'''Basic Trope''': A song ends by changing the key, usually sometime in the last chorus.
* '''Straight''': A pop song modulates up half a step before its last chorus.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** A pop song modulates up half a step before its last chorus. And then does it again. And again. And again, until it goes through the whole circle of keys chromatically, back to where it started.
** A pop song modulates up by more than an octave in the final chorus.
* '''Downplayed''': The song modulates up one-tenth of a step, barely discernible.
* '''Justified''':
** The songwriter adds in the key change because it emphasises an important event in the lyrics.
** The final chorus was meant to be sung in the same key as the rest of the song, but during the last line the singer accidentally sang it a half-step higher than usual. His band decided to [[ThrowItIn keep the defective line because it sounded better]].
* '''Inverted''':
** The song changes key some time earlier, and then changes back in the middle of the last chorus.
** The song modulates downward before the last chorus.
* '''Subverted''': The chorus starts with an instrumental break in a different key, then changes back when the vocals come in...
* '''Double Subverted''': ...then it changes again in the middle of the chorus.
* '''Parodied''':
** An extreme metal band adds a conspicuous key change to the last chorus of an extremely atonal song.
** The bridge is just "I'll inhale even more helium/and all the top 10 charts, I'll top 'em" sung 4 times in a row, with the key going a half step up every time it's repeated.
* '''Zig Zagged''': Some albums by one pop artist are full of key changes, others have none to speak of.
* '''Averted''': The whole song uses the same key signature.
* '''Enforced''': A producer pressures a band to write more songs with this trope, in order to be more commercially successful.
* '''Lampshaded''': The lyrics reference the key change when it happens.
* '''Invoked''': The lyrics contain the two vocalists discussing whether ot not they should add a key change, they decide on the affirmative.
* '''Exploited''': The rest of the band, while playing a live version of the song, notice that the singer is singing at the wrong key half a step higher than usual - and then change keys ''with'' him, deciding to [[ThrowItIn just go with it]].
* '''Defied''': The lyrics reference the lack of key changes.
* '''Discussed''': A song has a verse about why the trope is overused.
* '''Conversed''': A songwriter and the singer he's working with talk about the merits of the trope.
* '''Deconstructed''': The recording artist is accused of using {{Autotune}} in their music, and subsequently denounced for abusing it [[DoubleStandard even though other popular musicians do the exact same thing.]]
* '''Reconstructed''': A behind-the-scenes video shows that, in fact, all vocals were entirely organic (i.e., not {{Autotune}}d, and the status quo is restored.
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[[subscript:Back to]] [[superscript:TruckDriversGearChange]]
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
%%* '''Played For Drama''': ???