In last week's email, I promised to send you some of my favourite lyric writing exercises. This one is about clichés — and I know what you're thinking. Avoid clichés. Everyone says so. Got it.

But here's what I actually think:

Clichés are one of the most powerful raw materials a songwriter has. Not because they're good, but because they're known.

When I say "my heart was broken," you don't have to work to understand me. That meaning arrives instantly, pre-loaded, ready. The phrase has been worn smooth by a million uses, and that smoothness is exactly what makes it travel so easily between one human and another.

The problem isn't the cliché itself. The problem is when we leave it exactly as we found it—because a cliché, untouched, is a closed door. Your listener's brain registers it (heard this before) and moves on without really feeling anything.

But twist it, just slightly.

Swap one word, extend the image, turn it on its head—and suddenly that closed door swings open. The familiarity is still there, doing its silent work, creating recognition, but now there's something unexpected inside it. Something that makes your listener stop and think: wait.

That moment of surprise is where connection lives.

It's why John Legend can sing "Actions speak louder than…" and make you expect one thing...then delight your ear by singing "love songs".

He didn't avoid the familiar. He leaned into it, and then turned it just enough.

Put it into action now:

I wrote about six specific ways to do exactly this, with examples from songs you'll know. In the article you'll find:

1. Replacing
2. Extending
3. Inverting
4. Swapping
5. Contrasting
6. Verb Object

👉 Read it here​

Write for life, Keppie

PS - If you'd like to explore techniques like this in real time, live with us—we're running a free Lyric Writing Workshop very soon where we'll work through exercises just like these together. You'll come out the other side with actual lyrics that will genuinely surprise you. Come and join us—it's free.​