Skip to content

Reflections

The Neighbourhood

From the album

Hard to Imagine the Neighbourhood Ever Changing (2018)

Written by

Lars Stalfors, Mikey Margott, Jeremy Freedman +4

Key:E minor
Duration:4:04

Listen to the Song

At a glance

Key
E minor
Time signature
4/4
Main progression
i–VI–III–VII
Chords used
C · G · D · Em

Summary

"Reflections" sits near the center of The Neighbourhood's third studio album, released March 2018 on Columbia. The track leans into the band's signature blend of dark indie pop and alternative R&B, with producer Lars Stalfors shaping a spacious mix around Jesse Rutherford's introspective vocal delivery. With over 21 million plays on Last.fm alone, the self-titled record confirmed the group's audience well beyond the Sweater Weather era.

electropopalternative R&Bindie popdark popintrospective

Musical Analysis

The harmony stays rooted in natural minor territory with no modulations, relying on the VI-III-VII-i cycle that gives much of The Neighbourhood's catalog its characteristic floating quality. By avoiding the dominant (B or B7), the track never fully resolves in…

History

"Reflections" was written collaboratively by all five members of The Neighbourhood — Jesse Rutherford, Zach Abels, Jeremy Freedman, Mikey Margott, and Brandon Fried — alongside producer Lars Stalfors and veteran songwriter E. Kidd Bogart. The writing sessions…

“E. Kidd Bogart, a professional songwriter whose credits span decades, co-wrote the track alongside the five band members”

Full musical analysis

The harmony stays rooted in natural minor territory with no modulations, relying on the VI-III-VII-i cycle that gives much of The Neighbourhood's catalog its characteristic floating quality. By avoiding the dominant (B or B7), the track never fully resolves in a classical sense, which reinforces the reflective, unanchored mood of the lyrics. The chord vocabulary is simple — four diatonic triads — but the arrangement and synth layering create harmonic depth beyond what the Roman numerals suggest.

"Reflections" was written collaboratively by all five members of The Neighbourhood — Jesse Rutherford, Zach Abels, Jeremy Freedman, Mikey Margott, and Brandon Fried — alongside producer Lars Stalfors and veteran songwriter E. Kidd Bogart. The writing sessions for the self-titled album marked a period where the band deliberately stripped back the genre-hopping experiments of their second record Wiped Out! and aimed for a more cohesive, atmospheric sound.

"Reflections" sits near the center of The Neighbourhood's third studio album, released March 2018 on Columbia. The track leans into the band's signature blend of dark indie pop and alternative R&B, with producer Lars Stalfors shaping a spacious mix around Jesse Rutherford's introspective vocal delivery. With over 21 million plays on Last.fm alone, the self-titled record confirmed the group's audience well beyond the Sweater Weather era.

Some sections are still pending

6 of 12 sections are ready. Ask for the rest and this song moves up our analysis queue.

Song DNA

Genre

Pop

Era

2010s

Mood

Melancholic

Tempo

Slow

Key

Minor

Texture

Layered

Sound

Synth-heavy

Feel

Groovy

Explore More

More by The Neighbourhood

See all songs →

Listen & Learn

Statistics

21.6M

Plays

1.3M

Listeners

507K

Genius Views

14

Annotations

100%

Popularity

4:04

Duration

4/4

Time

Credits

Written by

Lars StalforsMikey MargottJeremy FreedmanBrandon FriedZach AbelsJesse®E. Kidd Bogart

Produced by

Lars Stalfors

From the album Hard to Imagine the Neighbourhood Ever Changing