Tips

Hey friends!I just wanted to chime in with a simple trick. This is not a rule to live by or anything, just something I have found useful in my own writing career. Hopefully it can help if you are ever stuck in a rut!If you feel like your lyrics sound generic -- which is another way of saying expected/unsurprising -- try flipping the song's sentiment on its head.What is the sentiment? It's sort of the core meaning of the song. Let's just take these lyrics as an example:"Show me something newDon't mind if you drive fasterYeah I can't stay away from youBut baby we'll be a disaster"Not the strongest fourth line, but good enough for an example. Based on this text, we would think this song is about:"Someone in a car with someone they like, worrying that their relationship is going to be a disaster"Okay. That's a sentiment right there. But the thing is: it is sort of a generic one. Why? Because it is a very typical thing for someone to worry about relationship issues. There's nothing special about it, per se.However, what if we changed the last line, so that instead the lyrics are:"Show me something newDon't mind if you drive fasterYeah I can't stay away from youCause I love a disaster"Suddenly, it feels different. Less generic. Why?Because now the sentiment has been changed from being about someone worrying about their relationship to:"Someone actively seeking a relationship because they want to watch it burn"Ethically speaking, this might seem a bit messed up.And yes, it is.But narratively, it adds tension.It takes out of the generic sentiment, what you'd first expect, and spices things up.So when you're in a rut, try switching things up! Write something that seems strange or contradictory to your song's initial sentiment. See what happens!P.S. I am by no means saying my example lyrics are of some golden standard. They're just an example from a song I made on Suno v.4.5. Here's the result. If you have recommendations of your own, I'd love to hear them in the comments, and I'm sure others would too!