LSD - Genius ft. Sia, Diplo, Labrinth

GENRE: Pop

Genius is an upbeat pop song created by the super group LSD: Labrinth, Sia, Diplo. The song talks of two lovers who, while difficult to love, are perfect for each other. It’s full of good vibes and is incredibly fun.

The songs itself combines the talents of three geniuses: Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo. It has a really catchy chord progression that strays from the typical "four chord" pop progression, which is really fresh for a pop song. It makes use of plenty of non-diatonic (1) chords, which again is also quite uncommon for a pop song.

On top of the catchy chord progression, the song has a very catchy and tuneful melody which is sure to be stuck in your head (as it was in mine) for a very long time. It encapsulates Sia and Labrinth's powerful singing, lending the entire song a feeling of determination.

“Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'm batshit crazy, having you on my mind? Do you think I'm helpless? My algebra gon equal you every time"

Another really interesting thing is the production and instrumentation of the piece. The song starts off with a "front-load" of vocals. Sia says "Labrinth," introducing the singer (which may be because this is the first single from this group), before Labrinth comes in on a pick-up (2), entering the song before the rest of the music. This again contributes to the determined tone, which could be attributed to them calling themselves "geniuses."

The song also has a relatively dark intensity right at the beginning, which comes from the instrumentation. A lot of string instruments are used, including violins and cellos, which creates quite a dramatic, theatrical effect (just because these instruments are not typically associated with this type of music nowadays, and are instead associated mostly with classical music and/or film scores). The strings help to set the mood of the song right from the beginning, before the arrangement moves into its primary usage of synthesisers.

One final comment: the arrangement of the entire piece is relatively sparse. There is quite a lot of "empty space" which is filled up only by the singers' voices themselves. However, this artistic choice is a testament to the atmosphere which they create – a demanding and yearning for the lover.

I would highly recommend this song if you're feeling chilled out and want to have some fun!

Glossary

(1) non-diatonic: chords/notes that do not belong in a specific key. i.e. an E major chord would be non-diatonic in a C major song, because E major consists of E-G#-B, and G# does not belong in the key of C major.

(2) pick-up: a melody and/or drum beat that comes before the down beat of a bar, i.e. before the bar starts. Typically one bar will have four beats, and so the pick-up will start on the 3rd or 4th beat of the bar before the rest of the music comes in on the down beat, the 1st beat.