Song Prompts

Lyrical Prompts:

    Emotions: Write a song about a specific emotion, like joy, sadness, anger, or hope.
    Object: Choose an everyday object and write a song about its story or significance.
    Dialogue: Write a song as a conversation between two people.
    News Headline: Pick a recent news headline and write a song inspired by it.
    Unspoken Words: Write a song about things left unsaid in a relationship.
    Alternate Reality: Imagine a world different from ours and write a song set in that world.

Genre Prompts:

    Love Song (with a twist): Write a love song but don't use the word "love."
    Protest Song: Choose a cause you care about and write a song to raise awareness.
    Children's Song: Write a song with a positive message for kids.
    Lullaby: Craft a calming song to lull someone to sleep.
    Rewrite a Classic: Choose a famous song and rewrite it in a different genre.

Creative Prompts:

    Freewrite: Set a timer and write continuously for a few minutes, then use what you wrote as a launching point for a song.
    First Line: Pick a random line and build a song around it.
    Sensory Overload: Write a song that vividly describes a particular sight, smell, sound, taste, or touch.
    Found Poetry: Cut words out of a newspaper or magazine and use them to write a song.
    One Instrument: Write a song using only sounds from a single instrument (real or virtual).

These are just a few ideas to get you started.  The most important thing is to find a prompt that sparks your creativity and have fun with it!

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 Deeper Dives:

    Character Prompts: Write a song from the perspective of a historical figure, a fictional character, or even an inanimate object.
    Object + Emotion: Combine an object with an emotion to create an unexpected story. (Ex: A forgotten toy box filled with joy, a rusty swing set dripping with loneliness)
    Song in Parts: Write a song with multiple sections, each in a different musical style or time signature, to represent different parts of a journey or story.
    Sensory Journey: Write a song that takes the listener on a journey through the five senses, describing each location or experience in detail.
    Found Sounds: Record snippets of sounds from your environment (traffic, nature, conversations) and incorporate them into your song.

Collaborative Prompts:

    Write a Duet: Come up with a concept for a song and have a friend write lyrics for one part while you write for the other.
    Exquisite Corpse Song: With a friend or group, write the song one line or verse at a time, building off of each other's ideas without revealing the full concept beforehand.
    Genre Mashup: Combine two contrasting genres (like pop and metal) and write a song that blends their elements.

Unexpected Prompts:

    Reimagine a Dream: Write a song based on a vivid dream you've had.
    Historical Event: Choose a historical event and write a song from the perspective of someone who witnessed it.
    Myth Retold: Take a classic myth or folktale and write a song that retells it from a new perspective.
    One-Word Title: Pick a single word as your title and build a song around its various interpretations.
    Abstract Concept: Write a song about an abstract concept, like time, freedom, or hope.

Remember, these are just springboards! Feel free to modify or combine prompts to create something unique.

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Off the Beaten Path Prompts:

    Sensory Deprivation: Write a song from the perspective of someone experiencing a lack of one or more senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).
    Limited Vocabulary: Write a song using only a specific set of words (e.g., only rhyming words, only words with a certain number of syllables).
    Reverse Time: Write a song that tells a story in reverse chronological order.
    AI Love Song: Imagine a world where humans fall in love with AI companions, write a song about that relationship.
    Color Palette Song: Choose a specific color palette and use it to inspire the mood, imagery, and even instrumentation of your song.

Lyrically Challenging Prompts:

    Homophones: Write a song that plays on the double meaning of homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings).
    Figurative Language Frenzy: Pack your lyrics with metaphors, similes, personification, and other figures of speech.
    Oxymorons & Paradoxes: Write a song filled with oxymorons (seemingly contradictory phrases) and paradoxes (statements that seem self-contradictory but may be true).
    Unreliable Narrator: Write a song from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, where the truth is hidden or distorted.
    One Rhyme Scheme: Challenge yourself to write an entire song using only one rhyme scheme throughout.

Gear Up Prompts:

    Unfamiliar Instrument: If you're a guitarist, try writing a song primarily on the piano. Explore new sounds and textures.
    Time Signature Twist: Step outside your comfort zone and write a song in a complex or unusual time signature.
    Limited Chords: Challenge yourself to write a song using only a handful of chords (think power chords in punk music).
    Found Footage Remix: Find a piece of old audio or video footage and use it as the basis for a new song.
    Genre Bend: Start with a song in one genre and gradually morph it into a completely different genre by the end.