How to Write Witch House Lyrics

You want lyrics that feel like a midnight scroll through a glitching occult forum. You want lines that are spooky but clever, ritualistic but human, and that sit right on top of thick reverb and slow tempo beats. Witch house is mood first and message second. The words should be symbols you can taste. This guide gives you the imagery toolkit, lyric drills, and real life prompts that turn vague gloom into a hook that haunts.

This is written for millennial and Gen Z artists who like to be weird in public. You will find practical workflows, quick exercises, and before and after examples. Terms and acronyms are explained so you never feel like the weird kid who nods and smiles. We will cover the genre basics, the core aesthetic pillars, language choices, motif building, prosody, performance tips, and finish workflows that stop songs from limping across the finish line.

What Is Witch House

Witch house is a music aesthetic that blends slowed down tempos, heavy reverb, pitch shifting, occult imagery, and internet era hauntology. It often borrows textures from chopped and screwed hip hop, dark ambient, and industrial. The vibe is cinematic and nocturnal. Think of the sound as a haunted mall at two AM with fluorescent lights that hum in time to 808 percussion.

Why this matters for lyrics. Lyrics in witch house do not need to explain everything. They are fragments. They are incantations. They create a mood more than a plot. But mood without clarity becomes fashion. The job of the songwriter is to be both cryptic and tactile. Make the listener feel not just the concept of being haunted, but the salt on the windowsill, the label on the thrift coat, the exact time the city forgets to breathe.

Quick glossary

• BPM means beats per minute. Witch house sits slower than many pop songs. Expect 60 to 90 BPM commonly.
• Chopped and screwed refers to a technique originally from hip hop where tracks are slowed and cut. In witch house it becomes an aesthetic, not a strict method.
• Reverb is the simulated echo space. Heavy reverb makes vocals sound like they are in a cathedral or a sewer depending on the setting.
• Pitch shift moves a vocal up or down in pitch. Slight shifts create creep. Extreme shifts become otherworldly voices.
• Hauntology is a word from cultural theory. It means the presence of things that feel like echoes from a lost past. In practice it is nostalgia plus static.

Core Aesthetic Pillars for Lyrics

Master these pillars and your words will feel at home in a foggy synth bed. Ignore them and you write a goth diary entry that only your mom reads for support.

• Fragmentation Use short lines or clipped phrases that can be looped. A single repeated fragment becomes a chant.
• Specific detail Replace vague gloom with tactile objects. A black candle is a mood. A thumbprint on a library card is a story.
• Ritual language Use verbs that imply repetition. Gather, burn, count, fold, whisper. Ritual words give lyrics momentum even in slow tempos.
• Digital decay Include references to screens, notifications, corrupted files, or the smell of wet vinyl. This grounds the occult in the present.
• Number and symbol play Use numerology, dates, or simple symbols like crosses and squares to create pattern and mystery.

Language Choices That Work

Witch house lyrics live in between poetry and text messages. The goal is diction that is both dense and immediate. Here are the language moves that give you that balance.

Concrete nouns over feelings

Abstract words like lonely, sad, and scared are lazy. Use objects and actions that imply those states. Instead of saying I am alone, say the laundromat closes and my keys rattle in the dryer. The reader sees and feels what you mean without you having to hold their hand.

Short repeatable phrases

Witch house often loops. A three word phrase repeated across a chorus becomes hypnotic. Use images that are evocative enough to pay rent in the chorus. Repetition is not a compromise. It is the spell.

Old words in new outfits

Words like sigil, ledger, or amulet have weight. Use them sparingly. Pair them with banal modern objects like AirPods or a subway pass. The uncanny collision makes lines sticky.

Play with spacing and punctuation

Break lines where a producer might place a reverb swell. A single short line at the start of a bar can sit in a wash of sound. Avoid long sentences because the music will breathe without you.

Build Motifs and Ring Phrases

A motif is a recurring idea or image that ties a song together. In witch house motifs are small and ritualistic. Pick one motif and make it act like a character.

How to create a motif

1. Pick a tactile object like a lighter, a mirror, or a secondhand jacket.
2. Give it an action. The mirror blinks. The jacket remembers. The lighter laughs.
3. Repeat the object three times through the song in different contexts. Each time, add a new verb or sensory detail.

Example motif

• Verse one: The lighter hides in the ashtray and remembers your last cigarette.
• Verse two: The lighter is in my pocket and it still smells like you.
• Bridge: I hold the lighter to the glass and the mirror does not crack.

Each repeat gives the listener a sense of continuity. The motif is small enough to repeat without becoming boring. It works like a hook for the lyric world.

Prosody and Phrase Placement

Prosody means matching the natural stress of words to the rhythm of the music. In witch house the rhythm is slow and immersive so your words must sit like stones not like pebbles. Speak the lines out loud and feel where your voice wants to land. Mark the stressed syllables and place them on strong beats.

Practical prosody checks

• Record yourself speaking the line at normal volume. Circle the stressed syllables.
• Tap the tempo. Put each stressed syllable on a strong beat. Move the words if needed.
• Shorten where needed. Witch house loves trailing words that float on reverb. Keep those trailing bits simple.

Melodic and Rhythmic Notes for Writers

Even if you are not producing, think melodically. Know whether the vocal will be pitched up or down. Know if the chorus will be a chant or a long sustained note. A lyric that reads well in a spoken word context can fall flat when sung under heavy pitch shift.

Singing on vowels

When a voice is drenched in reverb, long vowels carry. Choose vowel sounds that fit the mood. Open vowels like ah and oh expand in reverb. Tighter vowels like ee feel glassy. Test your chorus line on vowels before adding consonants. If the line sings on vowels, you can fill in precise consonants later.

Spacing for processing

Leave room for processing tricks like pitching and chopping. If a line has too many consonants stacked together the churn can become muddy when the producer adds stutter effects. Clear vowels plus a well timed consonant hit work best.

Vocab List You Can Steal

Use these words as salt. Sprinkle, do not drown. Pair each with a mundane object to make it human again.

• sigil
• ritual
• mirror
• cinder
• paper trail
• scanner
• ghost text
• louvers
• ledger
• cathode
• thumbprint
• threshold

Real life example

Instead of writing I feel like a ghost, write The ledger keeps my coffee ring like a ledger of late nights. That line does more work. It gives sound texture and an image.

Real Life Writing Prompts

These prompts are tiny rituals. Set a timer. Be silly. Done is better than perfect.

The Night Shift Prompt

Spend ten minutes in a late night place. It could be a 24 hour diner, an all night laundromat, or the chat room in your phone that never sleeps. Write five lines that include one object and one number. Example object dryer number 03.

The Glitch Prompt

Open a random corrupted file name from your downloads folder. If you do not have one, open the notes app and type the first two things you see. Turn that into a two line hook. Make one of the lines a repeatable chant.

The Billboard Prompt

Walk past a row of stores. Write three lines each referencing a sign or logo but replace the brand with a ritual word. Example: the neon ramen becomes neon altar.

Before and After Lines

We will turn basic goth prose into witch house lyric. Read them out loud. Sound matters. The after lines are shorter and more tactile.

Before: I wander through the city and I miss you every night.

After: I count the empty seats on the midnight bus. Your coat folds into a pocket of cold.

Before: The room is sad without you.

After: The lamp breathes slow. Your outline lives on the radiator like a patch of heat.

Before: I keep thinking about how we broke up.

After: I replay the message eight times. The typing bubble blinks like a small lost animal.

Topical Hooks That Hook Fast

Witch house lyrics often succeed when they anchor the uncanny to something everyone recognizes. Here are topics that produce fast hooks.

• Late night apps and unread messages
• Secondhand clothing that keeps someone else smell
• Physical relics that are small enough to hide like a ring or a ticket stub
• Public spaces that become private at night like a closed subway station
• Glitches in technology like frozen screens or buffering faces

Structure Ideas for a Witch House Song

Traditional pop form can work. Witch house likes loops so shorter forms often feel stronger. Here are three shapes that work with lyric practice.

Shape A: Intro loop chorus loop

Intro hook repeated as chorus. Verses are short and used to overlay new images. This keeps the ritual groove intact and allows the chorus to become the trance center.

Shape B: Verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus

Use a short bridge that strips one element and exposes a motif. Make the bridge a whispered confession. Return to the chorus with small lyrical change to signal development.

Shape C: Refrain only

Two lines repeated across the whole track with variations in processing. This can be a twenty minute piece in a DJ set or a three minute haunt on a streaming playlist. The trick is to make the lines rich enough to withstand repetition.

Vocal Performance Tips for Writers

You will write better lines if you write with the voice you will actually record. Witch house vocals range from breathy whispers to pitched robotic chants. Each choice informs the lyric.

• Whispered lines feel intimate and conspiratorial. Use them for confessions.
• Lower pitched vocals read as dangerous or ancient. Use short, heavy words and allow reverb to bloom.
• Pitched up vocals create an otherworldly narrator. Use playful imagery and let consonants pop on beat.
• Doubles and stacked voices create a choir mid tempo. Use simple repeated phrases when stacking to avoid mush.

Working With a Producer

Producers will drown a lyric if the words are too busy. Here is how to stay useful and avoid studio regret.

Give them a three line summary

Describe the song in three lines. Include the motif and the emotional core. Example: This is about my phone glowing with your name. The motif is a lighter. The mood is ashamed and curious. Producers love clarity.

Label the lines you want untouched

If one line is the emotional center mark it. Producers can then place that line on the moment of maximum processing like a long reverb tail.

Be open to chopping

Producers may want to repeat a single word as a hook. That is fine. Make sure that single word is strong enough to carry meaning. If it is not, change it before you record.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

These pitfalls are fun to fall into. Fixes are faster than you think.

Mistake: Too much gothic talk

You write every line like you are auditioning for a Victorian soap opera. Fix by adding modern specificity. Replace candle with convenience store lighter. Replace crypt with laundromat.

Mistake: Over explaining the ritual

Witch house thrives on mystery. If you explain why the ritual matters you lose the spell. Fix by keeping the effect and removing the explanation. Show an action not an outcome.

Mistake: Business length lines

Long sentences fight reverb. Fix by chopping into fragments. Let the space do the work.

Lyric Drills to Finish a Song Faster

Timeboxing is your friend. Use these drills to produce usable vocal parts in a single session.

Ten minute chorus

1. Set a timer for ten minutes.
2. Pick one image and one verb. Example mirror and blink.
3. Sing on vowels over a slow loop for three minutes. Mark the gestures you like.
4. Turn the best gesture into a two line chorus. Repeat a line exactly once for the ring phrase.

Verse in fifteen

1. List three concrete things you have with you right now.
2. Create three lines each featuring one object doing an action that feels ritualistic.
3. Run the crime scene edit. Remove any abstract adjective.

Bridge in five

Pick a twist. It can be a date, a name, a scar. Write one whispered line that reveals it. That is your bridge.

Action Plan You Can Use Today

1. Write one sentence that states the emotional core in plain words. Example: I cannot forget the feeling of your cigarette smoke.
2. Pick one motif and one modern object to pair with it. Example motif lighter object AirPod case.
3. Do the ten minute chorus drill above. Make a two line chant that includes the motif.
4. Write a verse using only concrete images and ritual verbs. Timebox to fifteen minutes.
5. Mark one line as the ring phrase and practice speaking it out loud at the track tempo.
6. Record a raw vocal with enough space for reverb. If you have a producer, send the three line summary along with the raw vocal.

Witch House Lyric Examples You Can Model

Theme Phone ghosts and secondhand coats

Intro hook Ghost text, ghost text, the typing never stops

Verse The coat on the chair smells like last winter. I count pockets for receipts and paper prayers.

Chorus Ghost text. I read it at three AM. Ghost text. The screen breathes your name back at me.

Bridge I fold the coat into an envelope and send it to the next body that will keep it warm.

Theme Ritual at a laundromat

Verse Quarter slips in the slot. The dryer spins like a small planet. My ring slides when the drum slows.

Chorus Hands in lint. Hands in lint. I look for fingerprints that look like prayers.

Publishing and Monetization Notes

Witch house lyrics can sit on playlists for dark aesthetic listeners. Think about placement at the writing stage. Short hooks that repeat will do well in playlists and in viral clips. When you register the song with a performance rights organization remember to register the writer and producer splits clearly because witch house tracks often have heavy studio contributions.

Useful acronyms

• PRO stands for performance rights organization. It collects royalties when your song is played on radio live venues or streaming services. Examples include ASCAP BMI and PRS. Register early.
• ISRC is the international standard recording code. It tags recordings for distribution. Ask your distributor about it.

FAQ

What makes witch house lyrics different from goth lyrics

Witch house lyrics lean into digital hauntology and loopable ritual language. Goth lyrics often use romantic melodrama and long confessions. Witch house is fragmentary and tactile. It pairs occult words with modern objects. It invites a single repeated phrase that can be processed into a hook.

How long should a witch house lyric be

There is no set length. Shorter often works better. Many witch house songs thrive on a two line chorus repeated and two short verses. If your lyric tells a story keep it concise and let production fill emotional space. The music is part of the storytelling.

Can witch house lyrics be humorous

Yes. Dark humor works well in this space because it undercuts the self seriousness. A deadpan line about your AirPod being a talisman reads as clever. Humor must be subtle. If you wink too hard you lose the atmosphere.

How explicit should references to occult practice be

Keep references suggestive rather than instructional. Use symbolic language not how to manuals. The magic is metaphorical in songwriting. If you include specific rites keep them fictional or personal to avoid cultural appropriation or harmful instruction.

Should I use numbers and dates

Yes numbers and dates are powerful motifs. They create pattern and specificity. Use them as a breadcrumb not as an explanation. The number itself can become a chant.

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