So the moment that someone hears a song, hopefully we’re making an emotional connection. Â So, for me, it’s always that the closer that we can get, the closer you can get to expressing your emotions, well, musically and lyrically, the, the more success you’re gonna have, and not just a, the sound of success can often sound as though we’re talking about commercial success.
it’s not, there is a success that preempts that success, which is, which leads me to this next point. Â Why do you really want to write songs? What brought you to writing songs rather than to the myriad of other things that you could choose to do? Â This is something that’s really excited me laterally, is returning often back to, for the sake of the song and for the sake of, my ability to express myself as to why, what attracted me to it in the first place.
and there’s no doubt that, that for me was, as I’ve just said, expressing myself. So rather than the chicken and the egg of kind of writing within a genre for a, for a cut with a specific artist and everything that we can, we can, we can funnel our creativity toward in a direction, Â but really to get those emotionally connective sparks and seeds.
 It’s been my deep experience and those of others that it starts with something that you feel and mean deeply.  So  when I lose my way on that, returning back to why, what is it that I really love about this process?  And I can’t answer the hope of money or the hope of hit songs, ’cause something preempts that.
And it is my absolute love of the feeling that music gives me when I hear it, when I connect with someone else’s music that I’ve never met or that I’ve met. but, you know, across generations I can play a record and be moved.  That’s why I want to write songs. It’s what, I’m hoping I’m doing when I’m doing it well. that is  the absolute backbone of where you will find your best work.
And it’s the best place to start to find the mindset, I believe, Â of a successful songwriter in all areas of your life. Â So when you find that why you, you know, that’s really important. Go back to why did you want to write songs. if the answer genuinely is that you have no love of music and you thought it was an easy buck, then I genuinely give you the best advice, which is that you will struggle with this.
by all means try. It’s not for me just to say don’t, but, it’s a long road. And as I say, the currency is emotional connection. And if you are not emotionally connected to the writing aspect of this process, by all means, you know, managers,  although most of those are, again, very emotionally attached to the music, but there are other areas where you can fulfill yourself  writing songwriting and the mindset for songwriting, I believe truly, and I’ve experienced it, begins in a deep need and passion to express emotion.
 So when you find that why in you, my advice and my experience is follow it,  really follow that we have too many options. You know, this guys, all of us have got so many options. Should I do something for Katie Perry, or should I do that song? That really means that over time,  it’s too wide an option. Every time we will get stuck in inertia, and overwhelm if we can’t narrow down where to start.
And the joy of this is that we are to start is your truth.  And when you find that, that why you want to write a song and you follow that,  that means you find emotional connection. That’s the currency, that’s the connective glue. And success follows that.  Success follows  finding your truth.  It comes after it.
Don’t doubt the truth  by trying to match it to success, that people get this wrong  all, all the time. They’ve put it round, the wrong way. They try, they try and spot success and then map their emotion to the success.  So, we’re gonna unwrap this quite a lot. ’cause it can sound quite ethereal. Songwriting can be there. I know that you’re covering lots of other areas. I’m cover covering other areas further on in the year with regards to the technical, aspects of songwriting, tricks and tools for us to write, banging, choruses, all this sort of stuff.
But as far as mindset, this is this place of, vulnerable truth and finding why you are doing it. It will fuel your passion, which you’re going to need for the sometimes difficult and long journey ahead to get the great stuff that’s inside you out. And that’s where you’re going to connect, and that’s where you’re gonna find success. Â So, Â as I’ve said, honesty is the path to connection.
And connection is the path to success. Â When you connect on a broad scale, we all know this. We’ve watched it, you know, let’s think of artists that kinda seemingly blew up quite quickly. Billie Eilish, for example. lots of, you know, first just think of someone who, the first time you heard a song and you just, you picked up on it straight away. Â There’s something in those moments. and it’s very often the honesty. And now, believe me, honesty can sometimes sound and vulnerability.
Things like this can often sound like they mean, melancholic, soul searching. it could mean happy by Pharrell. You know, he, he wasn’t gonna write that on a bad day, you know, on a gloomy day. he may have written it to cheer himself up, but envisaging his happiness, desiring his happiness, his truth that day was happy. so when truth connects with you, Â then, then you just instantly like something, you can really grab something very quickly when it feels, open emotionally, and that you just absolutely love it.
Of course, we’re talking about, then there’s hooks of big melodic hooks. There’s all these other aspects to it, but  the, for the, from a creator’s perspective, that how to create that kinda work is, it starts in a deep, honest feeling of, I love this. Not, I think someone will love this, or I think I should write this.  I love this.
I need to say this. Â That’s the start of all the best work that I’ve witnessed being created, or that I’ve created myself. so honesty is the path to connection. When you’re really deeply honest about something that could mean like, oh, I’m just over the joyed, and you’re a bit embarrassed about saying you’re overjoyed because everyone else seems to be a bit bummed out, Â that’s your truth. And you should say it will resonate. The the faking it won’t make it you, you can’t do that in this, for deep connection, honesty is the path to connection.
Connection then is the path to success.  So  truth, what happens then is once you start finding a way to, to trust that inner voice, real deeply realize why you write songs, why you want to write songs before, you know, I want to make a career out of it and all that, which can happen. If you follow this initial mindset,  go back to why.  And this breeds authenticity. Once you start seeing what you actually want to say, what you set out to say, when you first just thought, oh, I love writing songs.
I feel like I could say this. Get back to that, that breeds authenticity. And when you start saying what you believe, that starts to feel a lot like confidence, Â auth, authenticity. It’s, and the opposite. If you’re not saying what you believe, it feels very shallow, and you quickly can wind up in a place where you’re doubting, your own words. And if you’re doubting your own words, how can you expect others to believe you?
So authenticity has a lovely upward spiral momentum to it. and we’re gonna talk about how to find that authenticity and how then to have the courage to express it in a minute. But start with truth.  Authenticity is what is the outward reflection of that, your authentic. And that breeds confidence, because if you are saying something you believe in, it can’t be doubted. That is what you believe in. I, I’ve found that I’ve written things that I’ve really  loved and meant, and they’ve come from a, a, a, a place that I like.
Guess what? When people have criticized or not liked it, it’s, it’s bounced off me in a way that if I kind of tried to, you know, chisel something into an area hoping for success in other, in other ways, Â then I’m open and I’m taking on all this criticism because I’m not sure of it myself. It’s going to hurt enough anyway. You’ve got to have that confidence that you love the work. so when you find this confidence growing this nice feeling that you’re saying what you believe, therefore you can feel confident about it, that gives you this comfort to express your ideas, you know, you then feel, you’ve found this little wind of authenticity breeds some confidence.
