This I Promise You by *NSYNC

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 12

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)

• D – A – Bm7 – Gadd9 – D – A – Gmaj9
  I – V – vi7 – IVadd9 – I – V – IVmaj9

Part 2 (0:23)

• Asus2 – Bm – Gadd9 – Asus4 – A (×2)
  Vsus2 – vi – IVadd9 – Vsus4 – V

Part 3 (0:46)

• Em7 – A7sus4 – A7 – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – Em7 – Gm6 – Asus4 – A
  ii7 – V7sus4 – V7 – I – V⁶ – vi7 – ii7 – iv6 – Vsus4 – V

Part 4 (1:09)

• D – A – Bm7 – G – D/A – A – Gadd9
  I – V – vi7 – IV – I⁶₄ – V – IVadd9

Part 5 (1:32)

• D – Asus2 – Bm – Gadd9 – Asus4 – A – Asus2 – Bm – Gadd9
  I – Vsus2 – vi – IVadd9 – Vsus4 – V – Vsus2 – vi – IVadd9

Part 6 (1:56)

• Asus4 – A – Em7 – A7 – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – Em7 – Gm6 – Asus4 – A
  Vsus4 – V – ii7 – V7 – I – V⁶ – vi7 – ii7 – iv6 – Vsus4 – V

Part 7 (2:19)

Same chords as Part 4 (1:09).

Part 8 (2:42)

• D
  I
• Em7 – A (×2)
  ii7 – V
• D – A – Gadd9
  I – V – IVadd9

Part 9 (3:05)

• Em7 – Asus4 – A – D – A – Bm7 – G – D/A – A
  ii7 – Vsus4 – V – I – V – vi7 – IV – I⁶₄ – V

Part 10 (3:28)

• E – B – C♯m7 – A – E/B – B – A – E
  II – VI – vii7 – V – II⁶₄ – VI – V – II

Part 11 (3:51)

• B – C♯m7 – A – E/B – B – Aadd9 – E
  VI – vii7 – V – II⁶₄ – VI – Vadd9 – II

Part 12 (4:14)

• B – Aadd9
  VI – Vadd9
• E – A/E (×2)
  II – V⁶₄
• E
  II

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• E acts as V/V: it resolves to A/E.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (No Strings Attached), 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 (No Strings Attached), 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.