What Regular Writers Can Learn From Song Writers
There are 10 important lessons you can learn
Great songs are easy to sing along to, remember, and enjoyable to listen to. Turn on the radio and you hear songs from popular musicians such as Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, and Katy Perry.
Guess what?
Most popular musicians today don’t write their own music. They all have songwriters. A songwriter is a musician who professionally writes lyrics for musical artists.
The writing of a song is powerful. Here’s an example:
“You were red, and you liked me because I was blue. But, when you touched me, suddenly I was a lilac sky. Then you decided purple just wasn’t for you.”
— Halse, singer and songwriter
It paints a picture of how you shouldn’t change who you are for someone else.
Most songs today are popular because of their memorable and easy-to-digest lyrics. The lyrics are relatable, influential, and emotional. They simplify the complex.
There are 10 key lessons regular writers can learn from songwriters.
1. They Write With Emotion
Songwriting is all about emotion. Emotions persuade people to listen to the songs. Emotions sell the song.
Let’s do a quick exercise. Take some paragraphs from your best story.
- Can you make it a song?
- Are there a lot of emotions in it?
- Will the audience of your story react emotionally to your words?
If you answered “yes” to these questions, that’s great. If not, include more emotions. Great songwriters craft songs with emotional impact.
Songwriters develop an emotional story in the song for their listeners. Emotional writing is tough because emotions can be complex and tough to simplify. Look at the best songs and they are simple yet complex.
For example, look at Taylor Swift’s recent Cardigan song from her studio album Folklore that premiered in July. The song, according to Taylor Swift, is about a lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories — why it leaves such an indelible mark.
Here are some lyrics of Taylor Swift’s song:
And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed You put me on and said I was your favorite But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs
These words are short, powerful, and filled with emotions. So, how do you add more emotions?
Emotions can take the form of love, greed, fear, and honor.
- Love: romantic, friendship, family bonding, or loneliness.
- Greed: wanting to win the lottery, buy an expensive car, or win a sports championship.
- Fear: fear of losing your job, dying, or getting divorced.
- Honor: an obligation to your spouse, children, parents, country, company, or community.
Key takeaway: It’s important that you put emotions into your writing so that you win people’s attention. For example, your readers are more likely to share your stories if they are emotional. For the greatest impact, gradually add more emotions to your story and tease your readers with hints of what’s to come later. The anticipation is like foreplay for your readers. They will want to read more.
2. They Are Very Structured
Songwriting is very structured. If one sentence has seven syllables, the next line needs the same number of syllables. Songwriters are inspired by poetry because poetry has a lot of structure.
Most poetry is structured with rhyming lines and meter (the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in a verse). A poem’s key building block is a verse called a stanza. A stanza is a group of lines arranged together in a recurring pattern.
The best songs are structured in a way that provides a clear path for the listener. Most contemporary songs are structure this way: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.
A chorus is a phrase that repeats while a bridge contrasts verses and the chorus in order to transition into the next section of the song.
Listeners love this song structure because it provides enough repetition that the song becomes familiar. The structure also provides enough variety to keep the listener interested and on their toes. This structure is what a songwriter uses as the framework for their songs.
Key takeaway: Songwriters use a template or framework for all of their songs. Developing this structure is important to make sure your key points are covered in your writing. The song structure is critical to making sure your story flows and ideas are linked. All great general writers and songwriters follow a structured template that works for them. Determine what your structured template is and use it in your writing.
3. They Are Process Driven
Skilled songwriters are process-driven. There are three building blocks to every song: lyrics, melody, and instruments. Songwriters need to match the lyrics with the melody and with the instrumentation.
Great songwriters need to have a creative process for bringing all three things together. They need to write the song, so it feels natural for the singer who sings the vocals while the melody and instruments augment the lyrics. If you ever wonder why you like a song, it’s because these three things are working well together.
Key takeaway: Great general writers have a process as songwriters do. Most general writers come up with the headline, theme, or direction for the story first. Then they write the body or “meat” of the story next. Finally, they write the introduction and conclusion. They make sure their three sections work well together just like a songwriter does.
4. They Are Observant
Great songwriters study and listen to other great songs. They pick up on the things from those songs to help them to create their song. They are observant of the text they are reading, pay attention to their surroundings, and find inspiration from the world around them.
Just like comedians who pay attention to everything, songwriters do the same. It’s critical to their success. Why? Because they turn an everyday experience into a song that makes a listener say, “that’s happened to me!”
Key takeaway: Songwriters are attentive to everyday details because that’s what their listeners will gravitate to in the song. Great general writers are observant as well and that’s why they add personal stories from their life so their readers say, “something like that has happened to me too!”
5. They Embrace Different Perspectives
A songwriter is open to all ideas, especially ones that are different. Their ability to look at things from different angles helps them add depth to the song they are writing. The best ideas connect the dots from two different things.
Songwriters know how important it is to see a problem from a different perspective. The best recent example is Lady Gaga’s duet song Shallow with Bradley Cooper in the movie A Star is Born.
Bradley Cooper sings:
Tell me somethin’, girl Are you happy in this modern world? Or do you need more? Is there somethin’ else you’re searchin’ for?
I’m falling In all the good times I find myself Longin’ for change And in the bad times I fear myself
Lady Gaga sings:
Tell me something, boy Aren’t you tired tryin’ to fill that void? Or do you need more? Ain’t it hard keeping it so hardcore?
I’m falling In all the good times I find myself Longin’ for change And in the bad times I fear myself
Both singers look at the same thing but from a different perspective. A song can take a first-person, second-person, or third-person narrative. Great songwriters know the purpose of the song and embrace different points of view. They know it changes the feeling of a song, making it impactful.
Key takeaway: A song can be told from many perspectives, and it’s up to the songwriter to decide which point of view works best for the message. As in the duet, both perspectives work. The same goes for general writing. What perspective works best for the story? First-person or third-person? For this story, I’m writing in the third-person, using “they.”
6. They Are Curious
Great songwriters have a curiosity to dig deeper into human nature. What drives us as human beings emotionally? They want to find the stories (and songs) in the how, what, when, where, and why.
Skilled songwriters ask great and smart questions about human psychology. They want to know as much as they can about human behavior. Songwriters are also curious about other musical genres that they don’t listen to. They know good ideas can come from unexpected places like the shower.
Key takeaway: Without curiosity, writers will stagnate. Songs will sound the same. Just like songwriters get curious about the musical world, general writers need to be curious about the writing world. Be curious.
7. They Keep the Big Picture in Mind
Great songwriters know that there will be a lot of difficulties writing songs. Some days they may get into the flow and write a lot. Other days, they will hit a wall and can’t think of any good ideas.
Skilled songwriters keep the big picture in mind, having faith that they will come up with a hit song one day. They know it usually gets worse before it gets better. They come with a clean slate every day and are open to a wide range of possibilities.
Key takeaway: It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture with the roller coaster of wins and losses or mountains and valleys. Great songwriters know the bottom line: create a song that meets the views, needs, and concerns of the listener. Daily writing tasks can pull you into the inertia of the grind, and it’s important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
8. They Write Conversationally
Skilled songwriters understand their song is a conversation with the listener. The key is for the songwriter to have the singer feel the impact of the conversation of the lyrics and have the singer inject their personality into the song. Songwriters put themselves in the shoes of the listeners (and the singer), so the song is written in the way it is supposed to be, a conversation between two people.
Conversational copy is tighter than spoken language, so songwriters know a song is not always written in the same way people speak. A conversational style can break grammar rules. It also brings in the singer’s personality.
Key takeaway: Great songwriters and great general writers know they need to have the song written for one person, not everyone. Conversational writing is powerful because it is short, and each word lingers in your mind. A conversational tone uses the words of your audience.
9. They Try New Things
Excellent songwriters know trying new things helps keep them sharp. Skilled songwriters know that writing the same thing repeatedly leads to ruts and boring songs. They explore the world around them, and this opens them up to more creativity. Why? Because creativity comes during exploration.
For example, Shawn Mendes’s song Wonder that premiered on October 2, 2020, was a departure from what he usually does. Shawn Mendes explained to Radio.com:
“I feel like ‘Wonder’ is in a lot of ways me just reflecting on my life, and life in general… I’ve never really done that before… probably because I didn’t have the mental capacity and clarity to even be able to reflect, and also probably because I was really scared of what people would think if I started to reflect in my music.”
Key takeaway: Don’t be afraid to try new things with your writing. To make sure you don’t hit a creative wall, try new things. When you switch it up, you’ll realize that new experiences are good for us and our readers.
10. They Are Always Learning
Skilled songwriters learn from other songwriters. They constantly learn more about their craft. They study other songs by breaking them down to figure out why they worked so well.
Great songwriters grow when they learn from other artists in other industries beyond music. They learn from what others have discovered and have built on. They know they will probably write for more than one musician, so they know they must learn new skills and adapt to survive.
Key takeaway: Learning will help you adapt to unexpected changes like a global pandemic. By continuing to learn, you’ll be able to step out of your comfort zone and take on new writing projects. Learning helps you better understand an idea, increases your efficiency, and helps you improve how you write.
Bringing It All Together
Regular writers can learn a lot from songwriters. Skilled songwriters write with emotions and they are structured, and process-driven. Great songwriters are observant, embrace different points of view, and are curious about the world.
They keep the big picture in mind, write conversationally, and try new things. Finally, they are always learning how to hone their craft. These are ten important lessons for general writers from songwriters. It’s time to “sing” their praises.
