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Tips & Resources by Brent Baxter, Songwriting Pro on September 30, 2019
You might have the best idea in the world, but you can still screw it up if you confuse the listener.
If people don't understand your lyrics- what they mean, you've just wasted your best song idea. And that's extremely frustrating. Here you go with such a good idea... and nobody responds the way you want them to. They just don't "get it." Ugh. I've been there. Let me help you avoid that. So here are 4 ways your song may be confusing - and losing - the listener.
1. Too Many Characters
If the listener has to keep up with the singer, the singer's new love, the singer's old love, mom and baby sister, they're going to get confused. I don't care how carefully you craft the lyric, the more characters you put in your song, the more chance you have that the listener will get confused about who's doing what, to whom, etc.
2. Overlapping Pronouns
If you're singing ABOUT your new love and ABOUT your ex-love, they'll both end up being referred to by the same pronoun: "he" or "she." The listener may get confused about which "he" or "she" certain lines are talking about. And just like in real life, it's awkward when people confuse your ex-love with your current love. Yikes!
3. Too Much Story
It's a song, not a novel. The listener only has so much attention to pay your song. Remember, most listeners are listening while they're doing something else- driving, eating, folding laundry, walking the dog, etc. It's rare that the listener will give your song their full, undivided attention. Even at a show or in a publisher meeting, their phone may light up with a distracting text or call. If your song has too much story, you might be asking too much of your listener.
4. Unclear Time Jumps
Sometimes you might want to do a time jump in your song. Maybe a character is a teenager in verse one then a twenty-something-year-old in verse two. But if the time jump isn't immediately clear and presented well, your listener will probably be confused. "Wait... you had a girlfriend in verse one, and now you're talking about your wife. What?"
When you confuse the listener, you lose the listener.
If your songs are not getting the response you want from your listeners, maybe you're confusing them. To dive into these (and other) ways of accidentally confusing your listener - and how to FIX those issues, I have a great event coming up for you! In October, I'm hosting a 4-night songwriting workshop called “Your M.A.P. To A Hit Song Lyric.” If you're tired of your songs NOT affecting your listeners, if you're tired of your songs not being noticed, if you want your songs to be more memorable, to connect with your listeners more, and to affect your listeners' emotions, this is the workshop for you.
CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE DETAILS AND JOIN THIS CAREER-CHANGING EVENT!
God bless,
Brent
