Songwriting

The first line of a song is doing something most writers underestimate: it’s making a promise. Not about the theme, or the mood, or the genre — but about whether…

Most songwriters write for a fantasy version of themselves. They hear the melody in their head — soaring, effortless, landing on a high note that feels inevitable — and they…

Every songwriting tutor will tell you to avoid clichés. They’re right, and they’re wrong, and the difference between those two positions is the difference between a rule and an understanding.…

The first song you finish doesn’t feel like work. It feels like discovery — like you reached into some dark space and pulled something out that you didn’t know was…

Jack White decided the White Stripes would only use guitar, drums, and voice. No bass. No keyboards. No overdubs beyond the most minimal exceptions. Critics at the time treated this…

You’ve been staring at the page for an hour. Nothing comes. The harder you concentrate, the emptier your mind gets. You try a different chord. You rewrite the same line…

In 1995, David Bowie sat in front of a Mac laptop running a programme nobody outside his circle had ever seen. He typed sentences into columns — fragments from newspapers,…