Bruno Mars - Grenade

Music by Andrew Wyatt, Claude Kelly, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, and  Brody Brown
Sheet music purchased from musicnotes.com (published under EMI Music Publishing)

Key: D minor (however, the use of b7 scale degrees in Am and C major chords creates a modal sound)
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Moderately (quarter note = 108)

Chord Progressions

V7 chords are mainly used in cadences that mark the ending of the main sections of this song (i.e. before the chorus starts). Replacing the V chord, the bVII is used in most cadences. There is brief tonicization of the relative major, F major (III), starting at "I would go through all this pain..." The BbM7  and C chords serve as the pivot chords (BbM7 = VI7 in Dm, IV7 in F / C = V in F, bVII in Dm). The chords Dm-C-Bb-A in the last three bars of the chorus are in a descending parallel motion.

Counterpoint

So I thought it would be fun to do something different today. I simplified the vocal line by selecting one note per chord (with one exception notated by quarter notes above), and I added the interval of the vocal and bass lines in the staff. I treated it somewhat like a first species counterpoint exercise, note-against-note.

There are some counterpoint "errors", like parallel fifths and octaves (two M5s or M8s in a row), but there are also some interesting non-chord tones. For example, the first G in the second bar doesn't fit the F major chord. Instead, it serves as an anticipation tone (the red notes above), anticipating the following G in the C major chord. Another example is the A over the C in the bass, in the fourth bar. This A is also an anticipation tone.

When you simplify the vocal line and find its basic structure, many wide melodic leaps are noticed. However, Bruno's actual singing includes many melodic non-chord tones, ending up creating a very smooth vocal line in the recording.