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Make the singer the “hero”

If you look at a lot of hit songs, you’ll notice that the singer is usually the person who is the hero in the story. Most artists like to portray themselves as the hero. So whether you're writing songs for yourself or to pitch, make sure you're the one that saves the day at the end of the day.

Make it a universal idea

Hit songs are based around a universal idea, a singular emotional moment that everyone can relate to one way or another. Your idea needs to be BIG, something that is so universal that people will connect with it in a general way, whether or not they can relate to the particular story of the song lyric idea.

Make sure it’s an earworm

You know how a song gets stuck in your head and you find yourself humming it throughout the day? Writing melodies with earworms is the key to making your song stand out from the crowd. Make sure it is catchy, easy enough to have stuck in people’s heads all day, and people want to sing along with it. Catchy melodic and lyric rhythms are the DNA of hooks, so it's important to focus the song around them.

And remember…”Rome wasn’t built in a day”

Even the greats have written bad songs, you just have never heard them. It's important to trust the writing process, and not get discouraged if it's not happening immediately. Songwriting is a skill that needs time and consistency to develop and master. Embrace the chaos of creation, and then allow yourself to come back fresh to analyze and craft what you’ve written. If you write, even a little bit every day, it will soon enough become second nature.