4 Tips For Making an Impressive Song

Confidence and Personality 

As an artist, it is important to sound confident when singing or rapping your lyrics. Hesitance and shyness can actually be heard through a song. Even though you are an Indie artist finding your way, you need to have the ego of a star in the studio. Listeners engage and connect more with artists that confidently present their lyrics, especially in pop music. Be sure you are recording in a space where you can be energetically comfortable to rap or sing as loud as you want and tire yourself out. It’s also a good idea to add your own flavor and personality when recording a song.

Emotion/Interpretation 

It is important to create an overall experience when making a song that you want people to really enjoy and connect with. If your song topic is somber and depressing, delivering a line with little emotion won’t compare to a line delivered with heartfelt sadness. For example, on Kendrick Lemar’s 3^rd song ‘u’ on the album “To Pimp a Butterfly” features a very depressing third verse that Lemar delivers in a flawlessly drunken and depressed tone that won’t be forgotten by anyone who has ever heard it. Adding the appropriate emotion to your lines and adlibs can really turn up your song’s impact. To best convey your emotion, you should have your lyrics memorized. Focus that is thrown off by reading or not being confident in your recording space can surprisingly effect the quality of your song. You want to be as connected and as ‘in the zone’ as you can possibly be during your studio session. Be one with the music.

Dynamics/Phrasing 

Songs without the proper structure, phrasing and dynamic changes can really become a drag after a minute or so of listening. Most addictive songs have dynamic changes that occur between verses and choruses. Be sure your song lyrics and instrumentation never becomes too repetitive or dull for listeners. Adding changes to your rhythmic flow, range, panning, and instrumentation for certain sections of your songs is a great way to add flavor and appeal.

Lyricism

Not enough people are paying attention to the story that is being told in a song these days, but when you tell a good story, you are adding more gold to your magical song. Lyricism is especially key for the Indie musician these days; everyone is complaining about the ‘garbage’ on the radio and raving over the hidden Indie artist gems they find in local talent. If you are providing watered down pop lyrics like everyone is already used to, how are you standing out?

Whenever Indie artists are in the songwriting process, they tend to cling to what's 'mainstream' and what 'everyone else' is doing in their genre, which isn't a bad thing. If you're a singer who often serenades on the topic of love, or you're a rapper who often speaks on the excess of money and women you have in your imagination, that just might come to fruition once you get big. You're having fun, you're in your element. But, have you ever sat and created a song with the intention of speaking to someone's heart? Yes, you're making songs with the intention of getting fans, in general, but has your material ever been a source of inspiration? 

Music has capabilities that Indie artists often overlook when they get lost in the process of it all. Set aside time in your musical future to create a song or two that will speak to someone's heart and inspire them. Focus on a topic that's often overlooked in the mainstream music world these days. Be different. Be bold. Be sincere. Take the time to write lyrics that will leave an impression. You and your listener will be rewarded.