Analysis 5: Payphone - Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa

Theme Variety:  Intro same as pre-chorus, then verse, bridge, back to pre-chorus, then chorus, another verse, bridge, prechorus, chorus, then rap verse, another pre-chorus and chorus.  A bit repetitive.  Intro is simple, voice and light piano, verse adds drums, bridge adds harmony, pre-chorus adds a synth-pad, chorus adds nothing instrument-wise.  Second verse includes some harmony.  Rap verse has low piano, soft lead, drums, and some xylophone.  If there was lead or xylophone in the other parts, they were drowned out.
Stars:  7

Music Complexity:  They impressed me by not using a "standard" chord progression (like V IV I).  Instead, they used IV I VI V.  Refreshing.  However, they lost a bit of respect by using it for the entire song.  Yes, they changed the rhythms a bit, but they are still the same chords in the same order.  Pretty good, but could be better.
Stars:  7.5

Dynamic Variety:  Pretty boring.  Starts out kind of soft, and does get somewhat louder, but that is only because it adds more instruments.  Not a lot of movement.  The most interesting part was the sudden cut-off from chorus to verse.  And even that wasn't a very big difference.
Stars:  4

Singer Talent:  He enunciates well.  I can hear a bit of autotune, but it is masked well.  Good range, very impressive soprano.  I didn't think it was possible for a man to do that without going falsetto.  I reference "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees.
Stars:  7.5

Perceptible Auto-tune:  Not  heck of a lot.  It is tricky to tell if I don't hear much because he doesn't use it much or because he uses a different voice-altering effect, but I think it's the former.
Stars: 8.5

Lyrics:  A little more cursing than I would like, but I can't write a review on that.  Lyrics were deep and powerful, and I'm sure many people can relate to them.  I particularly like "even the sun sets on paradise."  A shame there weren't more verses.  As for Khalifa, kind of cocky, and rather superficial, but it rhymes well and the rhythm is decent enough.
Stars:  9

Overall:  A fun party song.  I wouldn't recommend singing it in front of your parents, but it is fun to listen to.
Stars: 7.25