I had the urge to write a random musical analysis, but I don't know anybody who would actually care to read it. I'll just post it here.

The song "You're No Good for Me" by Kelly Charles is unremarkable, but the intro is quite catchy. Numerous artists have sampled this 8-second acapella with great success. The hook is infectious but short; simple but elegant.

Consider the lyrics:

You're no good for me
I don't need nobody
Don't need no one
That's no good for me!

Kelly arranges the words in a simple structure: ABB'A'. The chiastic symmetry contrasts A's personal "you" and "me" with B's more general "nobody" and "no one." Kelly accompanies her elegant lyrical structure with an equally elegant melody.

Unlike the elaborate fortspinnung melodies of the Baroque period, the Classical era popularized simpler melodic statements built up from shorter parts. Kelly's hook exemplifies the Classical melody: each individual line is combined to make a longer melodic statement.

Classical melodies often follow a specific harmonic contour: they first establish the key with alternation between dominant and tonic, then briefly visit the subdominant before going back to a satisfying dominant-tonic resolution. Kelly follows these harmonic guidelines perfectly.

In line 1, Kelly outlines a minor triad, firmly establishing the key and ending on the dominant. Line 2 mirrors line 1, falling back down to the mediant. This returns the harmony to the tonic without completely resolving. The third line rises to the submediant, implying a subdominant harmony. Much like the lyrical structure, line 4 is a variation on line 1. Instead of moving from tonic to dominant, the fourth line begins on the dominant and finally resolves on the high tonic.

The placement of the words within the scale is also quite clever. The two words that fall on the tonic are "you're" and "me". Kelly contrasts the two words by placing her rejected lover on the low tonic at the beginning and herself on the high tonic at the end. Kelly parallels this structure in the first line, where she places "me" on the ending dominant. In the second line, "I" falls on the dominant, while "nobody" ends on the less important supertonic. Similarly, "no one" ends on the submediant in the third line. Kelly thus cleverly empowers herself by placing "me" and "I" on the dominant and high tonic, relegating others to the less important degrees.

I doubt that Kelly Charles considered any of these factors when composing the hook. It is likely that the melody arose naturally from her soul. However, the most natural things often conceal great complexity in their deceptively simple beauty.