Cameo · Word Up!
Word Up
Word Up is in B major at 115.9 beats per minute.
Tempo
116 BPM · Moderatomedian of 227 analyses · 115.9–116.3 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- B major5 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 71%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 227people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 517.7milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.2dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.792Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.472Essentia's danceability, 0–3
Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.
What the numbers say
227 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 71% — put it in B major, a key signature of 5 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 227 readings; 96% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 115.9 BPM one beat lasts 517.7 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 129.4 ms and a dotted eighth 388.3 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 58 BPM, counted twice as fast 231.8. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 5.2 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.792 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.
10 other recordings here are in B major; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.
Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Keys that fit with B major
Each of these differs from B major by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.
Delay times at 116 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2070.8 | 0.48 |
| Half note | 2 | 1035.4 | 0.97 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 776.5 | 1.29 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 517.7 | 1.93 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 345.1 | 2.9 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 388.3 | 2.58 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 258.8 | 3.86 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 172.6 | 5.8 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 194.1 | 5.15 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 129.4 | 7.73 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 86.3 | 11.59 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 64.7 | 15.45 |
Half time 58 BPM · double time 231.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (517.7 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Lolita (trop jeune pour aimer)Céline DionB major116BPM
- CondemnationDepeche ModeB major116BPM
- California GirlsThe Beach BoysB major115BPM
- Hole in the SkyBlack SabbathB major117BPM
- All I DoStevie WonderB major117BPM
- Good Day SunshineThe BeatlesB major117BPM
- Lord Only KnowsBeckB major117BPM
- 1984Van HalenB major114BPM
- True BlueMadonnaB major118BPM
- Don’t Stop ’Til You Get EnoughMichael JacksonB major119BPM
Recordings in B major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 116 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in B majorAll songs at 116 BPMB major at 110–119 BPM
MusicBrainz collapses 44 recording ids into this one. Recording id a6558bed-c0b7-4bb0-9187-2296cb2fbd4e.