30 Unique Songwriting Prompts to Craft Your Next Hit

By
Sarah Better
,
August 23, 2024

7 min read

Introduction:

Are you experiencing writer's block? If so, you are not alone. Songwriting is an incredible journey of self-expression, storytelling, and creativity. However, even the most professional songwriters can sometimes hit a creative stump. That's where songwriting prompts come in!

Our team at Musiversal has come up with 30 prompts designed to spark your imagination, evoke emotions, and help you explore new musical and writing territories. These prompts have helped many of us at Musiversal overcome creative blocks (and they are quite fun!), and we hope they'll do the same for you!

Songwriting prompt suggesting to rewrite one of your favorite songs by changing chord progression, lyrics, and genre.

1. Rewrite One of Your Favorite Songs

Take one of your favorite songs and use the lyrics as the starting point for your own. Alter the chord progression, and change the genre. Don’t copy it—use it as inspiration.

 Musiversal Songwriting prompt encouraging stream-of-consciousness writing to spark creativity and overcome writer's block.

2. Stream-of-Consciousness Writing

Grab a pen and paper, go outside, and write everything that comes to your mind. No filtering, editing, or structuring. It’s okay if it’s gibberish or if your train of thought wanders. Do not lift your pen for 5 minutes. Then, re-read what you wrote for potential inspiration and interesting ideas.

Songwriting prompt recommending listening to multiple songs and sounds simultaneously to inspire new music ideas. Musiversal logo in the bottom

3. Listen to Many Songs and Sounds at Once

Inspired by Tom Waits, turn on two radios set to different stations at once to gain inspiration from different sounds. This chaotic method can produce surprising results.

Songwriting prompt to remain silent for 24 hours and focus on listening from Musiversal's Best Songwriting Prompts

4. Do Not Talk for 24 Hours. Just Listen

Write down anything you hear. After 24 hours (it can also be less or more, it's your choice), write down what you felt and observed.

Songwriting prompt suggesting to create a picture using MIDI notes in a DAW, then listening to the resulting sound

5. Draw a Picture with MIDI Notes

Inspired by Andrew Huang, open your DAW, turn the volume down, and arrange MIDI notes into a picture. Then, turn your volume back on and listen to what it sounds like!

Songwriting prompt encouraging copying a paragraph from a favorite book in reverse.

6. Copy a Paragraph from Your Favorite Book in Reverse

This exercise comes from Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like an Artist Journal: A Notebook for Creative Kleptomaniacs”. Copy a paragraph from your favorite book word-by-word in reverse and look for ideas in this new paragraph. You can read the rest of Kleon’s journal to learn how to “steal” other people’s work without it really being stealing.

Songwriting prompt encouraging the use of all five senses for an object writing technique to enhance lyrical depth.

7. Use Your Senses

What are 5 things you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste right now? This Object Writing Technique helps you write about your empirical experiences in the present moment.

Songwriting prompt recommending writing a song inspired by a current news story for topical creativity.

8. Write a Song About a News Story

Turn on the news, not to stay updated, but with the purpose of writing a song inspired by a current story.

Songwriting prompt suggesting listening to neighborhood sounds to inspire melodies or lyrics based on your environment.

9. Go Outside, Listen to Your Neighborhood, and Write a Song About It

Pay attention to those sounds we usually ignore: birdsong, bustling city noises, street conversations, children playing, trees rustling. Try to fully capture your surroundings. Look for interesting melodies or lyric inspirations in these sounds.

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a response song from a different perspective based on a favorite song.

10. Write a Response to One of Your Favorite Songs

Examples include writing a response from Jolene’s perspective to “Jolene” by Dolly Parton or from Delilah’s perspective in “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s.

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song from the perspective of a character in a favorite book.

11. Write a Song from the Perspective of a Character from Your Favorite Book

This is a great exercise for overcoming emotional blocks. Maybe you don’t feel vulnerable enough to write about your own feelings, or you don’t really know how to! That’s okay; try writing from a character's perspective in a book you love.

Songwriting prompt suggesting to turn your daily commute into a song by focusing on the journey’s sights and feelings.

12. Write a Song About Your Daily Commute

Narrate your routine as something beautiful rather than mundane. What do you see and feel? Where are you traveling to? What makes it special?

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song from the perspective of being the first human on Earth.

13. You Are the First Human on Earth

Write a song about this experience and the process of figuring out everything on your own.

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song from the perspective of being the last human alive in purple background

14. You’re the Last Human Alive

Write a song about this scenario. What has changed? Who have you lost? What do you feel? Is it lonely? Is it peaceful? Why are you the last one here?

Songwriting prompt suggesting to write a song addressed to your younger self, with a purple background, and Musiversal logo in white.

15. Write a Song to Your Younger Self

This might sound overrated, but believe it or not, it works. Turn back time and tell your younger self what you know now through your lyrics.

Songwriting prompt that says "think of a story (personal or not) that makes you really sad with purple background and Musiversal logo.

16. Think of a Story (Personal or Not) That Makes You Really Sad

Write a song about it. Be as vulnerable as possible. You don’t have to release it; it is just a songwriting exercise or a new journal entry format.

Musiversal logo with Songwriting Prompt Above it that says to "try to make the worst song you ever heard

17. Try to Make the Worst Song You Have Ever Heard

One of our musicians at Musiversal once wrote a song titled “the crappy song,” and by intentionally trying to create something bad, they actually ended up creating something average! All jokes aside, this exercise can help you discover interesting melodies, chord progressions, or rhythms - unexpectedly.

songwriting prompt that says to write a song from a child's perspective from Musiversal's Best Songwriting Prompts.

18. Write a Song from a Child’s Perspective

Sit down with a child in your life and spark a conversation with them. Listen to how they narrate their thoughts to you and pay attention to the things they get excited about. Try writing a song by adopting their mindset or perspective.

Songwriting Prompt that says to write a song by explaining a difficult concept to a child, from Musiversal Blog.

19. Explain a Difficult Concept to a Child

Think about how you would explain and simplify complex concepts such as capitalism, heartbreak, death, or evolution to a child. Turn this into a song.

Songwriting Prompt: Ask a Stranger on the Street to Tell You a Personal Story. White text on a purple background with Musiversal logo in the bottom.

20. Ask a Stranger on the Street to Tell You a Personal Story

Pick a way to write a song about it - from their point of view, as a secondary character, or even as the stranger who asked them about it.

Songwriting Prompt suggesting to write a song about a close friend or family member with Musiversal logo on the bottom center.

21. Write a Song About a Close Friend or Family Member

Think of this person’s personality. If they were a music genre, what genre would they be? Write the song in this genre and try to make it an auditory portrait of them.

Songwriting prompt encouraging reversing a familiar chord progression to inspire fresh musical ideas.

22. Use Someone Else’s Chord Progression and Play It in Reverse

Pretty self-explanatory. Adjust as needed!

Songwriting prompt from Musiversal blog suggesting writing a song about your favorite place without naming it.

23. Write a Song About Your Favorite Place

Sounds simple, but you can turn this into a challenge! You cannot mention the name of that place at all during the song. Describe its essence and see if people can guess what it is!

Songwriting prompt encouraging listening to classical or instrumental music to inspire new lyrical ideas.

24. Listen to a Classical/Instrumental Piece

Write a song on the story you think the piece is telling. Some easy ones to start with are "An American in Paris" by Gershwin or Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons."

Songwriting prompt suggesting to ask for one-word responses from different people

25. Ask Different People to Respond to a Prompt with One Word

Combine all their responses into a song. For example, ask them to describe the feeling of being in love or of losing love in one word. Use all responses in your lyrics.

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song in the style of a detailed missing person’s report for vivid imagery

26. Write a Song in the Style of a “Missing Person’s” Report

Choose a missing person—it can be someone you love, hate, a character in a book, or even yourself. Make sure to be meticulously detailed. Remember, your description should be vivid enough to help the missing person be found.

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song about an inanimate object

27. Pick an Inanimate Object

Write a song about it. This is another example of Object Writing Techniques.

Songwriting prompt suggesting explaining a color to a blind person through sensory-rich lyrical descriptions.

28. Try to Explain a Color to a Blind Person Through a Song

Describe this color through feelings, sounds, flavors, and concepts.

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song from the perspective of the last human in an AI-dominated society.

29. Imagine You Are the Only Human Left in an AI Society

How are you different from everyone else? Write about the qualities that define you as human. Is music one of them?

Songwriting prompt encouraging writing a song from the perspective of a time-traveler in a different era.

30. Write a Song from the Perspective of a Time-Traveler

How would you explain technology to a 16th-century child? How would you describe the present to a cyborg in 2400? You could even pick a historical character - travel back in time and tell Pavlov about phone notifications (he would love them)! Whether you decide to travel to the future or the past, there are a million ways to creatively use this prompt to explain the present.

Conclusion:

These prompts are just the beginning. Use them as a way to tap into your own stories, emotions, and unique ideas. Songwriting isn’t about getting it perfect—it's about discovering your voice and exploring new directions. Remember, there are no rules in songwriting—only endless possibilities. 

At Musiversal, we understand that songwriting can be challenging, and that’s why we’re here to help. Along with these prompts, by joining Musiversal Unlimited, you can get unlimited remote recording and dedicated songwriting advice sessions from our team of professionals to guide you through those creative blocks. If any of these prompts inspire you to write a new song, share it with us and tag @wearemusiversal on social media—we’d love to hear it!

And don’t forget to check out the Musiversal Blog for more tips, tools, and inspiration on everything from songwriting to music production.

Happy writing!

Explore Subjects

Discover a curated collection of articles across topics in Music Theory, Production, Gear, Songwriting, and Marketing.
Elevate your music creation with expert insights and comprehensive resources.

Unlimited remote sessions for just $199/month

join waitlist now