People Need To Realize This About Songwriting
Contributed anonymously:
I am getting sick of people not knowing what they are talking about when it comes to songwriting. There are a few things that need to be taken said her. Songwriting is a very important thing to make you an artist. It is putting your thoughts and emotions and experiences on paper for people to relate to and understand you better. Songwriting is hard work, especially when you make a hit. You want lyrics to be perfect, as well as the melody and message.
Some people here are giving props to people because they co write their songs and that is such bull. Co writing is better than not writing at all true, but then again it may be almost the same thing. Artists can shave a word or a sentence that they tweaked and their name will be put as co writers. I take people like Avril Lavigne for example. I like some of her songs they are very catchy. But she was so keen on trying to give herself props for writing her own music when she doesn’t. She has professional writers, several ones on the first album, helping her write. They make the songs what they are. They know how to make hits and give the people what they want that is their job.
It is the same thing as going on stage and lip syncing half the song, and singing the other half live. It’s not the same thing as people who never lip sync. It is so easy to co write songs, it is VERY hard to make a good song and a hit song all by yourself when you aren’t a professional songwriter. All pop artists today co write, I believe Britney Spears has as well. That’s how you know how easy it is. It is basically impossible to see an album made these days where the artist writes it themselves. I just want to make it clear that co writing is not the same as writing yourself whatsoever. Anybody could do it when there are other writers backing you up. But it takes a real artist to write their own songs themselves and manage to make hits and connections with people.
I hope one day their will be an artist out there who will do so. These pop singers today (again specifically Avril Lavigne) need to stop saying they write their own music. Ashlee Simpson too and many others I cannot think of. Because they don’t write their OWN songs. They could freaking fix one single word on a song (which Avril HAS done) and claim to be a writer. It’s wrong to do, especially when it takes away the songwriters hard work. They do SO much for the singers and they don’t get any credit.
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7 thoughts on “People Need To Realize This About Songwriting”
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You have no idea what you are talking about. And obviously you are not a songwriter. Publishers in the US take songs more seriously with the more co-writers. It is harder to co-write as you need to sacrifice things you may like and compromise with the other co-writers. YES if Avril co-wrote those songs with other people that means SHE WROTE THEM.
For eg. Sometimes I write songs solo and then shown then to songwriters in co-writing sessions, we then build on the “already written song” to strengthen it and fine tune it. This is because sometimes you can get too close to your work and need fresh ears to listen. They make only be a co-writer by 10% of the work.
I personally don’t think you should have a say in the matter of songwriting as you obviously have no knowledge of the matter.
Kat,
Co-writing songs is for sissies. What you are describing is the mind numbing process that “professionals” use to design middling, mediocre, musical pablum for radio friendly morons.
As someone who worked with hit makers in the industry I can vouch for this post. Co-writing is rubbish. The main writer is doing all the work here. Any co-writer contributing is just throwing darts at the wind. Unless you write a song by yourself, start to finish, and it is flawless, you are nowhere close to being a songwriter. If so much as a single note is wrong, the entire song composition is ruined. In fact it is pretty fair to say a song must be fairly perfect to work, at all. Songwriting is NOT subjective, there is absolutely right and wrong notes, and if you don’t understand this basic concept about writing you are very lost.
” Sometimes I write songs solo and then shown then to songwriters in co-writing sessions, we then build on the “already written song” to strengthen it and fine tune it. This is because sometimes you can get too close to your work and need fresh ears to listen.” No kat, this means your song is not good enough, and they are fixing it. As stated, if the song contains just a few notes awkward, it fails, this is black and white there a song either works completely or it does not work at all. The difference between an amateur and a master writer is the fact that a master songwriter makes songs that have no errors whatsoever and the songs work, while amateurs cannot ever get it to work, period.
The only exception to your article is if two master songwriters are collaborating together, then that is valid co-writing. But I think your point is these people are not Bowie and Lennon, the majority nowadays in pop are non-professionals with sometimes 4 people contributing to a song.
eric: I would argue that regardless if you appreciate the artistic merit of a song or not, even the most generic and bland radio music is still professionally written material that is generally without flaw in the core of its actual writing and it has the exact same writing integrity as more tasteful counterparts. There is the actual skeleton and completeness of a song which either works or it doesn’t, regardless of style or artistic merit.
You say Avril has fix one single word on her songs. Can you prove it?