I DO MY SONGWRITING BEST – PUTTING AN END TO THE COMPARISON GAME

There is a lot of comparison that goes on in the songwriting world. Artists pick this song over the other song. Someone decides that song is better than this song. Someone decides who is a better songwriter and even among 2 co-writers, there will be someone who wants to work with one of the two as a solo writer. We all tend to compare our songs to songs on the radio. Or we go to a writer’s night and compare our work to the work of others. When we hear something better than our music, we start thinking and analysing that song to see what element made it better than ours.

At the end of the day, I am going to be disappointed if I compare my work to Max Martin’s. He has had hundreds of songs cut and makes millions of dollars. Maybe I think my songs are just as good as his. Maybe some of them are better than some of his. None of that matters. All that really matters is that I do my best. If I’ve done that, then the rest is out of my hands. 

So, I go into every co-write prepared. I have lots of ideas stored up. I do my best to get a good night’s sleep before each write. During the write, I give my co-writer the very best I have to offer. When the song is as good as I can make it, I go home satisfied. I know I done my job the best way I could do. I don’t need to feel guilty. If you can say “I do my best”, then you can be satisfied with your work. If your best is not getting the results you want, then you need to work at making your “best” better. As the days go by, you can improve and challenge yourself, but the goal for each individual day will remain the same. Do your best.

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.