tournament Golden Hit: Season 2 📀 Congratulations Hug! 🏆

[Gavin.]

My Justify My Love is being brewed as we speak

[Hug]

WTF this challenge actually fitting an idea I had while I was having a meltdown in my head. Maybe I'll **** around and write it for real.

[fountain]

52 minutes ago, Augmented said:

I sort of don’t get the challenge. Couldn’t you just write a normal song then italicise the bridge and pretend it’s spoken word? Or finish writing a song and randomly slot a spoken word intro/outro into it?

There’s nothing stopping that, yeah. But the point of having a challenge dedicated to this and encouraging you to write in spoken word is that it means you can break the mould of writing to a particular rhythm, or popular styles in general. We receive a lot of songs that are written to be pop or fit the conventional song formula, and with this challenge we are giving everybody the opportunity (and encouragement) to disregard this and step outside of the box. For example, spoken sections don’t have to have a certain sense of rhythm or rhyme, so this gives the potential to write in more abstract fashion. How much each individual wants to embrace this is up to themselves, but it’s worth bearing in mind it could effect how the song is judged. If someone does a half arsed job (eg. just includes one throwaway spoken line with no impact on the song) we’ll more than likely be able to tell 

[Hug]

Wait nvm just had another idea and I might not be accused of being typical this time. I'm really excited to work on it actually.

[Hug]

 

by the way stream my spoken word smash Logic in a Paradox on Spotify.

[fountain]

2 hours ago, TruGemini said:

Okay I instantly feel much better about this challenge than the last one, that one ate me up 

 

I want to make something Janet Jackson esque for this round  

Janet is another great example of somebody who incorporates a lot of spoken word throughout her music!! I’m not the most knowledgeable of her discography so I couldn’t provide any specific songs from her, but for those who are familiar with her she can definitely be a good source of inspiration this round. 

[Hug]

I went on a walk and instead of thinking of lyric ideas I thought of a meme.

 

[Jackson]

is rap still considered spoken word?  i didn’t see it in the challenge description or examples so i want to verify 

[Galah]

7 hours ago, Hug said:

??? wish I could agree but the latter two also had comments (albeit not from you!) about a disappointing lack of originality. It's clearly a problem if I'm getting these comments EVERY round but I can't really seem to come up with original ideas that don't just sound like I'm being different for the **** of it. (Like I entertained the thought of a song that talked about deforestation from the POV of a tree...but that's an obvious route so I thought I would make the tree have a bdsm fetish and WANT to be torn into by a lumberjacks axe. Then I imagine its either "oh, this is a metaphor for sex even if that wasnt your intent I cant see it as anything else and sex songs are done to death" or my vision IS seen for what it is, but then...just why. WHY would a tree have a BDSM fetish. What would that be trying to say other than i,M dIfFrReNt.) Obviously I didn't go that route.

 

I also had an idea of making a song about aliens kidnapping cows because the aliens thought the cows were cute and would make good pets, but not only is that also a done-before idea, I have no idea where to take it, and I suppose that's where a lot of my ideas stay. 

 

Maybe that's a me issue, not being able to connect to abstract concepts with no real intent or message. Thus my affinity for played out ideas that at least I understand why I'm writing it to begin with. 

 

Regardless I am considering just flat out ignoring whatever the next challenge is and writing what I can only hope hasn't been done much in songwriting. I think my attempts at adhering to challenges are hurting me more than helping.

Reading this post and being able to get a bit of insight into your creative process is definitely helpful. I think perhaps you've overanalysing or overthinking the "originality" or "unique" nature that has been suggested. Your concept of "deforestation from the POV of a tree" definitely would have been a more interesting core concept than "boy meets girl" imo. The extension into a tree with a BDSM fetish may have been too much, but then again maybe not if you genuinely had an overlapping message you wanted to share (i.e. if the song was actually pro-deforestation). My song "Riverbed (Aspen's Lullaby)" I posted on the last page used deforestation as an allegory for gentrification, yet both interpretations shared a common goal/message. This isn't a self-plug or anything, the song didn't even crack the top five, but I wasn't worried about my concept seeming uninspired either.

 

I think possibly you've hit the nail on the head with your comment about "not being able to connect to abstract concepts with no real intent or message". If you can bring all of the pieces together, I can't imagine you won't do well, even if only being satisfying to yourself.

 

1 hour ago, hurricane326 said:

That was very easy to write. Might tweak it a bit

Another quick gem about to be unleashed.

 

1 hour ago, Augmented said:

I sort of don’t get the challenge. Couldn’t you just write a normal song then italicise the bridge and pretend it’s spoken word? Or finish writing a song and randomly slot a spoken word intro/outro into it?

fountain already said most of what I was intending to, and while the answer is technically yes, doing so probably won't be doing yourself any favours. Finding a way to integrate the spoken word element(s) into the song in a natural way that not only fits but highlights a main narrative element or elevates the emotiveness and poignancy of a particular passage.

[Galah]

5 minutes ago, Hug said:

I went on a walk and instead of thinking of lyric ideas I thought of a meme.

 

I don't think I mentioned it in my review specifically, but this lyric was a highlight for me absolutely.

 

Also sdhsadjals not "Candle".

[Euterpe]

I’m gonna have to do this as a message, but I’m debating whether I want to do an entire spoken word thing (if that’s allowed) or doing mostly spoken word with song bits.

[Galah]

4 minutes ago, Jackson said:

is rap still considered spoken word?  i didn’t see it in the challenge description or examples so i want to verify 

This challenge was originally going to be the 'Rap & Spoken Word' challenge, but we decided to refine it a tad. However, should anyone wish to write a rap verse, or a full-fledged rap song, absolutely!

[Hug]

Just now, Euterpe said:

I’m gonna have to do this as a message, but I’m debating whether I want to do an entire spoken word thing (if that’s allowed) or doing mostly spoken word with song bits.

If I'm not mistaken, one of the Madonna examples from the challenge OP is fully spoken word, so I can't imagine it wouldn't be allowed

[Legend E]

I'm slightly confused, but I think I'll like this challenge

[Euterpe]

Just now, Hug said:

If I'm not mistaken, one of the Madonna examples from the challenge OP is fully spoken word, so I can't imagine it wouldn't be allowed

I didn’t look at the examples since I won’t be writing it until next week, so my bad.  Thanks!

[fountain]

11 minutes ago, Euterpe said:

I’m gonna have to do this as a message, but I’m debating whether I want to do an entire spoken word thing (if that’s allowed) or doing mostly spoken word with song bits.

 

3 hours ago, fountain said:

This can be done in any way you please; the spoken word passages can be spread throughout the song, can be specifically one section of the song (eg. one verse/bridge etc.), or could even be the whole song if you desire.

[Galah]

10 minutes ago, Euterpe said:

I’m gonna have to do this as a message, but I’m debating whether I want to do an entire spoken word thing (if that’s allowed) or doing mostly spoken word with song bits.

Your song can have as many or as little spoken word elements as you see fit to benefit the song; the 100 words was just a rough ballpark guideline. If you're writing much less than that (i.e. <50 words) perhaps there might not be enough to truly satisfy the challenge?

[Euterpe]

1 minute ago, fountain said:

 

I read that part too and seemed to bypass it. Oops.  Thanks.

 

1 minute ago, Aurora said:

Your song can have as many or as little spoken word elements as you see fit to benefit the song; the 100 words was just a rough ballpark guideline. If you're writing much less than that (i.e. <50 words) perhaps there might not be enough to truly satisfy the challenge?

I figured I might go over word count by a lot, but we’ll see!

[Legend E]

Is the spoken word part meant to be the 100 words, or the whole song?

[Remmy]

24 minutes ago, Hug said:

I went on a walk and instead of thinking of lyric ideas I thought of a meme.

 

[fountain]

1 minute ago, Legend E said:

Is the spoken word part meant to be the 100 words, or the whole song?

The 100 word guide (which you may choose to follow or not!) is referring specifically to the spoken word component. As usual your song can be as long as you like.

[Legend E]

2 minutes ago, fountain said:

The 100 word guide (which you may choose to follow or not!) is referring specifically to the spoken word component. As usual your song can be as long as you like.

Thanks <3

[Jackson]

7 minutes ago, Legend E said:

Is the spoken word part meant to be the 100 words, or the whole song?

you could definitely do an entirely spoken word song (like a Not My Responsibility by Billie)  

[Legend E]

2 minutes ago, Jackson said:

you could definitely do an entirely spoken word song (like a Not My Responsibility by Billie)  

yeah, i was just unaware if we had to make a proper song (or a sort of interlude i guess) that is 100 words long but the sung part is included in that or not

 

tho doing something like NMR is a good idea

[Achilles.]

Are yall judging the entire song, or just the spoken word part of it?

 

 

Also, the best spoken word bit in recent pop music is the bridge of Baby Queen’s smashterpiece You Shaped Hole. Get into it!