Seriously? Are we going to compare two of my songs? When one is not even released yet. Well, yes and no.
I just want to compare the writing styles for both of them. Maybe some creatives can draw some lessons from them.
First, with STRONGER…
I actually wrote STRONGER before YOU REALLY DON’T. It just so happened that I released STRONGER first.
On this particular day, I was talking with this girl and she told me of how she lost her mom and how lonely she felt. I had to encourage her and tell her basically that she could be stronger. I really felt bad that she was going through that and it stayed on my mind through the day.
Later on that evening, I got talking with another friend of mine who basically sees me as a mentor and she was telling me how since her mom died, her father barely cares about her, is barely home, is barely even in touch with her. Ironically, she had begun to see it as normal.
I had to reorient her and let her know that she didn’t deserve what was happening to her and encourage her to stay strong. This too, added to the burden I felt throughout the day.
It happened that evening, that my parents went out. I was just listening to instrumentals and came across this beat titled “Stronger”. It was instant, I just started writing, “This is a message for the broken soul, for the words unsaid that no one knows”.
This is a message for the broken soul,
for the words unsaid that no one knows
For the heart with so many open holes
For the boy on a journey, you don’t know the road
This isn’t a lyric breakdown so I’ll leave you to figure out the rest.
The song just came so smoothly and naturally. From the pre-chorus to the chorus, there wasn’t a time I really paused to think about what to do next. The second verse was literally talking to the two girls I had spoken to earlier that day.
I think the third verse was where I really paused to think. After that, I started recording. I can’t really remember that part cuz it all happened so fast. Recording, mixing and mastering. And that was it.
You Really Don’t
This one ehh. I first wrote it after I had an argument with my sister from another mother, Ekomobong. I just felt like she didn’t understand what I was going through, and well, maybe she didn’t. The song was about people giving unsolicited advice when they didn’t even understand the situation. And I wrote it in the chapel. Founders Day period, just before the service.
If there’s anything I really remember from that songwriting session, it was the pre-chorus and chorus. The verses were, uh, just not good or something like that. But I was going to use it like that. Then, I lost the book…
Yup, I lost the book where I wrote that song and many other songs that were in there. Boy, was I devastated. A lot of my favourite songs were in there and just like that. I would have stopped there and then. But I’ve had to start afresh enough times to know better.
When I first started in music, my parents were against it so they would tear and burn my songbooks. Well, I’d start over and over again.
So I started again. One Friday night, after our choir night vigil, I began to pen the words, “I told you I don’t wanna talk, why’d you wanna force me”.
Finished the song, and I recorded it a week later.
Guess what? I didn’t like the vocals so I recorded it again some months later.
Moral lesson? One size doesn’t fit all, especially when it comes to creativity. What if I had said, “If I’m encountering issues writing it, it’s not a hit”. Then y’all wouldn’t have a follow-up single.
I feel like I’ve already said too much. YOU REALLY DON’T out on Friday. Anticipate.