Could It Be You?

Hello universe,

Can you hear it? The ringing in your ears, the distant sounds of children, the ticking of a clock? Some people would call that ‘background noise’ or just wouldn’t focus on it. But lo and behold my musically wired mind thinks of it as one thing… potential.

When listening to a song on a radio, some people may choose to just enjoy it. Maybe they do a funky little butt-dance, or just hum along. Some people may get the lyrics stuck in their head (which hey, there’s a way to stop that for everyone who like me now suffers from a permanent baby-shark loop). Or there’s people like me and the future Jimmy Hendrix’s in my music class who tend to… deconstruct it a bit.

You probably don’t know this, but I am a wee bit of a song writer… okay maybe more than a wee bit. And if you’ve ever googled how to write a song, you’ll know there’s a whole bunch of different advice which will jump out at you. Some may be along the lines of “write the lyrics first” or “write the melody first” or “Here’s six tips to write like Billie Eilish” and many, many more.

So here’s some advice by yours truly. Do whatever feels comfortable and if you don’t know what that is yet, don’t be afraid to experiment. There’s no right way to write a song.

At the moment I’m working on a few songs (keep an eye on my YouTube channel folks) and here’s how I’m writing them:

STEP 1: Think of a topic

Every song, no matter how cryptic or edgy has a topic or an issue which is incorporated in the song. It can be anything: the Black Lives Matter movement, homework, recent relationships, the price of mac and cheese, the LGBTQ+ community, literally anything. Keep in mind the more you know and relate to the topic, the more likely others will too.

To quote my music teacher “Meaning is key”.

STEP 2: Give your song a backbone

When writing about the song there are a few things which you need to take into consideration. First thing is the age of the audience, or just the audience in general. Someone recommended the 4D musician to me, I still haven’t read it yet, sorry future JH I’m getting there. Anyway according to him, it has a section in it which really focuses on the importance of finding a way to connect with your audience.

Along with finding your audience you also need to find your POV (point of view) are you writing in first person, about you, are you writing about someone else, or are you just being a fly on the wall and describing society?

You should also take into consideration your song genre (pop, country, electro), the time signature/BPM and of course the pièce de résistance… the key signature.

Writing a song can be a pain in the donkey, believe me I’m there, but if you just take it as it comes, it can be quite fun. Especially after you finish a section. You get to take that step back, and just go “Damn I made that”.

Some other tips and tricks are; use the magpie strategy, the magpie strategy is just being out in public and just sitting around... without headphones in, and just listening to people. Everyone says funky stuff, and they may say something that might spark an idea.

Keep a notebook, or an app in your phone which you take with you, and whenever an idea for lyrics or melodies pops into your head, write it down or you are most likely to forget it.

And don’t be afraid to go back and edit it. If something you’ve already ‘finished’ has a fault or just needs a tweak, do it. It’s okay, it's your work, no-one can take that away from you. It should be where you want it to be.

That’s about all from me this week folks, if you have any other strategies you use, or want help with writing a song, feel free to contact me, I’d love to hear from you.

Stay foxy folks,

The Shadow Girl, Fading Out xx