Backdoor cadence

Okay kiddo, so backdoor cadence is a fancy music term that describes a specific way that musicians can end a song or a part of a song. It's called a backdoor cadence because it's a sneaky way for musicians to change the expected ending of the music.

Imagine you're playing a game with your friends where you all take turns adding a new rule to the game. Each time a new rule is added, the game gets a little harder or more complicated. Now imagine that at the end of the game, your friend says "okay, last rule is...no rules!" That's a bit unexpected, right?

That's similar to what a backdoor cadence does in music. It sets up an expectation for how the music is going to end and then surprises the listener by going a different way. It's like a sneaky twist ending that keeps people on their toes.

Now, let's talk about how it actually works in the music. In most music, the chords (groups of notes played together) have specific relationships with each other. For example, in the key of C (which is like a home base for the music), the chord of G sounds really nice and strong when it's played after the chord of C. This is because G is what we call the "dominant" chord and it "resolves" (sounds resolved or complete) when it goes back to C.

But in a backdoor cadence, instead of going from G back to C, the musicians play a different chord that sounds like it shouldn't work, but somehow it does. Usually, this chord is the chord of A minor (which has some notes in common with the C chord). So instead of going from G to C, the musicians play G to A minor to C. It might sound weird at first, but it creates a really cool surprise ending that makes people want to listen to the music over and over again.

So there you have it, kiddo. Backdoor cadences are a cool way for musicians to keep their listeners guessing and create unexpected endings in music.