Musical Life of Britney Christian

Time to get down to the nitty gritty in songwriting! Today’s blog focuses on what you put into each section of the song. How does the verse lyrically differ from the chorus and the bridge? Most songs typically follow this format:

VERSE 1-> PRE-CHORUS (sometimes known as the B-Section)-> CHORUS (also known as the “hook”)->VERSE 2->PRE-CHORUS->CHORUS->BRIDGE->CHORUS

This is how I look at each song as I am writing.

VERSE 1: This verse sets up the whole song. It’s what pulls the audience in and gives them a strong idea of where you are about to go. It typically sets up the story, or gives you an idea of what the theme is going to be.

Example: My first verse in “Long Way” goes like this:

“Broken silence and a memory shared,

you never know unless you try,

and a hallway of history you finally spared,

but took it back cause i couldn’t see you cry”

In 4 short lines, we gather that, I’m talking to someone else in this song and this person is very guarded but may trust me more than other people. 

PRE-CHORUS: Your Pre-Chorus needs to lead you to your point without stating it yet. It’s the link between the emotion or story you are telling, and your message in the song. My Pre-chorus of “Long Way” connects it like this:

“Old wounds from the past are hard to heal from,

time isn’t always a cure,

nows the time to focus on who you want to be,

instead of who you always were”

In these lines I’ve transitioned from talking about the situation, to talking directly to the person, you’re now hearing the “dialog” so to speak. This isn’t stating the reason I wrote the song yet, but it leads you to it. 

CHORUS: This is the most important part and not just because its repeated the most in the song. This is where we find out the whole reason you wrote the song, this is your message, your purpose and the very thought that prompted you to write the song in the first place. Why are you sharing this story with us? What does it mean to you? What do you want us to believe about this situation?

 ”Long Way” Chorus:

I can feel myself falling deep into you

but you still remain a mystery to me,

because you put up your guard and you put up your walls

and its a long way to get to you

Ah ha, now we understand why I’m writing the song. This isn’t just anyone I’m talking to, it’s someone I care deeply about and want to get to know. So the whole reason I’m writing this song is to convince this person to open up to me, let me past the guard they put up for everyone else.

Verse 2: Now is the time to move forward your plot or support your point, it really just depends on what kind of song you are writing. The main goal here is to add something that makes us hear the chorus next time with new ears. Further convince us of your point, or add something new to the story that makes us feel a greater connection with what you are saying in the chorus. I used verse 2 in “Long Way” to inspire this person to take a chance, move forward and trust:

“History repeats itself but its your life to change

Its time you take a stand

If you don’t fight now, don’t expect life to rearrange

I know you can be that man”

PRE-CHORUS 2: A lot of times, this pre-chorus is the same as the first one. But before you get off easy not writing new lyrics, remember the point of the pre-chorus. It is to link the thoughts in your verse to your point in the Chorus. Does your Pre-Chorus 1 still do that between Verse 2 and your Chorus? Great, then you can use it again. If not, write something to connect it. (In “Long Way” my pre-chorus is the same here because it still linked it well.)

CHORUS 2: Same as Chorus 2 

BRIDGE: Before you write this bridge, look back and read all the lyrics you have already written. The last thing you want to do here is repeat a point you’ve already made. This is your final plea, your most vulnerable moment or your strongest supporting point. Here’s what I did in “Long Way”

“Open up and let me in,

trust I’m not here to break you down,

I know for you it feels like sin,

please stop working your way around.”

Here I set up my loyalty which hasn’t been mentioned before: “I want to be let in, trusted, I will not let you down” It supports the story I set up in the verses, it explains my goal and message in the pre-chorus/chorus and its something I haven’t truly said yet, my final plea so to speak. It adds weight and desperation to the final chorus because you understand how much I care now and how far my devotion goes. 

CHORUS 3: Same as the others 99% of the time. Sometimes writers make a small adjustment. This is usually done when it’s a progressive story and not a song written from one solitary vantage point (whether time period or person) in mind.

Ex: Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” 

Chorus 1: Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel,

Chorus 3: And he said, Marry me Juliet you’ll never have to be alone

I love you and that’s all i really know,

I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress, 

its a love story, baby just say yes

“If your work does not sufficiently embarrass you, then likely no one will be touched by it.” -Anne Bogart

Have you ever had this conversation with someone?:

“Hey how are you?”

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Good!”

“Cool. Well it’s good to see you!”

“You too!”

I have that conversation with people all the time. Even though my intentions are good in asking, I actually found out nothing about the person I was talking to and they found out nothing about me. Likely, we would have both said some form of “good” whether it was a great day, or an awful day. We hold each other out at arms length, unwilling to be vulnerable because we just don’t think they actually care to hear what is actually going on, or we are worried about what they will think of us if we said something real. We play it safe to keep ourselves from getting hurt. And this, my friends, is the murderer of creativity. 

If you approach songwriting, or any art, with your guard up, fearing what people will think of your struggles, fears and questions, you will never allow people to see the only thing they can actually relate to. Have you ever seen a great movie with a terrible actor? They are faking the crying sounds but don’t actually have a single tear in their eyes. That’s what it is like when we try to write a song without putting our whole selves into writing. That is what it’s like when we allow our fear to control our expression. No one will buy that it is genuine, because we all know what it actually feels like, and looks like to actually struggle. You have to allow yourself to be vulnerable, accept that not everyone will understand it but also embrace the fact that it may be the very thing someone else needs to hear to help them see that they are not alone. 

My goal for 2012 is to allow greater transparency, especially in my writing. My goal is to not allow my fear and insecurity to determine what I let people hear. I challenge you to try it with me:) 

A lot of you know by now that not only am I a singer/songwriter, one of my hobbies is Martial Arts. I’ve been doing Tae Kwon Do for over 7 years now and this summer I competed in a world tournament and took a gold medal, making me a 2011 World Martial Arts Champion (definitely never one of those things that I dreamed I’d be able to say, how random right?!).

This weekend I tested for my 4th degree black belt, and I can’t help but see the correlation between the mindset of an actual fighter, and the mindset of someone who desires to have a career in the entertainment field. Part of black belt testing is the sparring portion (aka where two people put on gear and actually fight each other). No joke you guys, I got my butt kicked in sparring this weekend!!! I took my fair share of cracks to the head from people who were easily twice my size. One of those hits involved me flying back five feet into a wall!

As much as I love sparring, there will be times when it just isn’t fun- times when you take hit after hit and spend all of your time picking yourself up off the ground (or off of a wall!) And sometimes pursuing a career in the entertainment industry is the same exact way. You can be the most talented person in the entire world, and you will still face tons of rejection along the way in pursuing your dreams. But here’s the great thing, (I promise I’m not a pessimist, there is always a moral to the story!) the very act of getting hit and picking yourself back up off the ground will always make you stronger if you don’t give up, and there is no shame in getting hit! I might be so bold as to say that if you never experience rejection, you never attempted anything great. I could spend the rest of my time in martial arts sparring people who aren’t as good as me and don’t intimidate me, but chances are, I will never get any better. I got hit so much this weekend because I was up against people who were superior in size and skill, and those are the kind of people who will make me even better than I was before. 

So if you want to be a singer, a songwriter, a musician, an actor etc. and you are about to pick up your world and move to Los Angeles, my advice to you is: attempt great things, expect rejection, take a moment to tend to the bruises, pick yourself back up, and repeat this process until the end of time. Along the way, you will experience amazing things that make it all worth it, and you will come out stronger. A fighter isn’t phased by a hook punch to the face, they let it serve as a reminder to keep their guard up for next time and they continually become harder and harder to beat. You don’t need a black belt to have a fighter mentality, but you are going to need a fighter mentality when you follow your dreams;) 

This week I told you I’d be giving you a behind the scenes look at some fun musical places. My last blog was behind the scenes in a recording studio and today I’m taking you behind the scenes on the gibson tour bus! The past 5 years on my tour I was completely blessed to have the Gibson tour bus with me on every tour! There are actually 4 Gibson tour buses in the United States and they each have a little bit of their own flair to them. 

My favorite bus is this one: 

The front half looks like this:

The middle is why its my favorite! There is a baby grand piano on the bus!!!

here’s one of the other ones:) its my band and I plus my momma and little dog butler!

My fam in front of one of the others:)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST! A video I did on my favorite bus. I did a cover of “Hot and Cold” by Katy Perry and then i gave a full video tour! Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzufXQs2R1I

Lots of people always ask me what its like behind the scenes in a couple different places

a) recording studio

b) tour bus

So I thought I’d do a couple blogs and share some pictures with all of you:) I’ll let my words be few and let the pictures do the talking. After all, a pictures is worth a thousand words, right?

Big huge soundboard where the engineer and producer hang out:

:

My favorite place, inside the vocal booth:) (thats a microphone on the left) 

Outside view of the vocal box, a couple different mic to use depending on the vocalist;)

This one is just cute- its a speaker but it looks like a music robot to me

Ok, kinda awkward but i couldn’t help but share… there is a digital record player in the bathroom. Weird? Yes. Noteworthy- of course;)

That’s all for today:) The next one will be pictures on the Gibson tour bus! Stay tuned:)

Yesterday I blogged about how to journal successfully for songwriting and one of the ways I told you to do it was through object writing. When I first heard about object writing, I didn’t really understand how to tie objects into feelings and emotions. So I promised I’d give you a sample entry today so you understand how to make it work. This is a direct entry from my very own journal, and the topic I chose that day was trees. Check it out and then try your own!

Trees- Today is a really windy day and all the trees around me are blowing like crazy which draws my attention straight to them. All the sudden I started thinking about how much trees and wind are like us in life. I’m imagining that we are the trees and the leaves on the trees are the things we have in life, like relationships, jobs, money, etc. The wind can come and blow all of those things away because the tree really has no power to hold on to them against the thrust of the wind. But after the leaves are blown away, eventually new leaves grow, because a tree isn’t a tree if it never has leaves- it’s just a random stump. Then I started thinking about how weather changes the trees. I don’t really see it living in southern California, but I remember when I went to Boston in the fall, I’ve never seen more beautiful trees in my life! So many amazing colors! And those are produced by harsh weather conditions. Sometimes, I think the most beautiful things in life come from our failures or the seasons in our life that are the most difficult. Then I’ve also seen trees in Michigan in the winter, completely void of all leaves and covered in snow. And sometimes life is like that too- we lose everything and yet another season will come, the snow will melt away and new leaves will grow. Nothings is ever permanent with trees, and hardly anything is permanent in life either. 

I’ve always loved to write. The first thing producers and other writers told me when I started songwriting was, “journal every day!” which wasn’t too difficult since I started journaling when I was 12 and have pretty much written every day since. But after writing countless songs, I’ve discovered just how important journaling every day really is! I’ve written songs about things that happened to me 2 years before because as soon as I read my journal entry, I’m right back in those emotions and I can write straight from that place. 

But how do you journal effectively? For people who have never journaled before you may think I’m telling you to write, “dear diary, so today I went to school and then I…blah blah blah” and that is not what I’m talking about! Writing about what you did will likely be of no use to you when you’re trying to write songs. 

Instead, allow me to pass down some tips I learned from a highly successful music publisher on journaling for songwriting.

1) Emotion writing: Look at a list of emotions (see the link below) and every day write one page on some of the emotions you experienced throughout the day, what made you feel those things? Really be honest with yourself! Body, mind and soul.
http://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink/teaching/philosophy_101/paper1/listemotions.htm

2) Object writing: pick a subject (this could be an object, a word, a part of nature, etc.) and write out the characteristics of that object and then describe how you interpret your feelings with your connection.

Tomorrow I will give you a sample jounral entry for object writing, stay tuned;)