Musician Categories: Song writing

Today, we’ll be looking at an interesting topic; choosing a song title. I know a lot of musicians struggle with this, especially upcoming musicians. I know this because, I’ve heard good songs with very poor titles over the years and, in fact, this article was inspired by one that I heard recently.

What’s the use of a title?

So, before we get into how to choose a song title, I think it’s important for us to know what role a song’s title plays. Simply put, a song title is to the song what a person’s name is to the person. Now, I’m not sure if that was simple or rather confusing (smiles). What I meant was that the song title is the name of any song. It’s what we use to identify the song. It’s the first thing we hear about your song (before we even listen to it). Your song title can make someone to either want to hear your song or it could make him not want to hear it at all. It’s important that you give your song a title that suits it, especially in this age where music streaming is the order of the day. Music streaming sites have millions of songs, what usually informs someone’s choice of which music to listen to is the title.

So, how do I title my song?

I’m writing this with the assumption that you have already finished writing the song. Now, choosing  title for your song could be likened to choosing a heading/ caption for a news publication. Think about news headlines, I’m sure you’ve noticed how they are captioned, right? Usually, the headings gives you an idea of what the news is about, yet they are captioned in such a way that you definitely want to read that news. That’s exactly how you should title your song.

1. Summarize the song

So, the first thing to do is to try to summarize the entire message of the song using a single phrase/ sentence. The shorter, the better. Make sure that phrase captures the main theme/ message of the song. Now, the phrase does not necessarily have to be a line from the chorus. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a line from the song.

2. Make your title unique

The next thing you should do is try to make your title unique. As much as possible, don’t use cliches or song titles that are too common. If the summary of your song’s message rhymes with a very common song title, try and use synonyms to get something different.

3. Make title attractive

As I mentioned earlier, News headlines are captioned in such a way that you would definitely want to read the news. Apply this technique to your song title. Think of how to phrase your title in such a way that it arouses the curiosity of anyone who sees and makes them want to hear your song. I will give one example. The first song I published talks about the truth that God cares for his children in a way that no parent can. But guess what I titled the song, “Father like a mother”. Now, there’s no way you’ll see that title and not be curious to know what the song is about. That’s what I mean by making the title attractive.

This is where I’ll stop on today’ article on choosing a song title. I hope you have learnt a lot from it? Please reach out to me; I would love to hear feedback from you.

By the way, I have started doing unbiased song reviews for both published songs and songs that are yet to be published. The reviews could be private (for your consumption only) or it could be published on our site. If you’re interested to get your songs reviewed. Send an email to jeplunemusic@gmail.com and attach an mp3 of the song to be reviewed. Also state if you would like a private review or if you would want it published. You can check out song reviews I’ve done here.

I started writing on this series of Songwriting tips for musicians in the 21^st century last year and I’ve given out quite a number of helpful tips. By the way, since this is my first article on Musicians Corner for 2022, I would like to say happy new year to you all.  Today, I’m going to wrap up this series that I started last year with one last tip.

Collaborate with others

I can’t overemphasize how helpful this tip is. There’s no way you can do everything by yourself every time. I believe we were created to be dependent on each other and this also applies to songwriting. There are times when you have a central theme/ idea that you would like to write a song about, and you probably have started, but somehow, you find that you are stuck and can’t make headway. And even after days (or maybe months) of having writer’s block, you still can’t seem to be able to finish the song. The best thing for you to do is look for another artist to collaborate with in writing the song. You know that saying that “two heads are better than one”? That’s true.

Collaboration doesn’t always have to be when you’re having writer’s block though. You could collaborate with another artist for the sake of the flavour their verse/ voice would add to your song. Every artist has a style and uniqueness in writing/ composing; when you collaborate with any artist, they add their uniqueness to your song.

Another good reason to collaborate is when you want to have a blend of two genres in your song. Say for instance, you’re a hip pop artist and you want a blend of hip pop and rock in your song. You could collaborate with a rock band or a solo rock artist to make beautiful music.

Some people collaborate with artists more popular than they are just for the singular purpose of using the other artist’s influence to gain a wider audience/ fanbase, but that is not part of our focus today. Our focus is on the songwriting. Collaborating with other artists can help you write better songs.

With this, I can say I have concluded my series on songwriting tips for musicians in the 21st century. Do well to read other articles in this series, especially the third one (smiles).

 

By the way, I have started doing song reviews for both published songs and songs that are yet to be published. The reviews could be private (for your consumption only) or it could be published on our site. If you’re interested to get your songs reviewed. Send an email to jeplunemusic@gmail.com and attach an mp3 of the song to be reviewed. Also state if you would like a private review or if you would want it published. Here are some song reviews I’ve published.

Also feel free to reach out to me on topics you would like me to write on this year. Have a great year ahead.

 

Image credit: pexels.com

Today, I’m going to continue on my series on songwriting tips for musicians in the 21st century. And today, I will be sharing two important tips that have helped me. So let’s dive straight into it:

Good songs take time

One of the things that has helped me, is an advice I read in my early days as musician. It was by Mark Winkler. He said,

“What separates Professionals from amateurs is their ability to rewrite. Keep coming back to the lyrics until it’s as close to perfect as you can make it. Remember that quality is better than quantity.”

I can’t over-emphasize how important this tip is. Know this from the start, good songs take time to be written. Don’t be in a hurry to finish writing your songs. Whenever you get stuck while writing, rather write things that are unnecessary or that don’t fit, just abandon the song there and go do something else. Come back to the song some other time. Don’t put pressure on yourself; take your time and write beautiful songs. And when you think you’re done, don’t run off to the studio immediately to record. Leave the song for a while and then come back to the lyrics again and check if they still appeal to you like they did when you first wrote them. You’ll find in most cases that you’ll begin to notice some words that didn’t quite sit well at that moment; find a replacement for them. The idea is keep coming back to your lyrics untill it is near perfect. Which leads us to the second tip,

Record a demo of your song for yourself alone

This is a very helpful tip and I do this all the time. Truth is, the reality of how your song really sounds hits you when you listen to it from a device (like your phone or something) as opposed to hearing yourself while you sing. There is a huge tendency that you’ll enjoy every bit of your new song as you sing it and you can’t wait for the world to hear it. But relax! Record yourself singing it on your phone and then replay it later for your listening pleasure. That’s when you’ll know what ‘that your new awesome song’ really sounds like. You can even add it to your playlist on your phone and let it play in between other songs you enjoy. You’ll be able to tell from there if the song is ready for the world to hear it. Another thing you can do, if you’ve got the guts, is play that demo to someone who is not a musician and watch the reaction on his/ her face. Or you could ask them what they think about the song. Remember I said “someone who is not a musician”, so you don’t expect a well-structured criticism. What you’re looking out for is how normal people would perceive the song. Again, I do this a lot and it helps me. But here’s a little warning; don’t go playing your recorded demo to other people if you know you’re not emotionally strong enough to handle criticism or rejection. So, if you can’t handle criticism, just record the demo and play it for yourself.

This is where I’ll stop for today on this series of Songwriting tips for musicians in the 21st century. By the way, we have started doing music reviews for already published songs/ albums. So, if you would like a non-biased review of your song/ album and you’re not afraid of the world reading it, send an mp3 (please don’t send wav files) of your song to jeplunemusic@gmail.com with details such as the release date, artists featured, a little about you, and links to where people can listen to the song.

Two weeks ago, I started this series on Songwriting tips for musicians in the 21^st century. And so far, I have given 3 essentials tips that will help you become a better songwriter. Last week, for instance, I shared with you that your songs need to have a central theme/ idea and that you need to arrange your song lyrics in such a way that your listeners understand the main idea/ theme of the song clearly. Today, I have another tip to share with you, which is:

Be a little poetic

Now, I don’t mean you should hire a poet to write you a poem and then you add melody to it and call it a song. That’s going overboard. What I want you to understand is that music is an art. And so, as much as your lyrics should have a central theme/ idea that they are communicating to your listeners (clearly), they should also be artistic. Even if the melody of your song is removed and the lyrics are just read, they should still be pleasing to the ears.

Poets are known to paint beautiful pictures with words. That’s what you should aim at with the lyrics of your songs. Also, poets are known to say a lot of things with just few words. As a songwriter in the 21^st century, you need to master that craft. You should be able to pass across to your listeners, the entire message you have for them in just 3 to 4 minutes of your song; the same message a preacher would take an hour to preach.

Even though this should be very obvious, I think it is worth mentioning here (because of some of the songs I’ve heard in the past) that part of being poetic includes rhyming the words of your song. Now, it’s not every line in the song that must necessarily rhyme, but it sure makes your lyrics sound more pleasing to the ears if you do this. Remember, YOU ARE A SONGWRITER, NOT A PREACHER. Your song is a piece of art, not a sermon. So, as much as the message is important, the words of the song must also be written in a manner that they are pleasing to the ears.

I know some artists have taken this to the extreme by just stringing words that rhyme together, attaching a sweet melody and calling it a song (with no message to communicate). But that’s not what I’m talking about here. That’s why I took the pain to recap last week’s tips at the beginning of today’s article. Have a central theme or message, but take time to choose the words you use to pass that message across in your song, in such a way that it would be sweet to the ears.

No matter where you got your inspiration from (even if an angel gave the song to you in your dreams), take time and re-arrange the words. Use synonyms that portray the same message but sound better in the ears. I’m tired of hearing songs from Bible verses that are sang word-for-word, the way it is in the verse (especially King James Version), when the words could be substituted with synonyms that would have been much better. I’ll say this again, “You’re a songwriter, not a preacher” so write songs, not sermons.

This is where I’ll stop on today’s songwriting tips for musicians in the 21^st century. Before I go, I’ll like to inform you that we’re are offering a 50% discount on all deals at Jeplune Music studio as part of our Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. This offer ends on 1^st December, 2021 and think you should take advantage of it while it lasts.

Alright, that’s it. Bye!