ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

♭VII–V7 cadence

♭vii–v7 cadence is a fancy way of saying a musical ending that sounds like it's going to keep going, but then stops suddenly.

Imagine you're playing with your toys, building a tower with blocks. You keep stacking them higher and higher until you get to the very top. But then, just as you're about to put one more block on, someone else comes along and knocks it all over. That's kind of what a ♭vii–v7 cadence sounds like in music - like it's building up to something big, but then suddenly stops.

In music, a cadence is the way that a section of music comes to an end. A ♭vii–v7 cadence is a specific type of ending that uses two chords - the "flat 7" chord, which is the seventh note of the scale lowered by a half step, and then the "V7" chord, which is the fifth note of the scale with a seventh note added on top. When these two chords are played in sequence, it creates that feeling of something building up, but then suddenly coming to a stop.

So, in more simple terms: ♭vii–v7 cadence is like building a tower with blocks, but then someone knocks it over right before you finish. It's a musical way of ending a section of music that sounds abrupt and unexpected.