Shawn Mendes - Life Of The Party - Chord

Key G major – E minor Chords C, G, Em, Am, D/F# Difficulty already in its easiest key

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Capo 0

Em                       C     G
I love it when you just don't care
       Am       Em                     C       G
I love it when you dance like there's nobody there
            Am   Em            C  G
So when it gets hard, don't be afraid
 Am       Em                    C  G
We don't care what them people say
Em                  C     G
I love it when you don't take no
            Am      Em               C         G
I love it when you do what you want cause you just said so
 Am      Em              C    G
Let them all go home, we out late
 Am       Em                    C  G
We don't care what them people say

 G                  C
We don't have to be ordinary
 Em                C
Make your best mistakes
       G                            C
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry
    Em                      C
So baby be the life of the party
                  G                 C
I'm telling you, take your shot it might be scary
 Em                C
Hearts are gonna break
       G                            C
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry
    Em                      C
So baby be the life of the party

 Em              C    G
Together we can just let go
           Am         Em                C       G
Pretend like there's no one else here that we know
            Am      Em                C     G
Slow dance fall in love as the club track plays
 Am       Em                    C  G
We don't care what them people say

 G                  C
We don't have to be ordinary
 Em             C
Make your best mistakes
       G                            C
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry
    Em                      C
So baby be the life of the party
                  G                 C
I'm telling you, take your shot it might be scary
 Em                C
Hearts are gonna break
       G                            C
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry
    Em                      C
So baby be the life of the party

   Em              G
Come out tonight, come out tonight
         C                  G    D/F#
There's no one standing in your way
     Em            G
Come out tonight, come out tonight
          C                     G
We don't care what them people say
          C                     G
We don't care what them people say

 G                  C
We don't have to be ordinary
 Em                C
Make your best mistakes
       G                            C
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry
    Em                      C
So baby be the life of the party
                  G                 C
I'm telling you, take your shot it might be scary
 Em                C
Hearts are gonna break
       G                            C
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry
    Em                      C
So baby be the life of the party

 G     C     Em  C
Yeah, yeah, yeah
             G
Life of the party
 C                          Em
So don't let them keep you down
C                      G
Oh you know you can't give up
    C                               Em
Cause we don't have the time to be sorry  
 C                          Em   C
So baby be the life of the party

End of song Play again?

Shawn Mendes - Life Of The Party Tabs

NotesX

Harmony analysis

Shawn Mendes – Life Of The Party: key and chord analysis

The song opens on Em and ends on C. Its chords belong to both G major and Em, so every chord below is read both ways.

Major view

G major

Brightness rank 2/7 (bright)

Characteristic notes

7 = F# (leading tone, pulls home)
4 = C (the note that leans on the 3rd)

Minor view

E minor

Brightness rank 5/7 (leaning dark)

Characteristic notes

b6 = C (the minor's melancholy)
b7 = D (natural-minor colour)

Which side does the ear lean to?

Our reading: we can't honestly pick a side here — the song moves freely between G major and E minor because it opens on Em and G is heard 32 times against 30 for Em. Try reading the chords both ways and see which feels more like home to you.

Chord degrees: major and relative minor

Show the degrees above the chords — relative to G or to Em; comparing both readings is a practice of its own.

Every chord of the key, listed 1 to 7 separately for each key. Chords played in the song show how often they appear; chords from outside the scale sit next to their own degree.

Seen from G major
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
I	G	Tonic — home	G · B · D	32×
ii	Am	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	A · C · E	9×
iii	Bm	Mediant — a tonic-family shade	B · D · F#	—
V/vi	B	Secondary dominant V/vi — leads to Emsecondary dominant	B · D# · F#	—
IV	C	Subdominant — moves away from home	C · E · G	46×
V	D/F#	Dominant — strongest pull home	D · F# · A	1×
vi	Em	Relative minor — the melancholy side	E · G · B	30×
vii°	F#dim	Leading-tone chord — tension	F# · A · C	—

Seen from E minor
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
i	Em	Tonic — home	E · G · B	30×
ii°	F#dim	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	F# · A · C	—
III	G	Relative major — the bright side	G · B · D	32×
iv	Am	Subdominant — moves away from home	A · C · E	9×
v	Bm	Minor dominant — soft pull	B · D · F#	—
V	B	Dominant — borrowed from harmonic minor, pulls hard to the tonicharmonic minor	B · D# · F#	—
VI	C	Submediant — warm colour	C · E · G	46×
VII	D/F#	Subtonic — steps back to the tonic	D · F# · A	1×

Analysis

The key pair is G major and its relative E minor (1 sharp). 5 different chords appear 118 times in total; 5 of them sit naturally inside the shared scale. Everything stays inside one scale, which is why the song is easy to follow by ear.

Chord movement

C G GIV → Iplagal cadence EmVI → III ×27
C Em GIV → vi EmVI → iVI → i ×18
Am Em Gii → vi Emiv → iminor plagal ×9
D/F# Em GV → videceptive cadence EmVII → iAeolian arrival ×1

The move to watch is C → G, heard 27 times. From the G side it reads IV → I (plagal cadence: the soft 'amen' ending); from the Em side it is VI → III. Knowing where these arrivals fall helps you feel the phrasing and anticipate the next chord.

Improvisation tips

G major pentatonic and E minor pentatonic are the same five notes (G – A – B – D – E): start from G for a brighter phrase, from E for a bluesier one.
Over C, land on C, E, G — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over G, land on G, B, D — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over Em, land on E, G, B — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.

The song on the circle of fifths

Played in the song — chord of the key
Played — the minor's harmonic V or a secondary dominant
Played — borrowed or outside chord
Home region: IV–I–V and ii–vi–iii

Empty slices are chords the song doesn't use.

Capo and easier keys

With G major shapes

No capo — open G shapes
Capo 3 + E shapes
Capo 5 + D shapes

With E minor shapes

No capo — open Em shapes
Capo 2 + Dm shapes
Capo 7 + Am shapes

Easiest keys on guitar

The song is already written in its easiest key for guitar.

The song's harmonic story

The first chord is Em; the ear learns where home is within a second. The chords that keep coming back are C, G, Em, Am; read them as IV–I–vi–ii in G or VI–III–i–iv in Em. No chord leaves the shared scale, so a single pentatonic shape works over the whole song. Keep an ear on C → G (IV → I in G, VI → III in Em): plagal cadence — the soft 'amen' ending. It closes on C, letting the G side have the last word.

This analysis is generated from the song's chords by akorculuk's harmony engine using consistent rules. When you change key, the degrees stay the same; only the chord names change.