An insight into my creative world, sharing my knowledge and experience, to help artists, songwriters and producers take their careers to the next level.
i’m struggling to finish my own songs.
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Lately, finishing songs has been harder than starting them. not because I don’t have ideas. but because I don’t know which one to commit to. I’ve been deep in my leon taro. artist project recently, and if anything, there are too many directions each song could go. I’ve explored different hook ideas. and tested multiple versions of the same song. on paper, that sounds like progress. in reality, it’s created more noise. more options. I used to think getting something right meant exploring every possible angle. but at a certain point, more exploration just delays the decision. and that delay starts to look a lot like perfectionism. I’ve felt that recently. sitting with a track that’s close, but not quite landing. tweaking small details. but that version rarely shows up on its own. it usually comes from committing to something and shaping everything else around it. One thing I’ve learned over time is to not get too emotionally attached to every version. early on, I'd take feedback personally. now it’s more about stepping back, listening again, and deciding what actually serves the record. not what feels safe. When I feel a bit lost on a track, I export every version I’ve made and sit with them properly. no tweaking. just listening. and I come back to the same two questions that are shaping every leon taro. release right now: does this song have movement, emotionally, energetically, or rhythmically? because the hardest part isn’t making music. It’s deciding what the song is. and if you’re stuck on something right now, it might not be because of a lack of ideas. it might just be that you haven’t committed to one yet. lately I’ve been setting a simple rule for myself. pick a direction. because that’s the part that actually finishes songs. |
Rich Pilkington.
An insight into my creative world, sharing my knowledge and experience, to help artists, songwriters and producers take their careers to the next level.
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