Hey Reader, Keppie here from How To Write Songs 👋 I’ve spent the past 17 years teaching songwriters how to write songs they’re proud of—and how to develop real confidence in their craft. Of all the things that keep songwriters stuck, lyric writing is very often at the top of the list. It’s the part that feels most personal, most exposed, and most likely to make you wonder whether what you’ve written is clichéd, unoriginal, awkward, or simply not worth anyone’s time. So today, I want to give...

Hey Reader, Lyric writing is perhaps the most vulnerable part of songwriting. Chords, ultimately, are maths. Extraordinary maths that can make us feel something—but maths all the same. We rarely feel as though we’re exposing our raw selves when we play a G chord. Lyrics, though? Lyrics are different. For many songwriters, they’re the most fear-filled part of taking that next step and sharing your work—whether that means playing a song for your partner, standing up at an open mic, or releasing...

Hey Reader, One of the prompts inside our current Songwriting Sprint is called "Listen Like an Anthropologist." The exercise is simple. Choose the current #1 song in your genre (or any genre you're curious about), then listen with one question in mind: "Why does this work?" As you listen, jot down every technique you notice—not whether you like the song, but what it's actually doing. Maybe it's the way the chorus melody stays on a single high note. Maybe the drums don't arrive until halfway...