Do you have that one favourite track you retreat to when you’re feeling melancholy? That one song that forces your eyes to well, because sometimes you just need to have that big old cry?

What about that 5:05pm beat that you skip out the office door to on a Friday afternoon that is just so damn uplifting you could never feel forlorn again?

Well, what would you say if we told you there was a simple formula to turn your deepest blue ballad to sunshine and rainbows or flip that sonically soaring high-five of happiness to the dark side?

The Gregory Brothers, infamous for their viral comedic videos such as the ‘Bed Intruder Song’ and ‘Songify The News’, have ably demonstrated the key ingredient to transform a happy song into a sad song, and vice versa, in a brilliant new music video, as Gizmodo point out.

The trick the four-piece have implemented is very simple: merely flip the song’s key from major to minor. The results are astonishing and well worthy of a watch.

One would deem it almost impossible to hear Pharell’s latest track ‘Happy’ in any other light than its titular mood, however The Gregory Brothers pull it off with seamless conviction in an (albeit, mildly humorous) ice-cold visual aesthetic accompanying the track.

Proving ‘Happy’ isn’t the only successful switcharoo, the group’s key swap on Jay Z’s Alicia Keys-featuring ‘Empire State Of Mind’ is utterly stunning, and may just be your new go-to when seeking a sob.

Check-out the compilation of key changes and visual swaps created by The Gregory Brothers below. Which track would you like to hear in full?

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine