I’ve spent my career aiming to define what makes some songs effective, and others are not. Certain styles of songwriting rely heavily on the strength of the lyric, and understanding why some lyrics connect while others don’t is key to becoming a believable, impactful artist in those styles. But even in songs that aren’t driven by lyric or story, there are markers that allow a lyric to flow and marry seamlessly with the melody and track.
Rather than defining a lyric as “good” or “bad,” we can think in terms of the elements within lyric writing that are in our control, so the result supports the song’s intention as a whole.
The two broadest pillars of lyric writing are content and structure. Within the pillar of content are elements such as imagery, overall concept, pacing of the story, conversational quality, tense, and point of view. Within the pillar of structure are rhythm and flow, phrase length, rhyme scheme, and contrast. All of these smaller elements, and more, work together to create a lyric that, along with the melody, carries the body language of the song.
I’d like to offer a daily process within these two pillars of lyric writing to help access creative flow. Use this process to generate ideas when your well is dry, or to continue momentum on ideas that are already moving at full speed.