Quartz takes a look at the melodic sequence, which musician Patrick Metzger has named “The Millennial Whoop,” that seems to be sneaking its way into every modern pop song (read more).
“It’s a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale, typically starting on the fifth. The rhythm is usually straight 8th-notes, but it may start on the downbeat or on the upbeat in different songs. A singer usually belts these notes with an “Oh” phoneme, often in a “Wa-oh-wa-oh” pattern. And it is in so many pop songs it’s criminal.” – Patrick Metzger