Welcome!
This website was made to critically think about and apply musical terms to the song "Late Nights and Heartbreak" by Hannah Williams and the Affirmations
2016 by [Hannah William and the Affirmations]
.jpg)
ABOUT SONG:
Many may know "Late Night and Heartbreak" from Jay Z's ablum "4:4" (about him having an affair on Beyonce). In fact, the Carter family and Hannah Williams and the Affirmations takes a lot of inspiration from one another, such as sampling eachother's music (such as with the 4:4 album).
The song is written by Kanan Keeny for the band's second album, "Late Nights and Heartbreak" (making this song the title song of the track). The song is about having an affair (from the person who is cheating's perspective), and takes a lot of inspiration from the 70s soul and funk-style music. Therefore, Jay Z may have included a sample of the song because he may have listened to it (finding a connect) when reflecting on his own affair and the correction of the album.
Whether you are listening to this song as an older adult or are a teen, this song has a sense of nastolgia, either through the older style of the music or due to you probably hearing this song before on Jay Z's album, that everyone in some way can relate to. This is because while the original song is about cheating on your partner, there is a more universal theme in the song of self-sabotage, which is something that everyone in their lives have experienced at some point in there lives. This idea may even be why the band decided to have an older style to began with, to show that self-sabotaging in anyway (such as that of a good relationship) has been happening since humanity and that this isn't a new obstacle for human beings.
Other Information:
-
TEMPO: 86 BPM
-
IN COMMON TIME: 4/4 Time Signature
-
In C Major
.jpg)
elements:
Watch Video FIRST
.jpg)
Structure:
After listening to the song, I believe the form is as follows: Introduction, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, and then Outro.
The intro is characterized by Hannah starting to sing without the instruments, asking the question, "Why do I find it so hard to love you?", which begins both the song and the spiral the character depicted in the song experiences.
While choruses are typically characterized by having the same repeated phrases, the choruses in this song are lines within the song that relate to the same event, and then repeat similar words following the central event. For example, the first chorus begins with, "I'll be changing my tune when you walk in the room", and then ends the chorus as, " I know that I'm not good...". While the second chorus starts as, "It doesn't hurt anymore when you walk through the door", finishing it with, "You know I'm not good". This change within the chorus seems to demonstrate how the song's character first plays the situation off as being inevitable and brushes off the hurt they caused to their partner, but as the song goes on, they finally understand how awful an act they did and is terrified of their love leaving them.
The outro, similar to the intro, consists of the instruments ending early, leaving Hannah to sing by herself. However, this time, instead of asking a question, she sings, "I'm a part-time lover." Signaling the isolation the character is experiencing from their partner after the affair, and how much they yearn for connection with them again.
I - V1 - C - V2 - C - O
Tension:
Hannah Williams uses a great deal of tension vocally throughout the song. Hannah first starts off using tension by gradually stressing a line as she goes higher in notes, adding the most stress to the last word within the line. To then resolve this tension she then goes back down to the tonal home of the song's octive. As shown here in the first chorus, when Hannah sings, "I know that I'm not good, I'm never gonna treat you like I should," she gradually stresses each line, ending with the most tension on "good" and "should". This to me shows that the character described in the song (the cheater) once again has a slight understanding of the pain they have caused doesn't yet care about the affects, because they believe that their partner is still going to be with them.
Modulation:
While modulation isn't a form of tension that is used in the song, Hannah uses it to transition herself between the type of tension used in the being of the song (in the lower octive) and the timbre used in the higher octive. The modulation that is used I believe it is a diva modulation -- characterized by an artisit showing off their higher registar within a song, that doesn't seem to have any specific meaning within the song.
Timbre:
After Hannah goes up an octive, we see another type of tension being used, timbre. However, unlike the tension used before, the timbre is used to stress just one word instead of the whole entire line. An example of this is when Hannah sings in Verse 2, "I've heard that all of the girls are starting to hate me-", where the word "me" is the only word that is stressed in the line. This could be because of the character finally realizing how much they hurt their love, causing them to mentally spiral--or go out of control, much like a timbre. To resolve this timbre, similarly to the tension prior in the song, Hannah returns back to the tonal note in the new octive.
Melody and Harmony:
In the beginning of the song, we only hear the harmony and instrumentation being played. However, halfway through the song, when Hannah finally goes up an octive, does the harmony switch to that on the higher octive and we finally hear the melody--the previous harmony that was sung in that lower octive. I believe this is because she wants the audience to know that she did go up an octive and that the tonal home has now changed.
Instrumentation
The instruments within the song includes piano, horns, base, and drums that form a complimentary relationship to the lyrics. As the cheater described is calm, the instruments are also played in a calmer soul style. However, as the cheater is more in their head, the instrumentation gets more energetic and changes to being more of a layered funk style.
Therefore, through the use of tension, instrumentation, harmony, and so much more, the band was able to give clear insight into how the cheater depicted in the song felt and was experiencing as they realized how wrong they were for causing this much hurt for their partner and love.
1:16-1:59
3:02-3:42
1:39-1:59
2:40-2:48
3:01-3:17
Bibliography:
“Who Wrote “Late Nights & Heartbreak” by Hannah Williams & The Affirmations. Genius.
Who wrote “Late Nights & Heartbreak” by Hannah Williams & The Affirmations?
“Temp for Late Nights & Heartbreak - Hannah Williams”. SongBPM. 2016.
BPM and key for Late Nights & Heartbreak by Hannah Williams | Tempo for Late Nights & Heartbreak | SongBPM | songbpm.com
Hafey, Lisa. “Hannah Williams & The Affirmations - ‘Late Nights and Heartbreak’”. Essentially Pop. 2017.
Hannah Williams & The Affirmations – ‘Late Nights & Heartbreak’
“Hannah Williams & The Affirmations - Late Nights & Heartbreak Lyrics”. Genius.
Hannah Williams & The Affirmations – Late Nights & Heartbreak Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
“Late Nights & Heartbreak - Hannah Williams & The Affirmations - BPM and Key Analysis”. SongData. 2016.
Late Nights & Heartbreak - Hannah Williams, The Affirmations BPM & Key Analysis | SongData.io
“Late Nights & Heartbreak - Hannah Williams - Melodic Notes and Song Notes”. Melodic Notes. 2025.
Late Nights & Heartbreak - Hannah Williams - melodic notes and song notes. -Melodic Notes