DON’T LOSE YOUR SONGWRITING INNOCENCE

Your innocence is your major asset. One of the things I love about working with young writers and artists is just the innocence they bring to the writing process. They aren’t bitter or jaded. They aren’t worried about what radio will think – this can be good or bad. They just want to write a great song – a great song that they love. While I am writing this, my current example of this kind of writers is Sam Veil. He used to be a busker for years until we met in 2017 and he joined Flipside and I started mentoring him and producing for him. In his busking years, he wrote a lot of songs and when we met, he was singing his songs on his guitar and I was stunned. Not only by his creativity, but mainly for the feeling these songs had. It was a very long time I hadn’t had the chance to sit with such a fresh writer who is writing songs so simple yet so pure. His songs had the innocent of a child and the experience of a grown man! Perfect combination. That was the reason when we met, on the same day I offered him to work together, and two years past today and we are still working together and in fact Sam is an established singer / songwriter in Singapore now.

It’s easy to become jaded. Those of us that have been around a while have been rejected and beaten down to the point that many of us come to writing from a cynical viewpoint. “Why bother, this one’s never going to get cut either?” and “Let’s write one more to throw in the black hole.” These are actual comments I have heard from co-writers after we finished writing. I fear becoming one of those bitter, cynical writers that complains all the time and is mad at the world because they won’t cut my songs. You should accept the fact that rejection is a big part of this job and you should learn how to deal with it. It is nothing personal and it doesn’t even necessarily mean the problem is your work or the quality. It just need to be a great song and more importantly it must a perfect match for what they publisher or the artist is looking for. And you are not alone, for each opportunity there are hundreds of songs being pitch and in most cases there is room only for one. Deal easily with rejection and move on, maybe next opportunity is yours!
 
Many seasoned writers want to work with writers new to the game. So, I write with people that encourage me and bring me up, instead of down. And I actively seek out people that are new to the game. Hopefully, I bring a little wisdom and experience to the table and they bring innocent optimism. If I went into my co-write every day thinking, “80% of my songs never get cut so here we go again”, I wouldn’t be writing for very much longer. I choose to go into my co-write thinking that today could be the day that changes my life. I’m hoping for a hit every day. The innocence in that belief keeps me plodding along toward the goal line even when times are tough. If you’ve started to taste the bitter taste of music business flavored cynicism in your mouth, I would encourage you to rinse with a little innocent optimism. 

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with 20 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has written and produced more than 5,000 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.