Erykah Badu · New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War)
Telephone
Telephone is in F minor at 153.7 beats per minute.
Tempo
154 BPM · Allegromedian of 135 analyses · 153.7–153.7 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- F minor4 flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 100%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 135people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 390.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 5.24dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.901Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.157Essentia'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
135 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 100% — put it in F minor, a key signature of 4 flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 135 readings; 100% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 153.7 BPM one beat lasts 390.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 97.6 ms and a dotted eighth 292.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 76.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 307.4. A score would mark that Allegro, 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 5.24 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 0.901 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 F minor; 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 F minor
Each of these differs from F minor 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 154 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1561.5 | 0.64 |
| Half note | 2 | 780.7 | 1.28 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 585.6 | 1.71 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 390.4 | 2.56 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 260.2 | 3.84 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 292.8 | 3.42 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 195.2 | 5.12 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 130.1 | 7.69 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 146.4 | 6.83 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 97.6 | 10.25 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 65.1 | 15.37 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 48.8 | 20.49 |
Half time 76.9 BPM · double time 307.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (390.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- High Plains DrifterBeastie BoysF minor153BPM
- You've Got The Indian Sign On MeNat King ColeF minor155BPM
- Dream OnAerosmithF minor155BPM
- HeartbreakerPat BenatarF minor155BPM
- Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 2: Cross‐PollinationMuseF minor155BPM
- Only an Act of True LoveTim DaviesF minor155BPM
- Don’t SpeakNo DoubtF minor152BPM
- Ain’t No SunshineMichael JacksonF minor152BPM
- Ain’t No TellingThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceF minor152BPM
- Favorite SongChance the Rapper feat. Childish GambinoF minor156BPM
Recordings in F minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 154 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in F minorAll songs at 154 BPMF minor at 150–159 BPMErykah Badu
MusicBrainz collapses 2 recording ids into this one. Recording id b32fbe6f-9e57-4ff8-920c-9cc173340928.