The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time

Is this the most complex song ever? In this video I answer that question.

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Live Show!
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[RickBeato]

Or you can become a member of the Beato Club. My Beato Club is exactly like Patreon.

[puppetsnob]

"Never gonna pick a key...I'm gonna modulate the song forever"

[bethrgrahamelizabethgraham]

Rick... I was the girl singer on that gig - Beth Russo (now Graham)! What a fun summer gig that was - and I never quite realized then how tricky that tune was for you guys. Terrance Bruce was a wonder. Great vid - I enjoyed listening and remembering all that! @Rick Beato

[rtsantos]

Rick, I have been playing piano for 40 yrs. I put together a massive 80s playlist, found this song, downloaded the sheet music. I seriously had some wtf moments as I was sight reading. Took me 3 tries to get it down and after watching your video I was dying of laughter. I can’t imagine trying to memorize this song. Thx for the analysis!

[ChadMichaelSimon]

This video is so epic that it's mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the song!
In a June 2021 video posted on YouTube, record producer Rick Beato called "Never Gonna Let You Go" "the most complex pop song of all time", due to its use of frequent key changes, inverted chords and unusual chord progressions.[4] Beato's discussion includes a detailed harmonic analysis of the Sérgio Mendes arrangement.

[DrFearCo]

“Ok let’s play this new song tonight”
“What are the chords”
“All of them”

[denparrish]

Back in the day, in our wedding band, we prayed that the bride and groom NEVER requested this to be the song for their first dance!

[jwilliam]

Absolutely god-level jazz composition. So complex yet sounds so natural and so beautiful,
especially with the male / female duet.

[DilerNassif]

You may know Sergio Mendes is brazilian and his major influence is "Bossa Nova" that has a lot of chords like those in its composition; even Mendes has done the arrangement, only. Names like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Carlos Lyra, João Gilberto, among other have been used these kind of sequence since the 60s and 70s. I'm Dilermando Nassif, from Belo Horizonte, MG. Brazil. I like your videos. You are a great musician. Congratulations.

[KhalDrogo]

The genius of this song isn’t even the chords, it’s that they wrote a singable, hummable, memorable vocal melody over that!!!

[HarrisCaron]

Am I the only non-musician here understanding like 10% of the technobabble but still enjoying this guy's enthusiasm tremendously?

[mapleext]

I’ve watched this video several times since it came out. Each time I think, “How come I loved that song and never noticed all those chord changes?” I still don’t quite get how hard it is musically and yet how natural it feels - it just keeps opening up. Amazing song.

[fredfontanares]

That's why Sergio Mendes is still making music. Great music.

[jamesnewton]

The craziest part of the story isn't them butchering the song. Its doing an emotional love song for kids ages 8-10.

[xaviconde]

This song can only be played by Guitar George, cause he knows all the chords.

[dowunda]

I love it with Rick playing the chords over it. It simplifies the complexity somewhat and hear it as a set of chards rather than listening to all the instruments intertwining. It let's me appreciate its fantastic nature.

[chrishyde]

Just loving Rick's reaction to the chord changes.

[Raerae]

As complicated as these progressions are, it never SOUNDS crazy. Just flows. Weird!

[Tenkanmusic]

There're more chords in this song than in the whole Billboard hot 100.

[sTimeWarp]

This is spectacularly fantastic this video. I come from a Jazz family and have always loved this song. But your reactions and pure joy about those crazy and numerous key changes, it’s soo refreshing. Thank you for sharing 🍻🍾!