Behind The Lyrics

Lyric Writing

Behind every great song is story that the songwriter has transformed into a piece of music. The lyrics are obviously the most important part of telling that story. When fans listen to your song and hear your lyrics, it puts a picture in their mind, whatever that picture may be. There are many places to start when thinking about what kind of story you want to write about.

Creative Writing/Poetry

Creative writing is essentially writing that encapsulates descriptive, out of the box topics and subject matters that know no boundaries. This can take on the form of poetry, short fiction writing, etc. When beginning to learn lyric writing, It can be incredibly beneficial to begin with simply getting familiar with creative writing and brainstorming. When practicing creative writing, try and focus on storytelling elements, such as characters, narratives, etc. Getting good at writing through storytelling will help give your lyrics meaning that your audience can get behind and resonate with on a deep level.

Talk About Life Experiences

When thinking about what to write about for a particular song, you may want to draw upon your past experiences, talk about real life issues in the world, etc. With our band, we try and bring out emotions within our music and really capture a particular feeling, emotion, topic, etc. It may help to first try and think of a particular moment and then begin writing about it using the five senses. Doing this does a great job in giving the audience a picture in their mind to resonate and connect with. Sometimes the best thing to do when writing about a particular moment in your life is to just let your stream of consciousness guide you.

Inspiration

It is extremely okay, and in fact encouraged, to take lyrical inspiration from other artists/musicians you like. Go read the lyrics from a song you like and really try and understand what they are talking about. What is the theme of the song? What message and emotions are they trying to convey? Doing this can really help get your creative juices flowing on particular themes, topics, issues, or emotions to work off of. However, while you should definitely use other artists as inspiration, you must make sure your lyrics are as true and authentic to yourself as possible. Don’t use artists lyrical messages or topics as inspiration if you feel that they don’t resonate with you or your life. Keep in mind that the most important quality of a great lyricist is authenticity.

Conclusion

The ultimate purpose of lyrics are to make the listener feel something powerful, whether that be the feeling of nostalgia reminiscing on your middle school or high school days, the feeling of connecting and empathizing with a song that talks about being addicted to drugs and depression, or anything else. If you can appeal to your audiences emotions in a strong enough way, the chances you capture them as a potential fan are that much greater.