Coaching

One of the questions I get most often when I mentor songwriters is “Why does everyone tell me I need to write more conversational lyrics?” While there is no “one size fits all” answer to how your lyrics...

On June 30, 2014, Epic Records released Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” As her first single for a major label, it was a career milestone. If she had been wondering whether the subject matter — an exuberant celebration of...

Welcome to “The Music Lab,” a new column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every month.  One of the most noticeable style shifts in songwriting over the last few years is the emergence of chorus-like hooksin...

Point of View has a profound effect on how you develop your idea. Because Point of View defines your position as a narrator to the world of the song, it tells you what you’re able to see...

MIT scientists have confirmed neural pathways in the human brain designed exclusively for music.

Welcome to “The Music Lab,” a new Songwriter U column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every other print issue, and monthly on AmericanSongwriter.com. I’m obsessed...

Lennon embraces the gestalt understanding that if the songwriter provides enough detail, the listener can complete the circle himself.

Welcome to “Between The Rhymes,” a new Songwriter U column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every other print issue, and monthly on AmericanSongwriter.com. This column...

These days artists need to get that buzz going all on their own.

Whether a rhyme is true or false, there is no denying their effect.