Like pressing the karaoke key button: 7 songs on the chart that change key near the end

Press the key button on a karaoke remote once, and the backing track moves up a semitone. A semitone is the step to the very next key on a piano. Some songs do exactly that near the end: the backing track and the voice move up a step all at once. We measured all 100 songs on the Bugs weekly chart for the last week of September (September 28–October 4). We cut each song into a few seconds at a time, sketched which notes ring out the most, and checked whether the later part resembled the earlier part shifted up a step or two. Seven songs came out as "moved up" by both methods. Six go up a semitone, and one goes up a whole tone, two steps. All seven wait until more than two-thirds of the song has passed. They're ordered by how early the change comes. Times follow the videos below.

2:28 · AKMU 'Paradise of Rumors'

A song from the full album '개화' ("blossoming"), released April 7, at number 32 on the chart this week. Lee Chan-hyuk wrote the lyrics. As '당신의 불치병은 그곳에 존재할 수' ("your incurable illness may exist there") ends at 2:28, the song moves up a semitone, and from that height it sings '느리게 오래 걸어가요, 우 소문의 낙원으로' ("walk slowly, for a long time, ooh, to the paradise of rumors"). It's the earliest change of the seven. The Korean title is '소문의 낙원'. Apple Music

2:50 · TAEYEON 'Bansanka'

A Korean-language version of '晩餐歌' by Japanese singer-songwriter tuki. It's at number 11 this week, the highest of the seven. In the last chorus, the lyric changes from '난 수천 번의 긴 밤을 보낸다 해도 얻지 못할 듯한' ("even if I spend thousands of long nights, the kind I could never win") to '난 수만 번의 긴 밤을 보낸다 해도 잊지 못할 듯한' ("even if I spend tens of thousands of long nights, the kind I could never forget") at 2:50. Right where thousands become tens of thousands, the key also goes up a semitone. Isran wrote the Korean lyrics. The story of its title is in our October 9 Hangul Day list. Apple Music

2:50 · Roy Kim 'If You Ask Me What Love Is'

A single released on October 16, 2024, with lyrics by Roy Kim. After singing '없이는 나 살 수 없어서' ("because I can't live without you") at 2:45 and pausing for a little over a second, the song moves up a semitone at 2:50 with '너가 노래가 된다면' ("if you became a song"). The music video starts about 3 seconds later than the audio, so on the track itself it's at 2:47. It's at number 45 this week. Apple Music

2:53 · HANRORO 'Let Me Love My Youth'

A single by HANRORO released on March 14, 2022; its Korean title, '입춘', is the first day of spring on the traditional calendar. HANRORO wrote the lyrics. After '첫 봄인사를 건네줘요, 피울 수 있게 도와줘요' ("give me the first spring greeting, help me bloom"), it moves up a semitone from 2:53 and sings '아슬히 고개 내민 내게' ("to me, barely peeking out") once more from the higher spot at 2:57. More than four years after release, it's at number 40 this week. Apple Music

2:54 · Nerd Connection 'If I have you only (My love)'

Released on August 15, 2023, under the name '여름날 우리 X 너드커넥션', with lyrics by Kang Hyun-min. After '초라하게 쓰러지는 날, 날 위한다면' ("the day I fall down, wretched; if you care for me"), it moves up a semitone from 2:54 with '이대로 내 곁에 있어야 해요' ("you have to stay by my side, just like this"). The thick band sound made the outline of the harmony wobble often, but both methods pointed to the same spot. It's at number 57 this week. Official audio on YouTube · Apple Music

3:02 · LEECHANGSUB 'Four seasons, and you'

A song from the album 'Lee;Make (Fragmenta Amoris)', released September 15. It's at number 69 this week, up 12 places in a week. After '하루하루 또 너를 그리다' ("drawing you again, day after day") ends at 2:56, it moves up a semitone from 3:02 with '너와 나의 계절을 넘어서' ("beyond your season and mine"). That's 78% of the way through the song, the latest of the seven as a share of the song's length. Apple Music

3:13 · Lim Hyunjung '사랑은 봄비처럼... 이별은 겨울비처럼'

A song from the album 'A Year Out..In The Island', released March 25, 2003; the title means "love like spring rain... farewell like winter rain." It's the oldest song on this chart. It's the only one of the seven that goes up not a semitone but a whole tone, two piano keys. It starts with the last chorus, which sings '사랑은 봄비처럼 내 마음 적시고' ("love, like spring rain, soaks my heart") again at 3:13. On a karaoke remote, that's pressing the key button twice. It's at number 79 this week. Official audio on YouTube · Apple Music

In the other 93 songs, this shape didn't show up. RESCENE's 'Pretty Girl' and BOL4's '여름아 부탁해' looked like they moved up by only one of the two methods, so we left them off this list.