boy." Melodically their contributions are similar in each stanza. On the F#min9 chord, they utilize E, pass through D# to C# and B: the min7, 5th and 4th. Over C#min9, we get D#, C# and B: the 9th, root and min7th.
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| Verse 1 |
Moving into verse 2, the melody is altered slightly by both singers. Here we see Monica's open to verse 2, exploring the root of the F#min9 chord, going all the way to the high B before working all the way down to the low G#, the 5th of C#min9.
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| verse 2 opening phrase |
Notice though, amidst the variation, we see the familiar 8th/16th rhythmic figure, even in the melisma!
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| verse 2, second 4 |
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| Second Chorus |
This leads us directly to the third verse, which tones things down a bit, returning to the main verse theme...with some thick background harmony added this time. The third chorus also features countermelodies and "diva-ing" similar to the second chorus. The final notes in the song help to dig the ear-worm deep, giving us one last "the boy is mine."
Musical Sticking Points
For a song that has a very simple form and only two chords, there is a lot to process here. First off, the harp part sets the vibe right up front. The barrage of 16th notes, across almost 3 complete octaves, caught my ear from the get go. It is mixed in and out very tastefully, never becoming too cumbersome or heavy, helped by the timbre of the harp.
The primary hook is very strong. In fact, when I mentioned this one to my wife, who is quickly become the litmus test for the memorability of these songs, she instantly came out with the melody. Looking at this melody only in terms of its intervals, we hear: up a 4th, down a 5th, up a minor 3rd, down a 2nd....4 notes....two of the 4 notes make up the root and 5th of the tonal center (C#min). As the two chords go back and forth, it is easy to lose track of the tonal center, so this hook pulling us back there sates our desire to always be close to home.
As mentioned several times, the evolution of the vocals throughout this song keep it interesting. As I was transcribing some of these vocal parts, it was slightly dizzying. There are numerous syncopations and seemingly never ending melismas that weave in and out constantly. This is one of those tunes that you could listen to multiple times in a row and hear something new every time: Quality arranging that has stood the test of time.
Lyrics
This song has relatable lyrics that are easy to understand. Brandy and Monica verbally spar their way to no conclusion as to who gets the boy in the end. Each singer gets a total of 5 verses to show their stuff, mostly following the same AAAA flow, sneaking in plenty of near rhymes. One of my favorite stanza comes in the shortened 3rd verse (speaking of near rhymes):
You can't destroy this love I found
Your silly games I won't allow
The boy is mine without a doubt
You might as well throw in the towel
The proverbial throwing in the towel legitimizes this as a fight, which may or may not have occurred in real life.
Common Threads
Are there any common threads between this hit in 1998 and the other no.1 hits analyzed from 1958, 68, 78 and 88? Here is the list we left off with on "Roll With It."
melodies utilize and resolve to chord roots- Brandy and Monica consistently resolve to chord tones other than the roots, usually the 3rd or 5th. However, many of the phrases incorporate the tonal center of C# quite heavily.- vocal melodies repeat rhythmic and melodic themes - check
- lyrics about love - check
- repetitive chord sequences - CHECK
- memorable vocal hook that uses the song title - check
- background vocals (harmonies) featured throughout - check
male vocal- This is the first song analyzed to feature female lead vocals!
I think it's interesting to find so many commonalities in such a wide variety of songs from five different decades. The element of vocal melodies and their resolutions was a shift. The other melodies consistently returned to chord roots, grounding the ear in the home key. As mentioned before, this two chord song doesn't have a strong pull to C#min9 because of the two chord sequence blurring the line on where the true home is. Perhaps this can be amended to: melodies utilize and resolve to chord tones.
Final Takeaways
I have no strong personal connection to this song and while aware of its title and dominance in the summer of 1998, I had no real recollection of it prior to this analysis. While this has not been my favorite analysis thus far, it is one of the most interesting and challenging. Transcribing the harp and vocal parts took some time. Some of the vocal lines would actually make killer guitar solos!
This song is similar to "Poor Little Fool" in form, repetition of chord sequence and lyrical narrative of the perils of love. It's also similar to "Hello, I Love You," sharing a two chord groove with evolving elements.
"The Boy Is Mine" is probably the most decorated song analyzed. Aside from the meteoric ascent on the charts and its staying power, Brandy and Monica won a Grammy for best R&B duo or group vocal in 1999 [1]. I have definitely gained a new respect for this song and I am glad it came up!
Up next time: July 5th - August 16th, 2008 - A 7 week run at the no.1 spot.....Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl." Another summer sweep from a strong female lead!
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