Let’s say that you’ve been asked to, or that you’ve seen that there’s an opportunity to write for  Liam Payne from One Direction or Janet Jackson. for specific artists  study. Also the pitch at which they sing at most often, because a lot, most singers have got a sweet spot that they love to be around.
and often it’ll be the highest note that’s in Chest Voice, that there’s, there’s a point where that works really well for them. some artists have got a real sort of punch on for, for a certain  area of beats per minute tempo  of the song, and also listen for subject matter.  So think about what they’re singing about, look at what they’re singing about, because that’s really important as well.
 And keep all of this work in a reference folder, whether you either have a, a book that you write it down in, or you have a folder on your computer that you have all of these files in. But think of it this way, if somebody said to you, if you had done a, a full analysis of a huge song like Chandelier by Sia, and somebody came along and said, oh, artist X, y, Z, we’ve just signed artist, X, y, z to poll, do records in uk, and we are looking for a song along the lines of chandelier.
 Now you will have listened to this enough to actually understand how it makes you feel as a listener. And that goes back to the swimming in the river, listening to songs and really soaking them up. You understand how they make you feel, and so you know how to make the listener feel when you write your song. That’s really key. but you can go to your reference of chandelier and you can go, oh, okay.
So her verse actually was this long and a chorus was actually this long, and she had this many hooks in it, and that really worked. So maybe if I employed the same type of structure without plagiarising, that means copying, without plagiarizing, use the same kind of structure, if you like, and the techniques that she has used have a massive hit song. Use that in your song, and you’re gonna be a lot closer to the reference track that, they’re looking for.
It’s really simple. This is like your Bible, if you like.  So analyse songs that you love and find out why you love them.  Because if you want to write a song that somebody else loves, then you’ve gotta know what makes you love it as well. So find out why you like it.  There’s, one of our students, actually said to me, oh, well, I’ve actually started listening to songs and writing down why I don’t like them,  which I thought was brilliant.
I thought it was genius because, it would, if, if you don’t like something, instead of just going, ah, this, ah, I don’t like it, forward before you skip it, why don’t you make a note of why you don’t like it? And then avoid doing that in your songs. Because often the same mistakes are used as well as the same techniques that make people love it.
Often people use the same mistakes as well. Â So, that’s step two. Â Step three is the research. if somebody has asked you to write for a specific artist, then do your research on this.
it is more, Â I guess it’s more appropriate to, specific artists. Let’s say that you know that there’s, an artist that’s looking for a song, or indeed, if you have got your favorite artist that you’ve always loved and you would love to write a song for them, Â then do your research. not and beyond reference tracks.
If somebody has sent you, oh, new artist, X, YZ is looking for tracks, songs along the lines of blah, blah, blah, blah, then you don’t really know much about them. and if they’re brand new artists, it might be tough to find stuff, but specific artists that have been around for a while do your research. Now what do I mean by that? Â We are talking about things like reading about the artist’s life, Â find out about the artist, find out what’s been going on in their life, find out about what their views are on certain things, and, really, really research it.
Well, note the, the lifestyle, about the artist. What kinda lifestyle does that artist have?  So, for instance, if an artist has just had  twins, okay, you may not be writing songs, or they may not be receptive to songs where you are going, yeah, we’re down to VIP in the club.
It is like, well, actually they’re at home changing diapers, so it may not be totally appropriate. Â They may have just broken up with someone, so they may want not want to be singing a song that goes along the lines of, I will Always Love you. and conversely, think about what’s happened in their life and try and sort of, I guess, be sensitive to it, don’t overdo it.
where if they’ve just had twins, you, you write a song about, I’ve got two little babies, it’s, that could be a little bit too contrived, but, something along the lines of how precious life is. It could be something like that where when they listen to it, they may go, that’s just how I’m feeling at the moment. This is where  you need to put on your empath hat and be empathic to other people.
 And, and think about how they might be feeling about their life at the moment and the events that have gone on in it.  This is a big one. Watch interviews and listen for opinions, figure of speech and possible song titles.  If you watch interviews with people,  just the same way that if you are chatting to somebody,  if you are the smart songwriter that has always got that radar switched on, then you are gonna hear song titles in there.
You are gonna hear song  lyrical themes, for example, even it may not be the, the actual title, but something where you think, wow, it’d be really interesting to write a song about that. And if I did, guess what? They’re gonna agree with it because this is their opinion about something. Let’s say that they were massive on, on the, on climate change, for example.
You know that if you write something, at least, even if they don’t love the song, they’re gonna agree with the sentiment behind it. So that’s one hurdle overcome. Â So, instead of maybe writing a song about having a a six liter Chevrolet, where they’re gonna be thinking, well, that would be terrible for the environment. So being sensitive to the artist by watching interviews, listening to what they say, Â listen to their language that they use as well.
There may be little phrases that they use that could be good. There may not be key or important phrases for the song, but they could be things that, that they would sort of think, oh, that’s exactly how I would say X, Y, and Z. and  listen out for possible song titles  because, there are song titles absolutely everywhere.  If, if you just open your eyes, your heart, your ears to these things, there are song titles everywhere in conversations, in movies,  in adverts, in newspapers, in books,  they’re everywhere.
I’ve often joked about it, it’s like the sixth sense for me. You know where I go, I see song titles, I do, I can’t not see them, and I can’t not hear them.  I’m gonna give you, an example of  an interview where a song title was uttered, and this was where, Barbara Streisand was talking.
she was in an interview with her now husband, James Brolin, and this was at the early stages of their relationship. And James Brolin, said to Barbara Ryzen that, you know, when at night when we’re lying in bed, you know, I don’t want to, I Â don’t want to go to sleep. I don’t want to close my eyes. And she said, why not? He said, because I’d miss you. Â Does anybody recognize that? Â Well, apparently Diane Warren was watching the, interview and thought that it was rather a good line.
I don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to go to sleep because I’d miss you. Â And she of course, wrote the song that was a massive, massive hit for Aerosmith, went in the movie Armageddon, and it’s documented. All you have to do is, is Google. as I’ve done, I had to check my facts, tonight, but Google Streisand, and don’t wanna miss a thing, and you’ll see the story out there.
