Up next in 10
Why You Should Write Lyrics That DON'T Make Sense
25K views
Jul 17, 2023
✔️ FREE FAN FUNNEL FORMULA CHECKLIST ✔️ https://www.orpheusaudioacademy.com/Journey ✔️ FREE HIT-CREATION CHECKLIST ✔️ https://www.orpheusaudioacademy.com/hit One of the greatest hit songwriters of all time, Max Martin, has stated that NOT having English as his first language has helped him with his lyric writing because he isn't restricted by grammar or "making sense". Instead, he can choose words that fit the melody and groove of the song, and perhaps, you should too. ⛓️ LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO ⛓️ ? Watch the full video this clip came from: https://youtu.be/fTCHqqq4Tpo ? Free Fan Funnel Formula: https://www.orpheusaudioacademy.com/Journey #songwritingtips #maxmartin ? SPOTIFY GROWTH COURSE: Discover how to generate your first $1,000 a month from Spotify: https://www.orpheusaudioacademy.com/spotify
View Video Transcript
0:00
The final element to writing a hit song is you need simple but memorable lyrics
0:05
Again, this might sound like a paradox, but it is not. Now, one thing Max Martin in many of his Swedish hit songwriting counterparts have said
0:13
is that actually not having English as their first language has helped them to write hit songs and catchy lyrics
0:21
This is because they don't have to worry about things making sense grammatically or even using the correct word in terms of like making sense
0:28
they just choose the best words to fit the song. So as a result, their focus is on the sound of the lyrics and whether they fit the melody
0:36
and not so much in making grammatical sense in the English language. In fact, Max Martin says, don't worry about being grammatically correct
0:43
Remember, this is art. Your lyrics don't have to make sense. In fact, it might be better if they don't
0:48
After all, I like songs where you're basically an impressionist. You're using impressionistic songwriting versus very literal in your face songwriting
0:58
Right. If you think of painters, there's painters that are very realistic. Maybe it looks exactly like a photograph and that's great. But you also have impressionism where you paint artwork that is an impression of what you see in real life. And I think that is a great approach to take with lyrics because not only is that better for, say, getting sync placements, it's more likely for your music to get, you know, used in movies and television if your lyrics are more impressionistic. But it also can be more relevant to more people because people can take
1:28
the meaning away that they want from the song versus the meaning just kind of being shoved down their
1:32
throats so an example of this is the song that max martin wrote for brittney spears hit me baby one more
1:38
time which was very ended up being very controversial because uh obviously it sounded like there was
1:44
some domestic abuse going on with hit me baby but what he actually meant was like hit me back like
1:50
call me back it was his interpretation of the word hit there so uh that's where uh not knowing the english
1:56
language as well, I guess was a detriment. But also, hey, being controversial is great for
2:01
writing a hit song too because more people are going to share it You know the people that love it for being controversial are going to share it and the people that hate it for being controversial are going to share because they going to be like hey look at this horrible song So that also maybe a bonus tip there
2:15
as well. Another great example of this, a song not written by Max Martin, but one of my favorite
2:19
songs is Human by the Killers. One thing they got a lot of flack for was in their course. They
2:25
had the line, are we human or are we dancer? Obviously not grammatically correct, but it fit the
2:31
lyrics that fit the melody and it's one of their most popular songs is a huge hit and so if they had tried
2:36
to make it fit it wouldn't have worked and plus having it grammatically incorrect i think as more
2:41
interest as more mystery to the line what the heck is you talking about i got to keep listening to
2:45
this song figure out what this is about look deeper into this song so i think it's better if you
2:50
have that kind of element in your music other ways to make memorable lyrics are to number one
2:54
have an emotional appeal many hit songs tap into universal emotions such as love heartbreak
3:01
joy, nostalgia, that's a big part of the synth wave genre, and relatable lyrics that connect to
3:06
listeners. You also want to have memorable phrases that listeners can easily pick up on and sing along
3:12
to. Three is storytelling. How can you tell a story with your lyrics? We as humans are really drawn
3:18
to stories. So if you can tell a story that captures people's attention and emotions, they'll be more
3:23
likely to listen to the song over and over and make it a hit song. Also, vivid imagery. How can you
3:27
use very specific language and paint a picture with your lyrics instead of just being vague
3:33
and talking about cliche concepts. Universal themes. This is another way to create memorable
3:37
lyrics as hit songs often address themes that are relatable to a wide audience, such as
3:43
relationships, personal growth, and social issues. And finally, any pop culture references you can
3:48
throw in as well is another way to make your lyrics memorable. Now with all that being said
3:53
should you even try to write a hit song? Now, this would be a no-brainer in the old
3:57
days, right? In the olden days, if you actually wanted to get noticed, if you wanted to get a record deal, if you wanted to get signed and make money as an artist, you had to write a hit song
4:06
Because the industry was controlled by gatekeepers those gatekeepers being the radio stations the record labels the big media companies that controlled the music industry The only way you could get your music to the world to the people to the listeners was by going through these gatekeepers
4:22
But today, because of the internet in the new music industry, there are no more gatekeepers
4:27
You can go directly to your audience, which means I think you should no longer be trying to write hit songs for the masses
4:34
but instead you should find who are the select smaller niches or subgenres of music
4:41
that you can write for, right? Find those subgenres of super fans who are really diehard and
4:47
passionate about their music and think about what music would they be interested and how can you
4:52
write music that appeals to them. So an artist who has done this really well is Leah McKenry
4:57
She makes multiple six figures and even millions of dollars as an indie artist by writing
5:02
Celtic symphonic metal music. So that's a very small microgenre of people, but she writes music
5:10
just to them to appeal to them, you probably never even heard of her. She's never going to write a hit song, but yet she's hyper successful because she's a big fish
5:20
in a small pond, right? She doesn't have to compete with the likes of Taylor Swift and all these other hit artists
5:27
She only has to stand out in that little micro genre of music
5:31
She does well enough. Like I said, she makes six figures a year from her music and she even launched a brand selling
5:38
candles, which also like appeals to her audience. And that's a million dollar business. So that's kind of
5:43
a whole separate subject, how you can monetize in so many ways beyond just music once you have that
5:49
diehard audience. So when you break down the math, you only really need a thousand true fans to make a
5:54
really great income from your music because a true fan is someone that buys, you know, is absolutely
6:01
in love with you and buys just about anything you put out. So whether whenever you put out a new album
6:06
whenever you put out some new merch, maybe you have a fan club or people like a Patreon or people can pay you monthly
6:12
Your super fans are ones that are going to buy all that stuff. And so if a super fan spends on average a year with you you only need a thousand fans to make a year which I think is a really great income for a musician So there this emerging middle class which is much more obtainable right
6:30
People go to college all the time for four years, invest tens of thousands of dollars
6:34
to get a piece of paper, a degree that they might not even be able to use
6:38
might not even help them get a job. Whereas what if instead you dedicated four years building up a fan base for your music, right
6:47
you you drill down on what your micro genre is and you created songs that really appealed to them
6:52
and you marketed to them for four years you built up this audience i think that's a pretty much more
6:57
obtainable goal to get to the point where you were making a full-time income in the middle class right
7:01
you might not be taylor swift you might not be a pop star but you can definitely make a solid
7:06
middle class income as a music artist so we kind of get to get rid of these old ideas of the
7:12
starving artist right you're either a starving artist or a millionaire there's a new middle class
7:17
because of the internet, because of the new music industry that I think artists should
7:21
strive for. That said, there's still something we can learn from the hit songs, right
7:25
I think all the elements I just outlined were valuable things to keep in mind for your
7:29
microgenre, for your niche that you're writing music for. That doesn't mean maybe you want to change some of these elements
7:37
Maybe you don't want to write a song that's only three minutes long. Maybe your audience would like longer songs
7:43
Or maybe they would like songs that are more specific to them that maybe aren't
7:47
relevant to a larger audience. So as always, it's kind of nice to know what are the rules, right
7:52
First, know the rules and then think about how you might tweak them or even break certain rules to
7:56
fit with what your goals are and what you want to do. If you want to know more about what I was talking about with finding your micro genre and your 1,000 true fans so you can become a middle
8:04
class musician, then be sure to grab my free fan funnel formula in the description below
8:09
This walks you through how to become a big fish in a small pond. This will show you how to turn
8:14
your fans into followers and your followers into profit. it automatically so you can create more music and live the dream. Or if you want to dive deeper
8:22
and discovering what your specific microgenre actually is or should be, then click on my video
8:28
playing on the screen right now. Otherwise, have an awesome day and keep creating
#Computers & Electronics
#Entertainment Industry
#Music & Audio