Pretend
Lovelies,
One of my favorite songwriting assignments is: "Write a song from a perspective other than your own."
Some songwriters object on principle: "I only write honestly!"
But here's the trick.
Even when we write about "ourselves" it's a character.
A fantasia of self-perception. Whoever we imagine ourselves to be in one charmed moment in time.
And sometimes it's writing from a perspective OTHER than our own that locates us as never before. It's like we circumvent our sticky relationship with ourselves. We're granted accidental access to our most underexplored bits. Our disavowed bits. Our points of private pride.
Creative gemstones!
I'm finding the same is true for me when I write for other ARTISTS.
Sometimes people assume that when I write for others I'm writing less honestly.
Like I'm writing as a service rather than a revelation.
But every time I write a song, whether I'm writing for "myself" or "someone else," I must begin with some small true thing inside of ME.
Writing for others, I've discovered some very real parts of myself.
All my love,
Rachel
Oh hey! Speaking of indulging myself in service of another!
One of my great joys is writing with and for genius artist/producer Narada Michael Walden. I had so much fun this past month cooking up his new hit single, "The Night's Not Over." As Narada says, “We’re telling people that love and romance are just as important as ever. We need to enjoy life and value each other more. Live life and love more.”
Check out the ASTRONOMICAL VIDEO, which has already gotten 58K views.
There is a salon shaped hole in my heart!
So excited to announce our next round begins 10/30!
Our theme will be SONG PREMISE.
How do we choose our subject matter? What is the driving desire that carries us from intro to outro? What are the songs that are truly ours to write? How do we translate a song premise into actual song lyrics? How do we both express ourselves and write in a way that is meaningful for others?
Drop me a line for more info!