Helping Artists Tell Their Stories with Songwriter Kayliann Lowe

If you’ve ever looked at the songwriting credits of some of your favorite songs, there’s a fair chance that there is more than 1 name listed. That’s because today, most songs have co-writers on them. I had a chat with one of my co-writers from my first album, Kayliann Lowe, so that she can show us what it looks like to be a professional songwriter in LA working with up-and-coming artists to help them tell their stories and launch their careers.

Should You Co-Write?

The short answer is yes, you should co-write. You get to learn so much from your co-writers and all of your ideas pooled together will create something really cool and new. Kayliann says to not lose your ability to write on your own, but to always find people to write with.

Since Covid a lot of writing sessions are now online, so no matter where you are in the world, you can find people to write songs with. If you don’t know anyone who’s a songwriter, look at some of the contest winners or credits on songs you like and reach out to them! Worst case scenario they’ll ghost you or say no, but it doesn’t hurt to ask - they just might become your songwriting buddy 😊

The Writing Process

While every session looks a bit different, Kayliann’s job is to help artists express themselves. Here’s how she usually goes about that:

1. The Song Title: Kayliann wants to know where she’s steering the ship to. That is why she always asks the artist to bring in a song title. When it then comes to writing the song she like to write the hook with that song title first so that she knows what she has to write towards (for verses and pre-choruses).

2. The Story: One the song title is set, she asks the artist to tell her the story or situation that they want to tell in the song. So before they start writing together, they just have a chat about the topic. This is where a lot of the lyrics will get pulled from. Kayliann might take notes of important or interesting things the artist said so that she can then use that in the songwriting process.

3. The Music: For some sessions Kayliann (or the artist) will sit at a piano or guitar to write the chord progressions, for other they will topline only (write to a track). When we were writing together, we toplined, as we had Matt Bronleewe in the room with us, who created the tracks.

4. The Writing: Now that they have everything needed, Kayliann will start writing the lyrics and melodies together with the artist and/or the other co-writers.

Artists - Start Here

If you’re an artist and you are serious about having a career as a singer, but you’re new to writing songs, here’s what Kayliann recommends you do. Analyze your favorite songs and #1 songs on the charts in your preferred genre. You will learn so much about songwriting by learning more about what has worked for others!

Here are some things to pay attention to as you’re picking apart all these songs:

• Rhyme Structure

• Melodic Structure

• Song Structure

• Song Length

Just Start

The best way to get better at songwriting is by just writing as much as you can - preferably with others!

Again, don’t be shy to reach out to other writers to ask them to write together! Networking is really important in the music industry.

🎧 Check out the whole conversation I had together with Kayliann here:

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