Can Someone With A Musical Background Explain This Pop Song To Me?

[PeterG]

I've always found this song to be strange, in the best way possible. The sound is unlike anything I've heard in pop music, the closest being maybe the way Prince could be very different in the music he created.

Bonnie Tyler - I'm Just A Woman

I am wondering why this song sounds so different. Is it the melody? Is it how the instruments are played? Is it production wizardry?

Perhaps it's something to do with the melody having notes which are not usually used in pop music? I just googled the phrase, "take it down a half step" which gets used by the celebrity helpers on American Idol. I always thought that meant to sing in a lower key, but here's what google told me about taking it down a half step:

"In music, taking a song or chord progression down a half step means lowering its overall pitch by one semitone. For example, if a song is in the key of C, taking it down a half step shifts it into the key of B. This is frequently done to accommodate a vocalist's range or to change the tone of an instrument."

I don't have any musical education, so not sure if this could be a part of what makes this Bonnie Tyler song sound so different.

"I'm Just A Woman" was the fourth single from Bonnie's album, "Goodbye To The Island". The song was released in 1980 but did not chart anywhere. Tyler had nine singles that charted in various countries before this song was released.

 

[Matryeshka]

I've always found this song to be strange, in the best way possible. The sound is unlike anything I've heard in pop music, the closest being maybe the way Prince could be very different in the music he created.

Bonnie Tyler - I'm Just A Woman

I am wondering why this song sounds so different. Is it the melody? Is it how the instruments are played? Is it production wizardry?

I find all of Bonnie Tyler's music to be unique. Not always good, but unique. The music itself is always this over-produced bravura and the lyrics are so over the top they toe the line in being their own parodies, but what makes it work is that gravelly yet melodic voice.

I don't have formal music training besides three years of piano and middle and high school theater/chorus, but to me she sings flat and slightly under the pitch, but not because she can't reach the note but as a stylistic choice because it suits the song better. Bonnie Tyler creates a mood in which few other 80s artists did.