February Songwriting Challenges
Pick an artist from the 50’s or 60’s who is no longer releasing music. Write a song that would have been perfect for them when they were at their highest career point.
Flex that singing voice in a song. Write something with long held out notes that require vibrato and panache á la Whitney Houston and other diva types.
Set a timer. The best writers can crank out a hit in 15 minutes sometimes! Give yourself an hour to finish an entire song - see what will happen.
Take the first line of a song that you love. Use a thesaurus to change out one or more words and then write the rest of the song. See how changing one or two things can change an entire project.
Rewrite to a song like “That Boy Is Mine” where the artists are exchanging lines bar for bar. Remove one of the artist’s parts and write your own lines of exchange.
Be like Lil Nas X. Download a “type beat” from YouTube and use it as a track for a song.
Choose your favorite character from your favorite television show and write them a theme song that would be overlain on the opening credits of a show where they’re the protagonist.
Write a song where there is only a single melody line repeated over and over with different lyrics in each repetition.
Some of the biggest songs have a featured act. Imagine yourself the featured act of a recent smash and pen a verse.
