WHERE DO YOU FIND SONG IDEAS?

I’m often asked where I find song ideas. More than most people, I do actually go out and try to “discover” great ideas for songs. Many people just keep their antennae up and listen for unique things that others say in daily life. I do that as well. I’m always ready to add an idea to my “Idea Note” in my phone if I overhear something cool. Sometimes I hear a quote which I can relate a lot, it goes to my list. Sometimes I hear some story of something that happened to someone, I might take it as is, or I might make some changes (for dramatic purposes) and add it to the list.
 
When I actually sit down to look for ideas, I tend to start with quotes. Notable quotes are notable because they say something in a unique way. So, I go to sites that feature movie quotes or I search for site that have quotes organized by topic. 

Most songs are about “life” or “love” so I always start with those two searches. Reading quotes about life and love almost always lead me to something interesting that I’ve never written about. Pinterest is a great source for quotes as well. Quotes there tend to be more modern and current and they come from all over the place.
 
Some other times, I go back to the list of stories of what happened to people. You just need to talk to people, even about random topics and it is amazing how people you might not expect would tell you incredible stories. Just recently I was working on a song about “bravery”. Well, if you think about it, this is a very wide topic which can be viewed from millions of points. But right when I was thinking which angle is better, I happened to have a lunch with a friend of mine, a very successful business advisor from Australia, living here in Singapore. During lunch, he told me that he had resigned from his job, in a giant American corporation and he wants to start his own business advisory company. This, happened when he is living is one of the most expensive cities in the world, having a wife and 3 beautiful children! Just to show you how brave this man is, the cost of education for his 3 children is about $100,000 per year! When I got the news, I got shocked and even scared for him, but his calmness and confidence about this whole thing showed me how he got a plan and he was brave enough to take risk to execute his plan! Ang guess what, it worked for him! That day, when I went back to studio, his story was the “bravery” I wrote about!
 
The best stories come along your way. You should just do your search, talk to people and show the universe that you are open to hear people’s stories and turn them into the songs to be there for good.
Few years ago, I read this great line that is always in my head, “When a musician falls in love with you, you will always be alive, in form of music”. This is very true, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be about a person we love. It can be about a story, sad or happy or romantic or epic. Just the story that we can relate to. A story we can feel it will all our existence and then we can give it a life and let it live for ever, in form of music.
Don’t under estimate your powers as a writer. Know it, appreciate it and use it for a good cause. 

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.