Same direct jump, wider grin. The whole-step lift reads as 'final chorus' to almost every listener alive — use once per song, near the end, for maximum payoff.
hear it in “My Girl” — final-verse lift up a whole step
Lead-in — how players set it upSame as +½: end clean on 1, or borrow the new dominant for one beat.Or pivot politely first: old 6- = the new key's 5-... rare; ramp is safer.Or cut cold on the downbeat — direct phrase modulation.Follow — where it usually goesFull chorus in the new key; don't modulate again for a while.Confirm with a full turnaround in the new key.Or drop back down a whole step for the final verse — round trip.
Re-sing the hook unchanged in the new key: familiarity plus altitude is the whole trick.Target tones (in C)C — lean on E (3)D — lean on F# (3)A7 — lean on C# (3) · G (b7)D — lean on F# (3)Half-step wiresG ↘ F# · D ↘ C# · F# → G · C# → DAcross the borderno shared tonic tones with D — cut clean and re-land