One of the hardest questions to answer is: how long does it take to write a song?
If you’ve been watching the New York Times’ splendid series, Diary of A Song, you might notice some songs come in a flash, like Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You - cracked in a 3 person collaboration within 15 minutes - while others are a never-ending mission, like Bon Iver’s iMi which took 5 years, 28 people and a piece of cardboard!
If there is huge variance in the time it takes to write songs between fantastically successful artists (15 minutes to 5 years), what does that mean for the rest of us?
If these are extremes, then how long is an average length of time to complete a song? Or perhaps what you’re truly wondering is: how long should I be taking to finish a song?
I think this question of ‘how long to write a song’ raises a number of important points that provide a useful answer.
1. The outcome is unknown
When you start to write a song, you truly have no idea how the song will sound when finished or whether the audience will love it. You don’t know if it will be a hit or a dog.
That’s because there’s no real cookie cutter in the songwriting toolbox. Each song is different - in part due to the audience’s desire for novelty, in part because writing songs is an artistic practice, despite much of it being deep set in commerce, and in part because every songwriter (including you) brings their individual creativity to the table for every single song.
To reinforce the point, Ed Sheeran wasn’t even going to release Shape of You himself. As it turned out, the session with co-writers Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid spawned a song whose success outstripped all expectations. A good day at work, that one!
2. Don’t give up
Clearly, some songs don’t reveal themselves immediately. If there’s something in that proto-song that you know is good, do not let go! Keep digging. The perseverance and artistic insight Bon Iver showed throughout the twists and turns of creating iMi just goes to show there really is no such thing as overnight success.
But he had the artistic confidence that he was onto something, and doggedly pursued it until the song was fully formed. The birth took as long as it needed – he just had to figure it out.
Sometimes the tide’s in and songwriters hit peak flow but sometimes the tide goes way out and everyone’s left gasping. That’s when marshalling all of your resilience and resources has to kick in. (see point 7!)
3. Match fitness
Please note - both Ed Sheeran and Bon Iver are at the top of their games. They are and have been full time songwriters for years, all the while developing their processes, craft and teams around them. They have both written an awful lot of songs. Some of them along the way will have been simply awful – they just don’t get released!
Songwriting, like any art form, takes practice but it’s not just starting a song. It’s also knowing how to finish it. Many songwriters start well but way fewer practice finishing. You’ll improve much faster by creating a high volume of finished songs.
Some will be better than others, most will be average, and some will be duds. You want to write enough to shift that middle material so the cream rises to the top. The old adage that it takes a lot of misses to write a hit is gospel truth!
Writing a good swag of songs also develops your own style. You learn something from every song you finish plus you get a sense of accomplishment, which helps keep your momentum up.
You get quicker too, and less attached to your cool ideas, which might not necessarily serve the song. This makes you a more flexible, more objective writer.
So, write. A lot. Create a songwriting habit and practice daily. It’ll get you match fit, capable of your best work.
4. Pre-write/ Pre-work
Consistently restock yourself and your songwriting assets.
Restocking you means allow idling time to mull, daydream and let your mind wander. Paradoxically, this refreshes your creativity and encourages incubation. Ideas can pop up and bump into each other - they might be a starter or they might work together. This time is as important for you as a songwriter as sleep is!
It means filling your tank so your creativity is replenished often. You want to keep learning, studying and exploring techniques. Listen to new artists and new songs. Figure out what you like and think about why. Read books or watch tutorials and interviews on songwriting plus other artistic practices. Put it all in there and prime the pump.
It also means stocking up on raw materials, like keeping a bank of potential song titles and lyric ideas, of cool rhymes or weird words, of voice notes with riffs, chords and tunes you can draw on at your songwriting sessions.
It means using a journal regularly to bring your subconscious to the surface for potential song ideas and to clear the noise in your head. Both of these actions lay the foundation for songwriting in little random fits and starts – not quite work, but preparation.
5. Constraints spur creativity
Another issue raised by the examples of variance in length of time to finish a song is the use of constraint – which feels like another paradox for supporting creativity. In fact, constraints can act as useful guardrails. Reducing the options available can make creative choices simpler, and faster.
They come in the form of how you write and what you write. The Ed Sheeran example of how quickly Shape of You came about included a collaboration constraint - having 3 songwriters in the room, all writing synchronously. No one was going away to think about it and come back the next day. It was a booking. There was also a time limit involved - roughly a 3 hour session length.
Constraints give you something to react to. You can set them for any component of a song. You could pre set the type of song structure, a particular theme or tempo to start with or a chord progression or synth patch as defined boundaries to work within.
For example, say you decide on a theme of jealousy pre-session. If you have a couple of collaborators, you then each turn up with your ‘jealousy’ lyric mind map and bang, the table is covered in ideas from the get go. This is how a self-imposed constraint can create a running start.
Of course, constraints don’t mean slavish adherence! They just articulate a problem for you to zero in on.
6. Stay out of the shallows
However, finishing fast doesn’t mean the song is necessarily good. Don’t forget depth. This is one of the lessons of Bon Iver’s iMi journey. Recognize that, even with the greats, cul-de-sacs are normal. So are different rates of completion. Composition can come in small bursts, rather than a steady stream with a line here, a chord change there. It’s not unusual to write a great chorus but the verses are a grind, or you smash out verse 1 but verse 2 is nowhere in sight.
Annoying, but being frustrated is also normal. Let it goad you into wanting the whole song to be good, because when you really crack one bit, you raise the bar for the rest. Keep exploring, thinking about and trying out better options as your song evolves.
You can always use placeholder lyrics, or even syllables in the meantime. Another trick is to leave a blank in a rough mix, upload it to your phone and sing along on your next subway ride, walk or car trip. It will prompt you to complete it under way less pressure. If you’ve improved one section, you will certainly be able to renovate the others. It just might take deep work to make the song a unified whole.
A useful concept is the idea of parallel projects with a bunch of songs or other music projects underway and rotate working on them. When one falters, switch to working on another. It spells the particular neural circuit spluttering over the tricky song and fires up those on the bench raring to take the field.
Also useful is getting a second pair of ears on board - so use your feedback loop or get support from a mentor. Another experienced perspective can shine a fresh light.
Remember, writing a song isn’t factory work. There is no exact, replicable process to manufacture great songs on demand. There’s no manual online.
Most of your favourite songs have had multiple rewrites, even at a granular level. Rewriting and editing is just part of the songwriting process. Exciting when a song arrives in a seemingly effortless bolt from the blue, but utterly normal when it’s more pedestrian, step by patient step!
So don’t be an early settler. Let the edit cycle spin at its own speed.
7. There is no hourly rate!
The time it takes you is the time it takes you. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re wasting time trying to improve your songs. Avoid comparing your output rate with other folks.
Your value as a songwriter is as incalculable as your value as a person. You never know when a song you have written could become, if not wildly, even mildly successful, which might be enough for a start.
Every songwriter works in a slightly different way. Plus their process may change throughout their careers, let alone day to day. Creativity undulates because songs are written by humans!
What is more important is building your catalogue – Kate Bush had over 100 songs when she was signed to EMI as a young teenager. She had confidence in her material and the way she wrote it because she’d already amassed a hefty repertoire.
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The answer to how long it takes to write a song is whatever it needs. Does the audience care whether it took you hours or years to write a song they love? Not at all. They just want songs that bowl them over.
My point in sharing Ed Sheeran and Bon Iver’s song ‘birth stories’ is to show great songs don’t come with defined gestation periods. Whether quick or protracted, the bottom line is you can’t see the seams! The result is the issue. So, write your songs until you get your best result.
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Charlotte Yates is an independent New Zealand singer-songwriter with a growing catalogue of seven solo releases and fourteen collaborative projects. She also provides a songwriting coaching service, Songdoctor.
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