Hero by Mariah Carey

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 28 · Sections: 16

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Part 1 (0:00)

• Eadd9 – B/D♯ – C♯m7 – E/B – A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – B9sus4 – B
  Iadd9 – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – V9sus4 – V

Part 2 (0:16)

• Eadd9 – D69 – C♯m7 – B9sus4 – B
  Iadd9 – bVII69 – vi7 – V9sus4 – V

Part 3 (0:32)

• Eadd9 – Dsus4/G – Cadd9 – B9sus4 – B
  Iadd9 – bVIIsus4 (bass G) – bVIadd9 – V9sus4 – V

Part 4 (0:48)

• Eadd9 – B/D♯ – C♯m7 – E/B – Amaj9 – Eadd9/G♯ – F♯m7 – Aadd9/B
  Iadd9 – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IVmaj9 – Iadd9 (bass G♯) – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass B)

Part 5 (1:04)

• E – B/D♯ – C♯m7 – C♯m7/B – Aadd9 – Eadd9/G♯ – F♯m7 – B9sus4
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – IVadd9 – Iadd9 (bass G♯) – ii7 – V9sus4

Part 6 (1:20)

• E – B/D♯ – C♯m – A – Eadd9 – D69
  I – V⁶ – vi – IV – Iadd9 – bVII69

Part 7 (1:36)

• A/C♯ – B9sus4 – B – Eadd9 – D/F♯
  IV⁶ – V9sus4 – V – Iadd9 – bVII⁶

Part 8 (1:52)

• Cadd9 – B9sus4 – B – Eadd9 – B/D♯ – C♯m7 – E/B
  bVIadd9 – V9sus4 – V – Iadd9 – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄

Part 9 (2:08)

• Aadd9 – Eadd9/G♯ – F♯m7 – Aadd9/B – E – B/D♯ – C♯m7 – C♯m7/B
  IVadd9 – Iadd9 (bass G♯) – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass B) – I – V⁶ – vi7 – vi⁴₂

Part 10 (2:24)

• Aadd9 – Eadd9/G♯ – F♯m7 – B9sus4 – E – C – G/B
  IVadd9 – Iadd9 (bass G♯) – ii7 – V9sus4 – I – bVI – bIII⁶

Part 11 (2:40)

• G – D – C – G/B – G – D/F♯ – Em7 – D – C
  bIII – bVII – bVI – bIII⁶ – bIII – bVII⁶ – i7 – bVII – bVI

Part 12 (2:54)

• G/B – G – D – C – G/B – Aadd9/B – B – Eadd9
  bIII⁶ – bIII – bVII – bVI – bIII⁶ – IVadd9 (bass B) – V – Iadd9

Part 13 (3:10)

• B/D♯ – C♯m7 – E/B – Aadd9 – Eadd9/G♯ – F♯m7 – Aadd9/B – E
  V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IVadd9 – Iadd9 (bass G♯) – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass B) – I

Part 14 (3:26)

• B/D♯ – C♯m7 – E/B – E7 – Aadd9 – Eadd9/G♯ – F♯m7 – B9sus4 – Aadd9
  V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – I7 – IVadd9 – Iadd9 (bass G♯) – ii7 – V9sus4 – IVadd9

Part 15 (3:42)

• E/G♯ – F♯m7 – Aadd9/B – B – Esus2 – B/D♯ – C♯m7 – E/B
  I⁶ – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass B) – V – Isus2 – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄

Part 16 (3:59)

• A – Aadd9/B – B – E
  IV – IVadd9 (bass B) – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D69 (bVII69) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Dsus4/G (bVIIsus4 (bass G)) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Cadd9 (bVIadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• D/F♯ (bVII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• C (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G/B (bIII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• D (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Em7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• E7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to Aadd9.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Music Box), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Music Box), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.