Songwriting
Stop NOT Writing Songs: Why Writing Badly Is Better Than Not Writing at All
You know, there’s a particular weight that unfinished songs carry. Not the kind that sits loudly on your desk, but the quiet kind. The song you keep meaning to start. The lyric you circled weeks ago. The melody that showed up once and then vanished because you didn’t catch it in time. These songs don’t […]
“There’s a Song in That.” Developing the Songwriter’s Way of Seeing the World
Songwriting doesn’t begin when you pick up a guitar, sit at a piano, or open a DAW. It begins much earlier than that. It begins in how you move through the world, how you notice things, and how you respond to your own life as it’s happening. Long before a song has chords or lyrics, […]
Songwriting: The Art of Saying More With Less
One of the quiet truths about songwriting is that you’re working with the smallest canvas in all of storytelling. A novel can wander for chapters. A film can take two hours to build a world. A songwriter gets a verse, a chorus, maybe a bridge, and a melody to carry it all. That limitation isn’t […]
The Slow, Boring, Unstoppable Power of Consistency in Songwriting
People love the idea of sudden inspiration. It’s dramatic. It feels mystical. It makes for a good story. But the truth underneath it all is far less glamorous and far more useful: the songwriters who win the long game aren’t the ones waiting for lightning. They’re the ones quietly turning up, day after day, doing […]
Why Do We Write Songs And Why Your “Why” Is Important
Every songwriter, no matter how long they’ve been at it, eventually runs into that quiet moment where the question sneaks in… Why am I doing this? It rarely arrives with fireworks. It shows up late at night when you’re stuck on a verse that won’t behave, or during a long drive when a melody loops […]
Why Songwriters Must Embrace Discomfort In Order to Truly Go All the Way With Their Craft
“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.”— Charles Bukowski There’s a brutal kind of beauty in that quote. Bukowski wasn’t talking about songwriting, but he might as well have been. Because if you’re serious about writing songs that matter (not just clever lines or catchy choruses, but something that […]
Commit Fully to the Song: Why Half-Writing Isn’t Enough
You know that folder… the one with 147 unfinished demos? We all have it (I know I do). Verse fragments. Voice memos. Half-formed chorus ideas that once lit a fire, only to fade into digital dust. It’s not that those ideas were bad. Most of them were probably pretty good. The real issue? We didn’t […]
The Audience Comes Last: A Songwriter’s Guide to Creating From Within
Rick Rubin once said, “The audience comes last” and in a time where songwriters are constantly told to build a fan-base, game the algorithm, and tailor their songs to what’s trending, this statement might sound radical. But for anyone who’s ever stared at a blank page with a melody swirling in their head and self-doubt […]
What Hemingway Can Teach Us About Listening (And Writing Better Songs)
“When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe… You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know […]
Your Song Doesn’t Have to Be Original, Just Unmistakably You
There’s a lot of pressure on songwriters to “stand out,” “be original,” or “break new ground.” And while it’s a noble idea, here’s the truth: Your job as a songwriter isn’t to be original. It’s to be you. Originality is overrated. What matters most is authenticity, your thoughts, your feelings, your stories, your way of […]