HOW TO WRITE SONGS THAT SELL

“You cannot give what you do not have” – from someone with an awesome brain. Honestly, I did my best searching on the net for the person who FIRST said that line, but failed. Anyway, that statement is very powerful because it applies to a lot of things, songwriting included. You want to write songs that sell? Then you have to HAVE songs that sell! HOW???

Mr. Louie Ocampo, a very successful and respected musician in the Philippines, and composer of great OPM hits such as Martin Nievera’s Say That You Love Me and You Are My Song, Gino Padilla’s Closer You and I, Joey Albert’s Tell Me and a whole lot more, said that our brain works like a hard drive of a computer. You store tons of data in it and then when it’s time to download, our brain would spew the same items that we stored in it. So applying that to songwriting, his advice is to LISTEN TO AS MANY HIT SONGS AS YOU CAN! Store your brains with beautiful melodies that were loved by millions so much so that they translated into millions of pesos (or dollars even).

DO NOT DISCRIMINATE. Listen to different genres. Rock, hip-hop, RnB, ballad, novelty, etc. Just store them up in your hard drive, your brain. Subconsciously, you will be familiarized with sounds that hook audiences. It could be the intro, the chorus, the first line of the verse, or it could even be the story of the song—it doesn’t matter. Radio is a good source of these hit songs.

I’m gonna let you in on a secret. You know why album producers come to me to write songs for their artists even if I am not a Vehnee Saturno or a Ryan Cayabyab? Because I have a knack for writing hooks. But how was I able to write these hooks? Because I always listen to the radio, EVERYDAY! In fact, IT’S MY JOB TO LISTEN TO THE RADIO (haha). There, you know my secret. That is my ADDED VALUE as a songwriter. That is my UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION to album producers. That’s how I differentiate myself to other songwriters: I can write songs that are RADIO FRIENDLY.

Enough of myself, the point I’m driving at is if you listen to hit songs everyday, you will find it easy to write songs that have the potential to be popular and therefore, sellable. Again, do not discriminate. Some songwriters tend to be hard-nosed “artists”, those who say, “I won’t listen to that, it’s so BADUY”. Or, “I don’t listen to this kind of song because it’s not who I am”. If you are like these people, chances are, you won’t grow. Brendon Burchard, a best selling-author said: you will manifest whatever you expose yourself to. Whatever comes in comes out. So if you immerse yourself with songs that have the LSS factor, the higher the probability that you will write songs that have LSS factor.

Next step is to write your own hit song. Wow, that’s a tough call! Some people ask me, “Robster, when you write songs, where do you start, melody or lyrics?”. My answer, it depends! Sometimes, I start with a title or a concept (e.g. the song I wrote for Wondergays, “Blind Item”, you can listen to it here) and develop the entire song from it. Sometimes I start with a memorable line, e.g. “Kung pwede lang sumigaw ang puso kong ito… (you can listen to it here). Or a story (like my song for Parokya ni Edgar, AMATS, you can listen to it here). There are times when I would just hum and hum to a set of chords, like this very famous chord pattern: D-A-G-A, and then after a few minutes or hours, voila! I have a song!

So how do you start? It depends on your style, mood, or requirement. But I guarantee you, if you have stored enough hit songs in your brain, the right words and melody will just flow out. Don’t worry if eventually you’ll realize that your song sounds like this or that song. It’s a reality you have to accept: WHATEVER COMES IN COMES OUT. You get a part of this song and this song and string it together and make it your own. As Mr. Louie Ocampo maintained, everything we make is BORROWED.

But hey, I’m not saying that you PLAGIARIZE. That‘s an entirely different animal. Plagiarism is intentionally copying another’s work. What you do as a hit songwriter is to be INFLUENCED by other hit songwriters so that you can make your own hit.

There’s a practical way of being influenced by a songwriter. Pick a hit song that you really like and then try to put yourself in the shoes of the composer of that song. If you were the one to say what the song is saying, HOW WILL YOU SAY IT (lyrics) and HOW WILL YOU SING IT (melody)?

Say you choose the hit song by Jose Mari Chan, Beautiful Girl. If you were the one to say the following lines, how do you say them? How do you talk to a beautiful girl?

Beautiful girl, wherever you are

I knew when I saw you

You had opened the door

I knew that I’d love again

After a long, long while

I’d love again

That’s just one way of doing it: get someone else’s topic and express it in your own way/words.

After writing your “hit” song, TEST it. ALL songwriters have the tendency to FALL INLOVE with HIS/HER OWN SONG. That’s understandable, it’s your creation, your baby! But for you to know if your song really has LSS factor (therefore, sellable),  you will need the ears of other people. Get their opinion. As much as possible, get an objective listener. DO NOT GET REACTION FROM YOUR MOTHER, FATHER, GIRLFRIEND, BOYFRIEND, OR WORST SOMEONE WHO OWES YOU MONEY!

I remember writing a song and singing it in front of my mother. She said it’s very good and I believed her! And then I presented the song to Mr. Nonoy Tan, the first person who introduced me to the business side of music. He is the father of Champ Lui Pio (former vocalist of the band Hale), and is likewise a successful producer and composer of hit songs such as My Love Will See You Through and You Made Me Live Again. Anyway, when he heard my song, he told me, “Ayoko ng kantang yan, iho” (I don’t like that song, son). I said “But sir, it’s a beautiful song!”. Sir Nonoy reiterated, “Hindi yan maa-appreciate ng masa, iho, hindi yan bebenta. Kung ipipilit mo ang gusto mo, mas mabuti pa, ilagay mo na lang sa baul ang kanta mo!”. (Your song will not be appreciated by the general public, so it won’t sell. But if you will be hard-headed, it’s better for you to just put your songs in a wooden chest).

Ouch! That hurt a lot! But hey, Mr. Nonoy Tan is a nice guy and he knows what he is saying. So I swallowed my pride, lick my wounds, and went back to the drawing board to write a new song. I have learned a valuable lesson that day: don’t listen to your mother’s feedback. Just kidding! GET AN OBJECTIVE FEEDBACK. Don’t fall inlove too much with your song. Have the humility to accept criticism.

Now, I have one way of testing if my song really has the LSS factor: I let KIDS hear my songs. To be more specific, I let my 2-year old son listen to my songs. If my son dances to my song or hums along with it (even if the lyrics is gibberish) I know that my song has LSS factor. THIS WORKS! Why? Kids do not lie. They are not yet influenced by any social discrimination about which is acceptable or beautiful. Kids do not brand songs (baduy, jologs, corny, cheesy, etc.). They have simple standards. They will dance or sing along with a song that sounds good and easy to remember. Oftentimes, these are the songs that you HEAR ON THE RADIO. These are the songs THAT SELL.

So there, start writing your hit song!

May you be successful in your musical venture,

Robster Evangelista

P.S.

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