HEART VS. HEAD: HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST SONGS?

Songwriting is beautifully complex and yet simple. I am often reminded when I’m working with aspiring songwriters how simple, and yet complex, writing a great song can be. It’s a beautiful mix of emotions, wit, determination, and being in the moment. A very common obstacle I see to great writing is what I call ”Heart vs. Head.”
 
Too much emotional attachment. When a song, let’s say a ballad, means a lot to the writer, they throw in a ton of feelings and emotions, and often they tend to get so close to the subject matter that not enough thought goes into the lyrics. Therefore, the song is weakened by a lack of perspective, which leads to the listener to actually feel less emotion!

Too heady. On the flip side, if the song is fun and up-tempo, often it’s too “heady.”

It might be chocked full of clever lines and twists, but lacks heart, realness, or believability. These types of songs often contain amazing lines in their own right, but don’t really contribute to making the song “in the room” a great song. I can say the same about writing music. In my early twenties while studying music, I learned all kinds of cool, sophisticated chord progressions. Then I threw them into every new song I wrote! I was so excited about using all the knowledge I now had in my head that I forgot to check myself: “Do these chords fit the emotion of the overall song?” Intellectually cool music, yes, but do you think I got any of these songs recorded by a major artist? No!
 
Songs are a finely tuned balance. As a mentor, it is a great feeling when I see a student gets this concept. Songs are not meant to be Heart vs. Head. They should be a finely tuned balance of both with each serving the master: the song. Always remember the song is the king and all we do during the process is solely to serve the song. It took me a long time to learn to write from this magical place that is deeper than either the heart or the head. It’s the well just below where we draw from, a place I call the Creative River.

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 17 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has produced more than 3,000 and written more than 4,800 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.