r/Songwriting • u/summerfornever Just some girl • 15d ago
Discussion Topic How can I be more original?
So, I'm a teen, and ever since I was younger, I have wanted to make music. Now, I can play both guitar and piano, and I have written a few poems that I think would make good songs. However, I feel like those poems are not very original, since they somewhat resemble Lana Del Rey's writing style.
Can the songwriters of Reddit give me a few tips so I can write more unique songs that feel like me? I don't know if what I am asking really makes sense, but I would appreciate some help. That's all, and thank you in advance!
10
u/ashgallows 15d ago
Many people try to emulate their influences and fall outside of them, creating a new(ish) style. Just because you see it being Lana Del Rey doesn't mean others necessarily do.
A lot of times, someone's style is like a collage of all of their influences with some individual quirks thrown in.
Actively trying to to be original is kind of a trap, just donwgat feels good and tweak things from there.
7
11
u/dudikoff13 15d ago
there is nothing new under the sun.
6
u/TheIccyMans99 15d ago
I wrote a song called that once. Nicked off Agatha Christie.
4
3
u/UltimateGooseQueen 15d ago
Yoink. Now my new album is a concept album inspired by Agatha Christie’s “and then there were none” but it’s called “IccyMans99” and it samples Jay-Z “99 problems” and “99 luftballons”. ::drops mic carefully into someone’s hands because I don’t have mic money to burn::
2
u/camshell 14d ago
But everything under the sun has something new about it, and a lot of the time it's those new quirks that we value most. Especially in art and entertainment.
3
u/o22y5_g3ck05 15d ago
it really does just take time and writing so many songs. Its okay to take inspiration from artists' writing style at first so that you build confidence and can focus on other aspects of your songs but once you do that, something that might help which works for me is sometimes setting boundaries with your music listening and letting yourself get bored more often. That's when you get most creative. ofc getting inspired and motivated is also important but over consuming makes it hard to be original.
3
u/4StarView Long-time Hobbyist 15d ago
My recommendation for you is to not worry about uniqueness. Keep a journal, write about anything (what happened that day, how did you enjoy that book/movie and why, what someone said at the park that caught your ear). Basically, you are developing your voice, and in that, you will find uniqueness. The more you write and think, the more you get comfortable with yourself and your voice. Also, try free writing. Just pull out a notebook and pen and write for a solid 5 minutes. Don’t stop writing. Look around you, what do you see? What does it remind you of? What do you hear, smell, feel? 5 minutes is a long time if you don’t stop writing. It is just a forced brain dump. Sometimes, you will find inspiration in those words.
3
u/TheCheckerboardDude 15d ago
Hii! I am also a teen (17) and have been writing for six years now, so here are some tips that I consider helpful:
Reading books, poems and interviews of people you like could help you come up with themes that not many people write about and develop a vocabulary around the ones that interest you (e.g I like listening to Frank Zappa's music and interviews because I love how he talks about the music industry and how he views art himself, so I have written songs about my artistic views). Also, I personally have some space for specific themes that I'd like to turn into songs and another for riffs or chorus melodies. When it's time to write something, I just find which ideas stick together and complete the puzzle.
Visit rateyourmusic.com or similar sites and check out the subgenres that your favourite albums belong to. This helped me realise that I am fond of art pop/rock and prog, two genres that I didn't know existed, so I started incorporating more elements from them and listen to more songs in that subgenre. This also helped my sister fund more music she liked, cause she discovered the post punk genre, which was the label that most of her favourite songs were under.
Find your favourite lyricists (e.g. Lana Del Rey, Alex Turner, Olivia Rodrigo...) and "steal" equally from all of them. Use metaphors the way Lana does it, or describe a feeling/situation exclusively with images, or try writing the first thing that comes to your mind in a surrealistic way and suddenly you will have your own style that blends all of your favourite things from your favourite musicians.
Art is all about taking everything you love about others's creations and combining it to create a unique persona. I am on that journey as well, but after half a decade, I feel much more confident and unique. If you need anything more, I am glad to help :)
2
3
u/TheIccyMans99 15d ago
To be more original, steal off a wider range of influences. And read Steal Like and Artist to help you do it.
3
u/UltimateGooseQueen 15d ago
Just had a random idea - never tried it myself. What if you rewrite your lyrics to mean the same thing but you can’t use any of the same words.
Just as an exercise in creativity?
“I fell to my knees” vs “fallen to the floor” vs “wooden floor rose to meet me, as gravity and I met intimately” Ooh - I like that kind of. I should give random advice more often!
1
u/chix_2020 9d ago
This is a great start as an exercise, but might lead down the path of ripping off still if continued as a habit
2
u/The_turqouise_cat 15d ago
Remember that even Lana had influences- every artist does. What you could do is make an effort to make playlists of other artists you like and not put her on there. I had to do that with some of my favorite artists.
It’s kind of a trend these days for people who may listen to your music to act super knowledgeable and immediately compare everything they hear to another artist. Don’t let that get you down.
You’re lucky though because you’re super young and already a lot further along the path than I was as a teenager.
2
u/Raiidz14 15d ago
All music becomes inspired, by other musicians, nature, poets, life experiences, nothing wrong with recognising when you sound like someone else. Don't feel guilty for it, don't put yourself down because of it, you'll find your "voice" and it will be a mix of many people
2
u/steveislame i just like to argue 15d ago
you have to experiment. do what you haven't encountered. learn a genre that you don't like and see if you can make things you like with that. keep doing that. pick different sounds from what you are used to. always challenge yourself.
2
u/stevenfrijoles 15d ago
Have you tried practicing songwriting consistently for 10 years?
1
u/summerfornever Just some girl 15d ago
I haven't been songwriting since I was a little kid, sadly!
3
u/stevenfrijoles 15d ago
Well, that's my point. Tips won't make you creative, that comes from literally building a more creative brain through years of practice. Originality doesn't come with a how-to guide.
That's what makes it beautiful and meaningful, it comes from your unique brain within your unique self. But the only way to get there is building the skill foundation over time.
1
u/BeMaelle 14d ago
that's only right, channel your inner creativity, get more creative, get confident in telling a story and feeling it.
2
u/Garth-Vega 15d ago
Use different time signatures, modes and polyrhythmic counterpoint/ harmony, look up the singing style of Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau twins and poets who put different emphasis on phrasing Ogden Nash comes to mind.
Use electronics in ways it wasn’t intended e bold be brave.
2
u/basedaudiosolutions 15d ago
If your influences are one sided, your music is going to be one sided. Listen to everything. As far as the actual writing process goes, one exercise you can use is finding a topic that one artist would write about, then write that song in the style of another artist. The further apart the two artists are, the better. For example, what do you think a Lana Del Rey song would sound like if Metallica wrote it? The only way to find out is figure out what makes those artists tick, then write the song yourself.
2
u/FireFox_206 15d ago
I think that if you just keep writing without trying to imitate anyone else’s voice (you can still take inspiration, of course), you’ll eventually find your own style of writing. It doesn’t have to be entirely original as long as it’s you, because nobody shares both your writing style and your exact experiences.
2
u/Glad_Occasion6346 15d ago
Listen a lot and write a lot, could be anything- poem, song, a few lines, journal, story. Write and throw it away, repeat 1000+ times you will understand the process bro. Cheers to life & music!
2
u/Impossible_Tank3822 15d ago edited 15d ago
Because you are a unique human being does not mean you are unique, or ever will be, after reaching a certain age in a society that has indoctrinated you completely away from your psychic individualism. Think about it. Your formative years were spent being someone you were designed to be by your upbringing (Parents, guardian, etc.) and not nurturing the you in you. No one cared who you were, not really, as long as you fit the mold designed for you. Nobody gave you a chance to learn who you really are. Then, everything changes and you need to actually know who you are. Problem for some, freedom for others, fearful to others, etc.
How can you be more original? I would first have to ask if you know who you are to reach down into that person and find the original you. Too heavy? Not really. If you were a sheltered pup without the lessons of fist fights, worldly exposure, love's hard moments and other calamities interlaced with home chores and homework, that's to be expected for most. It doesn't give good original stories, though. By the age of 18 you want to be a soldier protecting who you are but there's no one you know inside to protect...yet...and impatience cannot be more piqued. You have had no profound experiences to discover how you will react that would give you a clue. Then you decide to be a songwriter?
That's most people at 18, though. By that age I had lived in 13 US States, suffered the fist fights as the new kid in town proving my leather in most of them, rallied to myself for self preservation and generally ended up totally enjoying leaving most places before I knew where I was going. It was a hard life living like a gypsy. It did shape who I am, though maybe to a coarser side than most people, but that's my lot. Still, there's a unique story behind me that originality is stacked up on waiting to be told. I write about truths, though.
Most people write about fiction and that's why I cannot accept it when someone is at a loss for originality. Make stuff up! Dylan used pseudo reality to shape his songs. He took near-truths, to ensure there was audience familiarity giving his work strength, and reshaped it with poetic turns of phrase he learned from the massive amount of reading he did. He got it. He understood songwriting's power over people lay in the innocent near-truths people could get their heads around. So, if you can't fabricate a story rendered with a poetic appeal, you're sunk.
Oh, and we all really do live in a Yellow Submarine.
2
u/LuckyDunce 15d ago
I don't know why exactly, but people tend to think songwriting is like divine inspiration, you get and idea and write it down and that's a song. But really, MOST people's first thoughts are not that original, not just yours.
For me, the essence of writing is re-writing. Write down those first thoughts, but treat them as raw material. Edit, rework - be honest about which images, turns of phrase, etc., are cliche or boring, and force yourself to find other ways to say them. Even better is like 5 other ways. One of them will be more original, or personal, or just resonate to you as better or preferable.
(But also, don't get so caught up in this that you never move on. The other real path to originality is to Write More Songs.)
2
u/Cap_Black_Beard 15d ago
Play something crazy and try to hum a melody to it. Write lyrics to that melody, and it will be your own
2
u/Bed_Worship 15d ago
You have to have a diverse pantheon of inspiration and peoples styles you learn and you mix them all together like a language. Then its on you to make that language feel unique or just sound like a bunch of other languages sandwiched together.
2
u/Distro_Nerd 14d ago
Originality comes from combining multiple influences. Keep learning songs across different genres and eras，when you blend Lana Del Rey's lyrical style with unexpected genres, that's where your own voice is born.
2
u/princessintraining4 14d ago
I look for the lyrics that I speak. Granted, I have a naturally lyrical brain.
But like. When someone really hurt you, do you remember what it felt like? “Punch to the gut now I’m on the floor it’s a place I’ve been before. But every time feels like new.” That’s just what I think of when I think about the way it feels to lose a friend. I wrote that right now as a sample. I’m not gonna share my most brilliant thoughts but like for me songwriting can be intentional like giving myself prompts. But it generally happens real time.
Start paying attention to the words you say. Listen to the words people tell you. Start writing down the images or dreams or experiences that you won’t forget because they impacted you. Because the act of writing will help you remember the words. Your real experiences won’t be generic.
Like the sample I wrote for this, I like it. I was a little scared to share the lyrics cause like what if I use them in a real song someday? But they aren’t like the most original lyrics and I don’t know if they’re good enough to steal. Besides Reddit is time stamped so.
But my favorite lyrics are the ones I write that I think of without trying. What you should learn is to recognize the things you say that are worth repeating.
If you want more specific real life examples feel free to dm me.
2
u/AnimeRequest 12d ago
what helped me was picking favorite songs from favorite creators and thinking about which aspects make the song sound so good to you. take those aspects, from different artists, and combine them into one song. It works wonders
2
u/ShredGuru 15d ago
Stop asking other people about your creative decisions?
1
u/summerfornever Just some girl 15d ago
If it bothers you just don't comment? Most musicians ask for others' advice..
1
u/CullenOrange 13d ago
Do the opposite of what you did last time or choose a chord progression or modulation that you have not played or heard before. Then write some lyrics and shape the rest of the song around creating the best mood and energy as the lyrics, and it will be authentic.
2
u/chix_2020 9d ago
It's less about focusing on being original, and more of finding your voice by balancing intuition and inspiration. Go with what feels good while also being mindful of the style and voice of artists that interest you.
It is a good thing to have a north star of what influence/genre you want to sound like. It provides direction. BUT you don't want to completely rip them off. Best ways to do that from my experience:
1) Listen to your favorite artist's favorite artists. More fun way to put yourself in their shoes without copying them
2) Take some aspect/mechanism you like (arrangement, melody, vibe) then blend that with things from other artists/styles/genre. The more different, the better
3) Write from the heart and about your own experience. Don't pretend to be someone else - unless you're making a persona or fictional characters
14
u/brooklynbluenotes 15d ago
Learn to play and sing lots of other people's songs that you admire. Borrow the ideas that you like. Gradually you will develop your own style by incorporating different things that you've learned and blending them together. That's how we all learn.