What calls you to open up your music player and specifically select one song to hear? Is it a feeling? A memory? A desire to feel a certain way?
We lean on music as an artistic expression of our own inner world, whether we are in the process of writing it or we are listening to it.
As songwriters, we have the ability to give people a safe, 3 minute container of feeling. There are songs for every emotion or blend of emotions. Why will a listener choose your song? The brilliance you can bring is your perspective. Your particular, nuanced way of speaking a song through music may be exactly the song that resonates with someone who really, really needs it today. What will you write? What will bring back your listener?
The Light
I tend to listen to specific songs, or particular artists, for inspiration. I may like how an artist sits in the pocket of a groove, or love how a rapper spits lyrics both eloquently and with selective punch and swagger at the same time. Sometimes I am drawn to specific music so that my ear can studiously take in a particular chord progression. Daily, I come back to Music so I can get into my body and feel more grounded. Dance breaks are a ritual in my house.
The Dark
An interesting use for music that I have been exploring over the past few years, is within a tool called “Swamping”. 🙂 I think many of us use this tool unconsciously, and perhaps quite frequently. I simply choose the music that reflects what I feel – or usually a song that is much more dramatic that what I am actually feeling. If I am feeling particularly grumpy, or stuck, music can drag me out of a funk by allowing me to first dive deep into my darker emotions (which I invite to be fully felt in the safety of a 3 minute musical container). Used this way, music can provide “permission” to fully embrace the swampy, angry, sullen, wicked feelings that are usually not socially acceptable or “appropriate”. My inner dark Goddess feels seen and I can move on in a much lighter space once these feelings have been felt and expressed responsibly through movement. Note: End Swamping with a lighter dance break to launch you into your higher vibration feelings.
The Bold
Ultimately, what pulls me back to a particular song is an element that was honest, transparent, bold, raw. The genre doesn’t really matter. So, my fellow songwriter, in invite you to join me. May we bring ourselves fully to the studio – in melody and lyric. Show the perspective that is uniquely yours. It rhymes with ours. Let us be brave. Let us move the world through music. What will you write? What nuance will bring back your listener? I can’t wait to hear it. I can’t wait to sing it.
Nothing Else Matters
All By Myself
24 Hours of Happy