The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.
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openAlphabet Song Music
A song that goes "A is for _____, B is for _______, C is for _________..."
Examples include Creature Feature's "A Gorey Demise" and Brentalfloss's "Game Over Tinies"
openLong or Overwrought Song Title Music
Long titles, often even verging into full sentences, common to emo music.
Edited by zemisoopenThat kind of music associated with unsavory/trickster characters Music
So I remember that there's (or was) a draft in the TLP about a specific kind of music that tends to play whenever a villain, usually a Dastardly Whiplash or something, appears on screen. But I can't find it anywhere, nor I can't remember the exact examples included in the draft. Google's "hum to search" function wasn't much help, either. The closest I could find to an example that demonstrates this musical trope is "Carousel
" from American Horror Story, or "A Little Heart to Heart
" from Team Fortress 2. (Because trying to properly describe this in musical terms is practically arcane knowledge).
EDIT: Apparently, the draft I'm thinking of is Ominous Pizzicato Strings
. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.
openCoincidental Haiku Music
A portion of a song's lyrics sounds like a haiku.
I.e. the first line of the portion has five syllables, then seven, then five.
Example from Kamen Rider Saber's OP, ALMIGHTY ~ Kamen no Yakusoku:
[The] saber in your hand
Is a pen to write it down
Words to save this world
openAnachronistic Score Music
The soundtrack includes a song or type of song that doesn't make sense within the context of the time period the work is set in.
openGod is a woman? Music
Trying to find a trope for Ariana Grande page:
- Some people interpret the song "God Is A Woman" as literally being about God as a woman, not a Grandpa God, despite the song being about how strong a woman is (according to Word of God, excuse the Pun).
Is there a trope for God not being Grandpa God?
Fanon fits this trope, but not the work page, unless that's on YMMV.
openSounds and samples reused in different tracks Music
You listen to a certain track and you hear a familiar sound. Where did you hear it? Why in some other completely different musical score of course.
Want an an example?
This metallic pipe clank
heard at 01:48 in Unyielding track of Twisted Insurrection is exactly the same as heard in Space Ocean
of Half-Life 1.
or a better example
Listen to this short beat
in the very same TI track. Again you realize it originates in the first Half-Life game track Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar
albeit softened a bit.
Now I'm nearly certain this is a trope or at least a trivia. Help me find it please.
openAmbiguous Lyrics Music
A song sounds like it could either have lyrics or not, and it's unclear which one of these is actually the case.
For example, the opening of the Pico song
from Friday Night Funkin' can be interpreted either as "go Pico yeah, yeah, go Pico go" or a bunch of simlish, and the rest of the song goes similar.
openYMMV: best part of a song. Music
This is like Signature Scene, but for a song. It's widely agreed to be the best part of the song, even if the track is great to begin with.
openSimilar tropes to 'Good girl gone bad'?? Music
Hi! New to this community so excuse me if Im not asking correctly or something. Im writing a story about a musician who goes from nothing to famous and wanted a growth trope for her. Ive seen the good girl gone bad trope done in music and want something similar to tell a story of the character through, and this trope would go into the musician character's artistry and expression. Please if you need me to clarify I will gladly. Thanks so much.
Edited by OompaloomperopenReferences to a Cut Song Music
When a musical, in later runs or productions, cuts a song from the show but references to it are still present in other songs (as a leitmotif or reprise, for example).
For example, in Frozen (2018) Anna's song "True Love" was cut was from post-Broadway productions but still appears melodically and lyrically in Anna's verses in Reprise Medley song "Colder by the Minute".
My gut reaction would be The Artifact but I feel that relates more to plot progression rather than different iterations of the same story.
Edit: wording
Edited by iloveserperioropenBand in a Car/Truck Music
I was watching Muse's Uprising video which features the band in the back of a moving pick-up truck and though to myself, surely this has to be a trope. If it is, I can't find it. Is there a trope for a music video (or live music played in another medium other media) which features a band playing their song while riding in a car (usually a convertible) or truck, complete with their instruments in the vehicle?
openA rare rhyme Music
Is there a trope for when a song puts some obscure and hard to rhyme word in its lyrics, but still manages to rhyme it? An example would be "Nemesis" by Shriekback, which takes the word "parthenogenesis" (meaning asexual reproduction) and rhymes it with nemesis.
openA song that celebrates a character’s return Music
I am trying to find a trope that fits the song “Beautiful Creatures” from the movie Rio 2 (a song that celebrates Jewel finding her tribe again after being separated from them due to illegal loggers). So I want to ask this is there a trope about about a type of song that celebrates a character’s return after being gone for so long?
Edited by Pokemon439openBetter Live (YMMV) Music
Most common for music but could also apply to radio and TV shows that also run as theater plays.
Do we have a trope for a group that's considered better in their live performances than in the studio?
openSampled quote Music
A spoken quote from a movie, TV or radio series added to a musical track, as in the page quote for Techno. Can be repeated or not. Does this just fall under Sampling? Just checking.
openEvery line in a song has a certain word gag Music
The only example I can think offhand is "Tosh" by the band Fluke, where every line has the word "super" in some form (E.G "Super grass for gain/ Super power-games/Super-secret spy/Undersupervised), and its clearly Played for Laughs

An album with a track list composed exclusively of OneWordTitles.
Believe (Disturbed, 2002) is a very clear example of this trope. System of a Down (System of a Down, 1998) could also fall under this, depending on if you consider the first and last tracks to be single words.