Subtitles (136)
0:01My lyric process is, first and foremost,
to overthink,
0:06and then say, now how do we say that
like we’re not nerds?
0:11Hey, you! Yes, you.
Is there music inside of you?
0:15We’ve recruited working musicians
from throughout the industry
0:19to help you hear it, hold it, and share it
with this wild and wonderful world.
0:26I think a great lyric,
it does two things:
0:29one, I think it helps if your lyric
is unique,
0:34its really important where
someone can listen to it and be like,
0:37okay, this is a lyric
that I have not heard before,
0:39or a take on something that I
have not considered in this way.
0:43But then I also think
a great lyric is honest.
0:46When it comes to lyric
writing I really love, I love a noun,
0:52I feel like people really hold on
to nouns and they can be really sticky.
0:57I like colors and textures and smells,
0:59and I like to feel like when you see the
title, you can imagine the music video.
1:03That being said, you can also write
something that’s a little headier,
1:08that’s a little more just
emotional or internal.
1:10And that can also be super,
super powerful.
1:12So there’s not only one way to do it.
1:14To make the personal universal is so good.
1:19I would say my favorite example of that
is a Stevie reference—
1:26“Living For The City.”
1:27He says, “to find a job is like
a haystack needle.”
1:32They took that colloquialism,
crunched it up, flipped it over:
1:37“To find a job is like a haystack needle.”
1:40But it makes perfect sense,
and it makes universal sense,
1:45though it's a really
quirky way of doing it.
1:47I do feel like I have to tell the truth.
1:50So if there’s something that feels
really resonant,
1:53it’s really hard not to write about it.
1:56I find it really cathartic and therapeutic
1:59to write about what it is
that I’m going through,
2:01because there’s always something I learn
about my own inner experience
2:07It depends on the genre,
and it depends on the topic.
2:11Party time songs, for example,
usually are going to be more rhythmic,
2:15and you want it to be something
that everyone
2:18can kind of like pump their fists to
and sing along to.
2:21And then when it comes to love songs,
sad songs, whatever,
2:25I think when it’s more introspective,
I like to have more emotional detail.
2:32Olivia Rodrigo’s ”Driver’s License”
is a great example of a heartbreak song
2:37that has really specific little things.
2:39The details of the things
that you miss about someone
2:42or the things that remind you of someone.
2:44When you’re talking about heartbreak
or something more introspective,
2:47it's nice to kind
of find the everyday things
2:49and think back to a time in your life
when you were feeling that way.
2:53I try to stay away
from being overly cryptic.
2:55You can be poetic and and vague even,
2:59but I think it has to be something
that anyone could listen to
3:03and be like, I know what that means.
3:04There’s not an original feeling
under the sun, you know,
3:09if you felt it, there’s billions
of other people
3:12who have felt that same exact thing.
3:14But what does become original is your way
of expressing that feeling.
3:19How one person says I love you
is very different than the next person.
3:23Experience, sincerity, imagination
3:27are what make lyrics great,
as far as I’m concerned.
3:31I’ve got to be genuine in the emotion
that I’m trying to communicate,
3:38I think I know I’m onto something
when it strikes a chord in me emotionally,
3:42when the song is something
I’m excited to share with the world.
3:46However, the ultimate
test is the 24 hour test—
3:50because I’ve had that feeling,
relisten the next day,
3:53and I question what on Earth I was
thinking to have imagined this being good.
3:59But that works on the opposite end.
4:01There has been work that I’ve questioned—
4:04the entire time I’m questioning, and I’m
writing, I’m playing going—back and forth.
4:08I put it away, I listen the next day, and
I’m shocked at how connected I am to it.
4:12That cuts both ways—
so it’s a matter of trusting the process.
4:16And know that no one is going
to say what you have to say,
4:21the way you have to say it.
4:22And lean into that
with everything you’ve got.
4:25When I’m evaluating a song,
4:27the first thing that I’m looking
for is authenticity.
4:30Most humans can feel
when something is not real,
4:34and that could be based off
of whether a lyric feels real,
4:38or whether it feels like
three songwriters got together
4:40and tried to write the most poetic thing.
4:43I think lyrics are great when
they feel like natural poetry;
4:48when they feel like you didn’t craft them,
they just were.
4:54I've always felt that life was as much
being lived as being inscribed.
5:01That recognition means that the song’s
always being written.
5:05It's just whether or not
I'm paying attention.
5:07I try to be ready and worthy
of whatever sound
5:11is attempting to come through me.
5:14I always use Bob Dylan,
“Make You Feel My Love,” as an example,
5:19because it doesn't sound
like a genius wrote it.
5:22It sounds like anybody would just be like,
5:24“when the rain is blowing in your face
and the whole world is on your case,
5:29I could offer you a warm embrace
to make you feel my love.”
5:31It just feels like a thing
that existed, right?
5:35It doesn’t feel like Bob Dylan wrote it,
except he did.
5:40And if you try to do it again,
it’s impossible— it’s so perfect.
5:46So that’s always one of my pinnacles
of lyrical perfection
5:50is see how natural that feels.
5:57I would say that I have a lot
of different processes to write a song.
6:01One of my go-to tools is
I have a word bank,
6:04so I always have phrases
and words that I'm thinking about.
6:10In life, someone says something and
suddenly it’ll make me think of a lyric
6:15or think of a song idea
and I’ll write it down.
6:17And then when we actually go to the studio
and go to sit down and write a song,
6:22I have this bank of phrases
and ideas and titles.
6:26My process is funny because I start
with collecting ideas.
6:30Whenever I'm on an airplane,
6:32I think of it as, I’m locked in in this
little missile shooting across the sky.
6:37Nothing else I can do.
6:38So I start listening to records and I
start writing down thoughts and ideas.
6:43I write things in the notes in my phone,
I am constantly writing down titles.
6:48And there was a moment I remember
6:49when I first was really getting
in the trenches of the songwriting world,
6:53where I had an aha moment.
6:54And I realized that there
were song titles everywhere
6:57if you’re looking for them.
6:59So, billboards, the covers
of magazines, headlines,
7:03listening to people talking in line
at the grocery store, eavesdropping,
7:07listening to your friends talk
about their breakups, whatever it is.
7:10And also one title can go
so many different ways.
7:13If you think about,
“Since You’ve Been Gone,“ right?
7:16So that’s female empowerment,
I’m over you,
7:20sort of like an angry revenge,
sort of celebratory anthem, right?
7:26But it could have been
a heartbreaking ballad.
7:28It could have been a party song
7:31where it’s like, I just want
to forget my troubles.
7:34There’s so many different
ways to spin the same title.
7:36I have never sat down
to try to write a song in my life.
7:40I don’t go, you know what?
I’m going to write a pop hit.
7:43I’m going to write a record—
it just is.
7:45It’s just always being written, always.
7:48That’s what makes songwriting
so fun and so interesting
7:51is there is no real formula.
7:55And sometimes the songs that you
think are going to be big— don’t land.
8:01And sometimes these songs that you
really don’t think are going to be big
8:05end up landing for some reason.
8:09And it’s really fun to just make music
and then see what happens.
