LYRICISTS AND MELODY

I am primarily a composer and producer. I contribute to lyrics on my songs, but that’s not my strength when it comes to English language songs. Because my vocabulary is not that wide (yes, I am still working on it) and more importantly because most of the time I “think in Persian” language. So, I try to stay with my strength and put most of my energy on composing melodies, arrangement and whole production.

​By definition, a lyricist is someone who writes the lyrics (words) for a song. If you write without any regard for how those lyrics will work musically, you are a poet, not a lyricist. I can’t build a car part without any regard for how and where it will fit into the car. I have to work hard to make sure MY part fits into the car and works with the other parts. So, if you only write lyrics, here are some things I would suggest.

1. Write your lyrics to a “dummy” melody in your head. If you can sing your lyrics to a mediocre melody, a great melody person should be able to write a beautiful melody to it as well.
   
2. Work with melody people. Don’t stay isolated. Working with good melody people helps you learn how important phrasing is in a song and gives you valuable insight into crafting better lyrics.
   
3. Try writing lyrics to a drum beat. That will help you make sure your lyrics can work musically.
   
4. I know writers that speak their lyrics rhythmically as they are writing to make sure the phrasing is good, and the words can be understood.
   
5. Study lyrics from great songs. Pay attention to the way the lyrics lays in the melody naturally.
   
6. Try writing some new lyrics to an existing melody. Get a karaoke track of a song you like and write new words. Then, give the lyrics to a melody person WITHOUT telling them what you wrote it to. This guarantees your lyrics is singable.
   

 
The more you learn about melody, the better your lyrics will become, so challenge yourself to get outside your box every now and then to play in the melody world!

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 15 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has produced more than 1500 and written more than 3000 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.