When I first started seriously writing songs, they were ALL about love. Now, there’s nothing wrong with writing songs about love – I enjoy a good love song as much as the next person! But I think that it’s important for songwriters to stretch themselves and not just stick to the topics that are comfortable or easy to write about.
These days I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting topics. We don’t need to only write about the things that occupy 90% of our thoughts. We can scour the other 10% for further subjects that we might be able to say something about.
Look for new topics in your every day life. Listen to what other people have to say, and take note of any interesting stories. Observe the things that go on around you, and see if there’s any potential writing material hiding in plain sight. If you make this a regular practice, you’ll soon find that you’re writing about a wide variety of topics. This, by default, will make your songwriting more original and less cliched, since you will be writing about subjects which haven’t already been covered quite as extensively as love!
Photo courtesy of Heartlover1717