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5 THE SECOND VERSE'S LYRICS CAN DESTROY YOUR SONG

9/29/2020

There are many ways that a song can start great. Have a perfect starting and a stunning hook that drives the listener crazy, but everything can go wrong in the second verse. Don’t let these “song-killers” crop up in your second verses! Here are some of the prime “killers” to watch out and stay away from them and keep your songs away from them. They can be pretty harmful for your songs, therefore for your reputation in the industry.

Say the same thing as the first verse in different words. You have to give the listener something more in the second verse. Saying the same thing again bores them and they’ll turn your song off. When you are telling them a story in your first verse and you’ve sat an environment, introduced your characters and prepared them for the hook, and you’ve already made them listen to the hook and wait for the second verse to see where this story is going, it can be the worst answer for them to just give them the same thing as your first verse just in different words. Even worse than that is when I see in some songs, they just repeat the exact first verse again even with the same melody and lyrics, as if they couldn’t come up with anything anymore!

EAT THE BIG FROG FIRST

9/25/2020

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” Mark Twain

Author Brian Tracy wrote a book called “Eat That Frog”. He took the idea from the Mark Twain’s quote. The idea of the book (and the quote) is that most people procrastinate doing the most important things because they are usually the hardest things to do.

WITH THIS CO-WRITE, I THEE WED: 10 CO-WRITING VOWS

9/22/2020

By entering the songwriting room to write with you, I hereby promise:

To be faithful to you in keeping our song “OUR” song. I will not change our song in any way without getting your approval. No lyric changes, melodic changes or production changes. Nor will I bring another writer in on our song without your approval.

I will honor you as an equal creator of this song. I will not count lines or try to measure who contributed most. I will respect that fact that WE created this song and that everything that happened in the writing room contributed to the song being the way it is.

I will not take this idea and write it with anyone else, even if it was my idea. If I don’t like the way it turned out, I will suggest changes or ask you if we can bring someone else in to help us make it better, but I won’t do anything without consulting you. At the end of the day, if I still don’t like it, I will move on and learn from the experience.

Artist Interview - jayefunk

9/18/2020

Asian Age Magazine describes him as:

"Foo Jian Chuan popularly known as Jayefunk is a phenomenal musician hailing from Singapore. Music has been his favourite hobby since his childhood. He has built his own business since he was 15. He began to earn money by playing a DJ for private parties. Later he produced his first album at the age of 16. As of today, he has performed on stage at many international events like the Singapore Night Festival, Singapore Writers Festival and the Starbucks Tour. Apart from this, he has also been DJing in a X-Factor finalist group. His songs have featured on a MTV, Apple Music, Spotify Viral 50 Charts and many other international playlists."

We had the honor to have him for an interview. Please Enjoy.

KEY ELEMENTS OF A GREAT SONG

9/18/2020

We have readers here that are all over the spectrum. Some of you just want to write songs for your own pleasure. Others are hoping for staff writing deals and to make a living getting songs recorded. This post is for all of you. Whether you are writing for yourself or for the masses, you want to write a great song. Here are my views on what makes a song great.
People often ask me what makes a song a “hit” song. The answer to that question is long and complicated. But, based on my experience, here’s what you have to have in order to have a hit song:

Great songs cause a strong reaction. It makes me laugh, cry, dance – something! I FEEL something when I hear it.

I can relate. Usually I feel something because it touches on some emotional memory of mine.

A SONGWRITER’S CHALLENGE

9/15/2020

One of the first things I did when I decided to seriously pursue writing as a career was to attend a Songwriting Camp. I submitted my application and nervously awaited a response to let me know if I was accepted or not. Finally, the day came. There in the stack of mail was a letter from the management. I opened it excitedly, hoping and praying that I got in. I did not. The letter very politely told me that I didn’t make it in, but I was on the waiting list in case someone dropped out.
Several weeks went by and the camp was rapidly approaching. I had given up when I got a call letting me know that someone dropped out and I could come if I still wanted to. It kind of had the feel of a girl telling you that she would love to go to the prom with you, but you were not really her first choice. It hurt a little, but I swallowed my pride and accepted. Looking back, I’m glad I did. It gave me a great beginning place. Most importantly, it showed me where the bar is. Once I realized how high the bar is, I was motivated to work even harder to get over it. During the camp of the instructors said something that has stuck with me to this day.

REASONS TO CO-WRITE

9/11/2020

People often ask me, sometimes skeptically, why I co-write so often instead of writing alone. “The songs you write on your own are great, why you need to write with others?” I heard these many times. I have some reasons that I find pretty compelling.

Not many people I know are world-class at melody and lyrics. There are plenty of people who do both but doing both and excelling at both are different things altogether. To succeed at the highest level in the music business, you have to have a world-class melody and lyrics (unless you are writing with an artist, but that’s a whole separate topic). In order to get a song at that level, 99.9% of us have to co-write. I always recommend that writers define what they are strongest at and really work hard to become world class at that. You can find someone to work with that is already world-class at whatever you are weaker at.

WRITING BETTER SONGS CHECKLIST

9/4/2020

Does you intro make the listener want to hear the song? Let me start with a concept you might know, called the elevator pitch, which basically says to make a sell, you must be prepared enough to convince your potential buyer to buy whatever you are selling, in a elevator trip which takes one minute. In music, it is taken to whole another level, specially with the current technology and the fact that people just keep bouncing their mind from one place to another, you have 30 seconds to get your song to its interesting part – which we call “the hook” of the song. But to get there, the intro of your song must catch their attention to make them sit down and listen until you get to your hook. To do so, you would have less than 10 seconds. The intro seems to be just a simple start of the song, but it is extremely important and you should pay a lot of attention to it, no matter how good the rest of your song would be, if it is not a great intro, your listener will skip the song and they don’t get to enjoy your super catchy hook!

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