Note from the editorSongwriting

Writing songs with intention

You don´t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say! – F. Scott Fitzgerald

While writing on a regular basis for the sake of honing your craft is super important, it is indeed true, that a good song is built on an authentic message. You won´t deliver a good song every day! Noone does! Not even Diane Warren! Well, maybe Diane does! She´s unreal! 😉

The average songwriter will write tons of songs to get a few raw diamonds out of those. Being authentic and having something to say is crucial.

So how to write with intention then?

When writing a song, try to really connect with your emotions and/or thoughts and find out what your intention is! What message or feeling is your song meant to convey? Why are you writing it in the first place?

Once you know your intention, you can start working towards bringing it across! If for example you want to write a song to express heartache, do check each element for exactly that!

Ask questions like:

  • Is the melody dramatic?
  • Are the lyics deep and expressive? (Heartache runs deep, so a shallow set of lyrics won´t be convincing!)
  • Does the groove work with the idea? (You might not want to go for an all straight groove (or at least you will want to add variety and surprises, as your heart stumbles and falls, feeling shaky and lost.)

The chorus might be the place that you can really cry your heart out and or find new strength to beat the heartache! Make it big!

No matter what it is you wanna write about, make sure you know your intention always! This seems obvious, but a lot of times we do not pay attention to the details and it is the details that make the difference! Prosody is key here!

Hope to keep you motivated and inspired!
Happy writing!

Best

Katie

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