How to Write Black Midi Lyrics

You want lyrics that sound like they could topple a room or make a pub laugh and then cry on the same beat. You want lines that wedge into odd time signatures and still feel like someone whispered a secret in your ear. This guide teaches you how to write lyrics that sit in dense musical chaos and come out still human.

We will cover the two related but different things people call black midi. One is the London band that writes jagged art rock with theatrical lyrics. The other is the internet phenomenon where MIDI files are packed so full of notes they look black on a piano roll. Both inform a style of writing that is hyper dense and theatrical. This article gives you practical workflows, real life scenarios, prosody and rhythm tricks, and exercises you can use today to write lyrics that thrive in complexity.

What Is Black Midi Anyway

There are two definitions you will see often. First there is black midi with lowercase letters. That is a band from London that mixes math rock, improvisation, post punk, and free jazz energy. Their lyrics are theatrical, strange, often funny, and sometimes violent in imagery. The voice shifts from narrator to witness to choir in a single song.

The second is black MIDI with uppercase letters. That is an internet music culture thing. People pack hundreds of thousands of notes into a MIDI file so the piano roll looks black. It is not about lyrics. It is about spectacle. The connection between the two uses is aesthetic. Both celebrate density and extremes. When you write lyrics for black midi style music you borrow the theatrical density of the band and the maximal spectacle of the black MIDI scene.

We will explain jargon as we go. If you see an acronym like BPM that means beats per minute. If you see a musical term like meter that means the grouping of beats into patterns like four beats per bar or seven beats per bar. If you do not know a term ask because we will keep it human and not boring.

Core Characteristics of Black Midi Lyrics

• Shifting voices that move from conversational to announcer to delirious witness in a few lines.
• Dense, precise imagery that feels cinematic but also slightly wrong in a delicious way.
• Short abrupt lines that match jagged musical accents and odd meters.
• Black humor where violence and absurdity appear with a shrug and a wink.
• Layered repetition that changes meaning on repeat rather than simply amplifying it.
• Performance awareness where the lyric can be acted as much as sung.

How To Think About Lyrics Before You Write

Start with one of three doors in. Door one is the scene. Imagine a single place and one small action. Door two is the line. Start with a single sentence that shocks or amuses and write outward. Door three is the rhythm. Work with the meter and let words be patient to the beat.

Real life scenario

Imagine you are a bartender in a club on a Tuesday. A man brings in a broken clock and wants you to fix it with tape. That image is the seed. It will give you props, actions, small details, and a ridiculous emotional anchor. You can narrate, berate, or become the clock. Pick a point of view and stay true until you decide to switch for effect.

Choose Your Point Of View and Keep It Playful

Black midi style loves perspective shifts. The trick is to anchor the listener before you pivot. Start with clear ground rules for voice. You are an unreliable narrator. You are an angry clerk. You are a choir of screaming clocks. Choose one and then plan one pivot only within the first verse. Too many pivots makes the listener seasick. One pivot feels cunning.

Examples of voices

• First person witness. I saw the man trade a tooth for a comb. The intimacy is immediate.
• Third person absurd report. He walked like a sentence missing its verb. This gives distance and a comic register.
• Collective voice. We applaud as if time were a joke. This lets you write lines that function like chants.

Write Scenes Not Statements

Black midi lyrics work best when they show scenes. Replace moralizing lines with tactile details and actions. Show a small object acting like a character. Put time stamps and place crumbs. The listener will assemble the narrative without you needing to sum it up.

Before and after

Before: I am angry at you.

After: You leave your coat on the radiator and the buttons melt into tiny suns.

The second line is arresting. It gives temperature, object, and a tiny ruin. That is a proper black midi image.

Use Rhythm As Your First Editor

In black midi music the rhythm is often strange. If your singer will be navigating odd meter or abrupt tempo shifts write lines that accept that friction. Think of words as physical objects that sit on beats. Count the syllables and the natural stresses. If your line feels long on a quick part of the song break it into two lines. If it feels choppy on a slow stretch, add internal rhyme or small pauses to help the breath land.

Practical trick

Record a click track at the target BPM. Clap the rhythm you want and speak the lines. If you cannot speak them cleanly you will not sing them cleanly. Rework until speech and rhythm match. That is prosody. Prosody means the alignment of natural word stress with musical beats. It is boring and vital.

Odd Meter Friendly templates

If the song uses odd meters like seven four or five four use line shapes that mirror those patterns. For example you can write a three part phrase that reads 3 2 2 syllables to match a seven beat bar. You can also break a long idea across two bars so the idea ebbs with the music. Do not force perfect syllable counts. Focus on landing the heavy words on strong beats and using short filler words on weak beats.

Imagery That Works In Dense Music

Black midi music tends to crowd the sonic space. Your job as the lyricist is to make a few images stick. Use objects that can be acted or mimed on stage. Use verbs that are specific. Use numbers. Numbers make listeners feel grounded when the song gets weird.

Real life scenario

Write a stanza around a concrete item like a key with three teeth. Each tooth can be a metaphor for a memory. The band can punctuate each memory with a drum hit. The physicality helps the audience follow the jumps.

Repetition With Mutation

Repetition is useful. Black midi style uses repetition for ritual and for absurd recursion. The trick is mutation. Repeat a line but change one small word each time. The line will feel familiar and then take on a new meaning. That is the emotional tightrope of this style.

Example sequence

Line 1: The clerk counts the teeth of time.

Line 2: The clerk counts the teeth of bread.

Line 3: The clerk counts the teeth of those who stayed.

Same frame. Each change refocuses the joke or sting.

Rhyme and Assonance That Do Work

Perfect rhyme can be cute in dense music. Use internal rhyme and assonance more than neat end rhyme. Assonance means repeated vowel sounds. It helps lines sit in a melody and survive difficult time signatures. Internal rhyme means rhymes inside a line. This gives the ear footholds when the beat moves odd.

Example line

The moth mouths the lamplight until night hums.

This has repeated vowel sounds and internal echoes that sing on odd accents without needing tidy end rhymes.

How To Make A Chorus For Black Midi Songs

Choruses in this style are often more like refrains. They can be shouted, whispered, chanted, or layered with multiple voices. Pick a short phrase that is ambiguous enough to change meaning in different contexts. Keep it short. The band will probably jam around it and create rhythmic variations. Your job is to make the phrase carry different emotional loads when the music shifts.

Title recipe for chorus

1. One short sentence that can be repeated.
2. An image word or a verb that can be swapped each repeat.
3. Space for the band to break the rhythm or build a groove around the words.

Example chorus seed

We are counting backwards until something learns our names.

Short enough to chant. Strange enough to stick. It invites mutation in later verses.

Writing For Performance

Black midi songs almost always change live. Think about how a line can be acted. Write cues that allow for breathing, for shouting, and for spoken passages. If you write a long poetic line that requires sustained singing over a dense instrumental part you will be fighting the mix. Instead write moments that can be spoken in rhythm. The band will love you for it and the crowd will get it faster.

Real life scenario

Write a verse where the vocalist speaks three lines while the drummer plays machine gun rolls. The speaking is tight and percussive. It reads like a monologue and gives the song theatrical shape.

Collaborating With Musicians Who Play Heavy Complexity

If your band is looping math like a conversation between three drummers invite discussion about where the words need to land. Bring a lyric sheet with counted syllables. Show the singer and the drummer where the heavy words must sit. Be open to moving words across bars. If the guitarist adds a 5 4 vamp and you have rigid 4 4 lines be ready to rephrase the line like a translator. Conversation saves time.

Practical rehearsal workflow

1. Play a short loop with the main groove for two minutes.
2. Speak your lyric over the loop like a narrator. Do not sing yet.
3. Mark the moments where the line trips.
4. Rewrite those lines into smaller chunks or add filler consonants that can be clicked out by the drummer.
5. Try sung versions once the rhythm works spoken. Let melody rise where the band breathes and fall where space is tight.

Topline Melody Strategies For Jagged Music

Topline is the melodic part the voice sings. In dense black midi music the topline does not always need to be a smooth contour. Consider spiky shapes and repeated intervals that match guitar motifs. You can also treat the voice as a percussive instrument. Use short vowels and consonant heavy syllables to make the voice cut through noise.

Melody trick

Pick a tiny motif of three notes. Repeat it across the chorus with different rhythm. The ear will latch on to the motif and the band can vary harmony around it. The lyric should sit on those notes with stress on the verbs and nouns.

Prosody Checklist

• Speak every line at normal speed. Circle the naturally stressed syllables.
• Match the stressed syllables to the strong beats in the drum pattern.
• If you cannot align stress with beats consider rewriting the line or shifting where the phrase starts.
• Allow for breaths. In intense music a small pause can be dramatic and make space for the band.

Concrete Writing Exercises You Can Use Now

The Object Turn

Pick an object in the room. Write five lines where the object performs five different actions. Keep each line to ten words or fewer. Make one of the actions impossible. That impossibility will create a surreal hook you can return to in the chorus.

The Meter Drill

Pick a weird meter like seven four. Clap the seven beat bar and speak a sentence. Repeat until you can say the sentence without stumbling. Now trim words until the sentence lands naturally. That trimmed sentence becomes your lyric unit for the verse.

The Mutation Repeat

Write a one line refrain. Repeat it three times. Change one word each repeat and let the meaning shift from comic to ominous to absurd. Use this as a chorus and let the band change dynamics each repeat.

The News Report

Write a short paragraph as if you are a bizarre news anchor reporting on a trivial absurd incident. Keep it deadpan. Then pull three sentences and make them chorus worthy by tightening the vowels and lowering the syllable count.

Examples: Before And After Lines

Theme: A man obsessed with keeping time.

Before: He is always checking the clock.

After: He oils the grandfather clock with tongue and prayer. It ticks like confession.

Theme: A small town secret.

Before: People talk about her behind her back.

After: The grocer folds her name into receipts and the cat steals the letters.

Theme: A chaotic pride event.

Before: We danced until we were tired.

After: We danced like the lampposts were listening and the pavement applauded with salt.

How To Avoid Common Mistakes

• Too many ideas. Fix by committing to one scene per verse. Let the chorus be the idea that binds.
• Verbose lines in tight grooves. Fix by speaking the line over the groove and trimming to the bones. Less is often louder.
• Rhyme heavy clichés. Fix by swapping clichés for odd image swaps. Make the listener tilt their head.
• Ignoring performance. Fix by testing lines on stage. If a line collapses live rewrite for breath and bite.

Editing Passes That Save Hours

1. Clarity pass. Remove any line that explains rather than shows.
2. Object pass. For every abstract noun replace one with a physical prop.
3. Prosody pass. Speak every line and align stresses with the beat chart.
4. Performance pass. Try the lines live or in rehearsal and note which lines the band can nudge without losing meaning.

Recording Notes For Vocalists

When you are in the booth and the instrumentation is dense you must decide how to place the voice in the mix. Use close mic technique when you want intimacy. Use a small amount of distortion when you want the voice to act like another instrument. Double up the chorus with a shouted pass and a whispered pass to create depth. If the mix eats consonants add bite with percussive consonants like t and k. Those letters cut through like tiny knives.

How To Keep Your Voice Original Without Copying

Study black midi songs for form and attitude. Steal their appetite for the absurd. Do not steal their literal lines or their exact turns of phrase. Make a list of the devices you admire. Use those devices with your own objects and your own humor. The band black midi often writes sentences like they are stage directions. Try that voice with your life details. Originality is the transplant of form onto your private ridiculousness.

When To Use Direct Speech

Direct speech is dialogues in lyrics. Black midi style thrives on sudden short lines that feel like overheard exchanges. Use direct speech for character development and to create punchy percussive phrasing. A one line answer can serve as an emotional pivot. Place direct speech before a loud drum hit and let the silence after the hit deliver the laugh or the sting.

Putting It Together: A 30 Minute Black Midi Lyric Draft Workflow

1. Five minutes. Choose a scene or an absurd object and write three raw lines of description.
2. Ten minutes. Choose a voice and expand into a verse using short sentences. Keep each line under twelve words. Use one concrete object every two lines.
3. Five minutes. Create a short refrain of one to six words that can be repeated. Make it slightly ambiguous.
4. Five minutes. Speak your lyric over a simple click track and mark where the rhythm fails.
5. Five minutes. Trim the lines that trip and mark where the band can add dynamic changes. You now have a raw draft to take to rehearsal.

Common Questions Artists Ask

Do I need to write in odd meters

No. You do not need odd meters to write black midi style lyrics. The style is a voice more than a meter. If your band plays odd meters embrace them. If you write in straight four four you can still use the theatrical voice, surreal images, and mutation repeat techniques. Match the voice to the band rather than forcing the band to match a lyric that does not fit.

Can black midi lyrics be simple

Yes. Simple works. Black midi style often values dense imagery, but clarity matters more than obscurity. Simple lines that are precise can land harder than ornate phrases. If the band is complex give the audience a few simple anchors to hold on to. The rest of the weirdness becomes a treat instead of a barrier.

Do I need to know music theory

Basic theory helps. Know about bars beats and a little about meter. Know what BPM means. Do not sweat advanced harmony. Your job is to write words that sit in the music. If you can count bars and feel beats you will survive most rehearsals. If you want to get fancy study polyrhythm and odd time signatures to write more exact prosody edits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between black midi the band and black MIDI the internet thing

Black midi the band is a London group known for artful complex rock and theatrical lyrics. Black MIDI the internet thing is a practice of making MIDI files with so many notes that the piano roll appears black. One is a band. One is a data spectacle. Both value excess in different ways. When we talk about writing black midi lyrics we borrow the band sensibility and the internet spectacle to make words that survive dense performance.

How do I make my lines singable over chaos

Focus on prosody. Speak the line with the rhythm and make sure the heavy words land on strong beats. Trim unnecessary words. Use short vowels during loud parts and longer vowels when the music breathes. Consider spoken passages for extreme density. Always test in rehearsal.

Can black midi lyrics be political

Yes. The theatrical style can carry political content well. The key is to embed argument inside scenes and characters rather than sermonizing. Show the consequences of a policy or a belief with a single image. A line that reveals human cost in a strange object will feel more true than a lecture on a stage.

How do I write for a singer with a small range

Write lines that sit in the comfortable part of the vocal range. Use repetition and speech like phrasing. Let other instruments carry pitch drama. The band can build chaotic sections around a comfortable chant and then give the singer a single long note in a safe range for the emotional high point.

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