In terms of chords and melody, Tropical Carnival has complexity on par with the typical song, having near-average scores in Melodic Complexity and below-average scores in Chord Complexity, Chord-Melody Tension, Chord Progression Novelty and Chord-Bass Melody.
Tropical Carnival is written in the key of C Dorian. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 4th most popular key among Dorian keys and the 33rd most popular among all keys. The C Dorian scale is similar to the C Minor scale except that its 6th note is a half step higher (A). Chord progressions in Dorian have a characteristic sound due to the major quality of the chord built on the 4th scale degree. See the C Dorian Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more!