The Song-You-Don’t-Know-by-Artist-You-Do Mini-Challenge
Jun 09, 2020
Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist, says “I myself am simply a collage of my ancestor’s DNA, mixed with the hundreds of thousands of words and images and ideas that my brain has absorbed.”
In this mini-challenge, we’re going to embrace this idea using an existing song that we DON'T know from an artist that we DO know. This is a fun challenge designed to expand your stylistic repertoire, dig deep and learn from the characteristics of an artist you admire, and get a new song going!
Once you pick an artist and find a song in their catalog that you are not familiar with, this whole exercise should take 10 minutes. (As a reminder that you don't need perfect conditions to do mini-challenges, we are using Bess's example below with her child playing in the background!) We encourage you to set a timer for each section so that you can turn off your editor brain and not overthink. You can always go back to edit and refine it after the exercise is done.
Let’s get to it!
Song-You-Don’t-Know-by-Artist-You-Do Mini-Challenge
- Pick a verse from a song that you don’t know from an artist that you are familiar with.
Ex. "For Them" by Emily King
Lead me to water
Songs of my father
Show me the rhythm
Records in the kitchen
I'll get along, playing my father's songs
- Set a timer for 5 minutes and work to set the lyrics to your own chords and melody, trying your best to do it in the style of the artist.
Ex.
- Set a timer for 5 minutes again, and write a new chorus melody and lyrics over the chords you wrote for the verse.
Ex. Ooh ooh, gave me a gift, I’ll never lose
Ooh ooh, showed me my voice, gave me the groove
And I want to thank you
I want to thank you
I want to thank you
Use the new chorus as a start for a new song! You can either throw away the verse and write something different, or you can keep your melody and change the words.
Happy Writing,
Allie & Bess
Stay connected with news and updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
