I Like to Think I Don’t Suck. (Patreon)

When writing lyrics I like to think that I don’t totally suck at it. I’m not going to sit and give you pointers on what you should and shouldn’t do, because heck, what qualifies me to have such opinions? To be honest, I have no idea what this “blog” post is going to entail, but we’re going to talk about lyrics, the good, the bad, and you guessed it, the ugly.

Everyone has lyrics they absolutely love, and every now and again a lyric will stand out to me that just hits different, (usually to the point where I get annoyed that I didn’t think of it first) But… it is important to recognise the difference between a specific lyric, meaning word choice being genius, or the melody/notes being so impressive that you think you love that lyric choice. I will often fall in love with words just because of the tone it has been sung in, and that is important - and for the majority of the time, that is enough for a song to be great *puts on baby by Justin Bieber* BUT - That is not the artist/writer/whoever it may be being a lyrical genius.

For example, my current favourite song to listen to is ‘Emergency Contact’ by Pierce The Veil. The main reason I am loving this song is because Vic Fuentes actually thought of a different way of telling someone I LIKE YOU. The line I am referring to is ‘I just want you to be my emergency contact’ it is such a clever way of telling someone you care about them, and I have genuinely never heard this phrase in a song, it’s new, fresh, and a unique way of playing on a topic that is used repeatedly in music.

Another reason lyrics can be f*****g awesome is if they are *sing it with me now* RELATABLE. Just think of how many women scream along to ‘Single Ladies’ simply because they are either proud to be an independent single lady, or they are fed up of waiting for their other half to put a ring on it! However, just because a song resonates with you, doesn’t mean it resonates with everybody. There are plenty of tunes I love that others simply don’t understand the obsession. A prime example of this, is a Paramore track that I am influenced by again and again, ‘Idle Worship’ It’s conversational, and a super grounding song for me, personally I relate to the lyrical choices. ‘It’s such a long and awful lonely fall down from this pedestal that you keep putting me on’ No. I am not in any way saying that I am seen as someone to be worshipped, but being in a position where I am putting lyrics out into the world that people also relate to does have its moments of WTF am I doing? What if I say the wrong thing? Do I relate to this song because I am also a front woman of a band? More than likely yes, because she's singing about the main worry I imagine most artists are faced with.

I’m now going to flip this bad boy around and share some terrible lyrics. They are stereotypical, predictable, and make little to no sense. The writer of these lyrics is none other than…

…Myself.

I am of course referring to the lyrics from ‘Cross My Heart’ This is the first single As December Falls released, it can’t be found on streaming sites however I do believe it remains within the depths of youtube. There are lots of reasons why this song is bad. 1. This is the first song I had ever seriously written. For most people, this means nobody would ever hear it and they would keep writing, but not us! We didn’t want to be one of those bands with no music out and no way of hearing what they sound like, which leads me to my next point. 2. The song was rushed. I remember having full intentions of re-writing the lyrics, but we were so intent on quickly releasing music that cross my heart made it out into the real world before the rewrite could happen. Okay so enough of making excuses, here are the lyrics 17 year old Bethany put out into the world.

‘So open up your eyes

And hear your heart

So we can sail away

And reach the shore

Cross my heart and hope to die

Now we’re feeling so alive

Minute by minute

Our time is running out’

I hate it so much.

So many topics, so many references, none of them quite make sense together, is it a metal song? Is it a ballad? like what is this song about? I remember being asked this in one of my first interviews and I made it up on the spot, and guess what? It was fine because no one knew what I was talking about in the song anyway, I could’ve said anything. It’s as if I put every overused typical lyric in one chorus and went ‘Yepp, this is it boys’ However, I would like to give this song a shoutout, as it’s possibly the main reason why I am so fussy with my lyrics to this day. I really dislike lyrics that don’t make sense, Fall Out Boy & Panic! At The Disco are the exceptions not the rule. I either want Gerard Way story time, or I want the lyrics to actually link to the theme/message of the song.

The biggest thing to know is that lyrics mean different things to different people. Trust me, I once wrote a song and my mum was suddenly convinced something tragic had happened to me, and began ringing me worried and asking me lots of questions. I was fine. I just felt sad one evening and wrote a very depressing tune. Words are powerful. Words can literally save someone's life and that is ALWAYS something to remember.

And on that note, let's end this “blog” post here.

I genuinely have no idea if this was interesting, insightful, or made sense. (much like the lyrics to cross my heart) But this is definitely a topic I’d love to delve into again, so until next time mother fluffers.

WORDS ARE POWERFUL.

So long and goodnight.

*cries in emo*