How Do You Know When a Song is Done?

How do you know when a song is done? 

This is a question that we get a lot and it’s one that we consistently ask ourselves in our own writing. When has a song crossed the finish line?

For some people it’s just a feeling. For others there is almost a science behind it. Some people can get caught in a never-ending cycle of fruitless rewriting and rewriting, while other people can settle on whatever the first draft is without doing any editing at all. The key is to find a healthy balance, of course. 

There really is no right or wrong answer. But there are a few standard things we think you can check off your list to help you figure it out.

• It makes you sincerely feel the emotions you are trying to express.

• You feel satisfied and hopefully proud of the lyrical and musical choices. 

• You want to listen to it over and over. 

• It passes the test of a trusted friend or two.

But remember, that doesn’t mean that EVERY song you write has to check off all of those boxes! We all write songs that do not. In fact, it is essential to write those songs and then move right along to even better ones! 

But when you’re releasing music out into the world, you obviously want them to feel complete!

Let’s take a look at our 10 Questions Interviews to see what some of our fellow songwriters have to say about the matter.

We asked them: How do you know when a song is done? 

Lauren Zettler - A song is never really done, haha. You can workshop it forever, honestly. It can have so many lives and so many sounds. I think the key is remaining unattached. Trying to let it exist on its own, and not worry about the end goal. Pop radio is always going to be changing and the second you change your song to fit pop radio, the sound is dated and you’re already behind. So I just try to ask myself “Can I beat this?” Can I beat this lyric, can this melody be more interesting, what is it that I’m saying and does it come across? Once I feel satisfied with my answers, I can say it’s done.

Tommy Seigel - Now that I produce and engineer my own material, I get a sense of how good something is by whether or not I want to listen to it on my phone speaker. If I don’t, it’s probably no good. If I want to listen to it on my way to the grocery store, it’s a sign for me that it’s either *done* or the essence of it is strong enough to easily carry it to the finish line later.

Jenny Owen Youngs - When you know, you know. (But sometimes you NEVER KNOW, which is terrifying!)

William Fitzsimmons - Haha! Are they ever really done?! I talk about this subject all the time with my writer friends. It’s a tricky one indeed! For isn’t it the case that you could always change something? For me it’s the moment when I feel something strongly from it and I understand the world a little bit differently from it. When those two things happen I don’t think there’s really much more that can be done, at least not by me. If I think it’s good, but I don’t feel inspired or changed by it, then it’s time to bring in someone else and let them wrestle with it. Sometimes the song doesn’t want to be written and you have to let it go. Other times you let it rest for a while and visit it later when it or you might be more ready. Again, I think if you start to look at the song as something that exists without you, you are more free to let it be what it wants to be with or without you. 

Ben Thornewill - I don’t . . . sometimes you just have to decide it to be so.

Elliot Jacobson - I think it’s done when you can listen top to bottom and you want to listen to it again, seems to be the only constant answer. The momentum feels right. Not too little and not too much. It’s a fine line.

John-Allison Weiss - When it’s got a chorus and at least two verses and at least one spot for a bridge or a jimmy jam. And when I’ve said the thing I need to say.

Garrison Starr - I can’t explain it. I just do. When I don’t have any questions.

How do YOU know when a song is done? Tell us your method in the comments below! 

Happy Writing,
Allie & Bess