Warning: Listening to the songs referenced in this article is likely to result in an inability to get them out of your brain. It is an incredible accomplishment for a song to reach the top of one of the Billboard charts. Occasionally, songs connect with listeners sufficiently to… Read more...
Early on in my songwriting journey, my father used to ask me, “What’s the chance of your songs becoming a hit? A million to one?” I explained that while it’s true that not everyone who dreams of topping the charts will achieve his or her goal, songwriting success is… Read more...
Sometimes, playing it safe is the most dangerous thing we can do. This is especially applicable when our goal is to write songs that rise above the competition; songs that become artists’ signature songs; and songs that impact audiences and propel artists to a next level. We need to find… Read more...
I read a post on Facebook by a songwriter who had decided to give up pursuing his dream of writing a hit because he had not gotten a song recorded after three years of trying. He felt beaten down and no longer trusted his abilities. My guess is that almost… Read more...
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” (African Proverb) Not every great song is the result of collaboration, but a look at recent hits by artists such as Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Keith Urban, Imagine Dragons, Luis Fonsi, P!nk, Adam Levine,… Read more...
During a recent song critique, I turned off the recording after listening to the first verse and chorus. The writer protested, “But you’ve got to keep listening. It all comes together in the bridge and then the last chorus explodes!” That might have been the case, but the chances are… Read more...
At my BMI Nashville Songwriters’ Workshops, I screen and critique songs from each attendee. When I find songs that I believe are competitive with those being written by today’s top hitmakers, I forward them to ten music publishers who have agreed to listen. After the last BMI Workshop, I forwarded… Read more...
Casting a song refers to making the determination of which artists your song is best suited for. To do it effectively requires an ability to intuit what attributes various artists are likely to be drawn to – melodically and lyrically – in the songs they choose. Just as a casting… Read more...
A songwriter recently posed an intriguing question: what can we do when we have a strong idea for a song, but realize that the song we’re writing is not turning out nearly as well as we hoped? How do we change direction? How can we switch gears when we have… Read more...
I taught my first songwriting class at Los Angeles’ Pierce College in 1991. Back then, if my car radio were tuned to a pop station, it was likely I would hear chart-topping artists such as Michael Jackson, Wilson Phillips, Janet Jackson, Michael Bolton, Poison, and Roxette. During that same era,… Read more...
