What Should I Make My Song About

Staring at a blank page and your brain is on vacation. You want something real and sticky. You want a subject that will make listeners feel seen and share the link with their friends. This guide is the cure for writer block, panic songwriting, and fake deep lyrics that read like motivational poster copy. We will give you a method to choose topics, a ridiculous number of prompts, real life examples, and practical edits that turn a good idea into a hit ready lyric.

This is written for millennial and Gen Z artists who care about authenticity, social media impact, and actually getting paid to be creative. We will explain any term or acronym that shows up so nothing feels like secret code. Expect edgy jokes, relatable scenarios, and brutal honesty. Ready to pick something worth singing about?

Why Choosing The Right Topic Matters

Your song topic is not just a theme. It is the promise you make to your listener. The rest of the song exists to fulfill that promise. Pick a small promise and execute it with detail. A broad promise like I am sad will collapse into a thousand directions. A narrow promise like I am sad because we broke the plant you never watered gives you image, voice, and motion. Narrow topics create memorable lines and make promotion easier because you can describe the song in one tweet or one TikTok hook.

Real world analogy. Think of a podcast episode. A show called Life might attract no one. A show called I Lived With My Ex For A Week and Ate Their Cereal will get clicks and comments. Songs work the same way. The more specific the idea, the easier it is for listeners to repeat it and claim it as theirs.

Big Categories To Pick From

Here are reliable category buckets that have produced hits across decades. Use this list like a menu. If none of these excite you, we will give a thousand prompts later.

• Heart stuff. Love, breakups, crushes, rebound chaos, falling out of love.
• Identity and growth. Coming of age, queerness, self acceptance, adulting failures.
• Humor and satire. Ridiculous takes, petty revenge, comedic love songs.
• Social and political. Protest, climate anxiety, generational tension.
• Scene slice. A night at a bar, subway commute, tour van windows, studio late nights.
• Character story. Write from another person perspective like a landlord, a phone, or a ghost.
• Concept and high concept. Single idea repeated with variations such as a song about clocks or a song that uses recipe instructions as metaphors.
• Abstract feeling treated with objects. Anxiety shown by a jar of coins, nostalgia shown by a mixtape.

How To Decide What To Write About Right Now

Follow this five step method when you cannot choose. It is fast and actually works.

1. Write one raw sentence that summarizes how you feel in plain talk. No metaphors. No performance yet.
2. Add a concrete image to that sentence. Replace one abstract word with a detail you can see, smell, or touch.
3. Choose a viewpoint. Are you talking to the person, about the person, or as the person? Third person gives distance. First person gives intimacy.
4. Turn the raw sentence into a title or a one line chorus. Keep it short and repeatable.
5. List three scenes or moments that show different sides of the idea. Those are your verses.

Example live demo. Raw sentence. I miss my friend who moved away. Add concrete image. I miss the late night fries we crushed at the corner place. Viewpoint. I talk to them in the chorus. Title. Corner fries at 2 AM. Verses. 1) the last time you cried in the car; 2) a playlist you both ruined together; 3) the checkout person who still calls your name wrong. That now reads like a song map.

Why Specificity Wins Every Time

Specific details make songs feel lived in. Generic lines let the listener hear themselves in any situation. That is useful until every line sounds like an elevator poster. Specificity narrows who the song belongs to but it deepens ownership. A millennial in a small apartment seeing Your mom left her mug in the sink will think you wrote directly for them. A song with that level of detail will be shared more because it feels true.

Relatable scenario. You are in your 20s and you have a plant you keep forgetting to water. A song called The Lonely Monstera will be more memorable than a song called I Am Alone.

Brainstorming Prompts To Break The Freeze

Do one prompt for ten minutes and do not edit. The aim is volume over quality. You are manufacturing raw material to sculpt later.

• Object list. Look around the room and write ten things. Now write one surprising action for each object. Example. Laptop yawns at 3 AM.
• Text thread. Open your last five conversations and write one line that captures each thread. Turn one into a chorus line.
• Worst first date. Write three brutal details from the point of view of the last person you went out with.
• Regret inventory. List three small regrets that live with you. Pick the one that has a sound.
• News headline swap. Pick a recent headline. Make it personal. If the headline was mayor resigns, your version could be my mayor left my kitchen like they never loved dishes.
• Memory anchor. Name a smell, a sound, and a time of day that feel like your childhood. Write one verse using those three anchors.
• Emotional translation. Choose an emotion like jealousy. Translate it into a single object like a mirror that cracks a little each time you look.

100 Song Topic Ideas You Can Steal

This list is intentionally ridiculous and specific. Pick one and write for fifteen minutes. You will be shocked how much material comes out.

• Your roommate stole your charger and pretends not to know
• A voicemail that starts with sorry and ends with never
• Late night rideshare confessions with a stranger
• A plant dying because someone promised to water it but forgot
• Returning to your hometown and your high school nickname follows you
• Being first in line for a limited drop and it selling out
• DM left on read and how your brain writes epilogues
• Buying a ticket to anywhere and canceling
• Learning to breathe in therapy and calling it homework
• A thrifted jacket that smells like someone else
• Tour van arguments about playlists
• Watching your ex on social media and replaying their laugh
• Commuter headphones that told you the city was a friend
• Breaking a promise to yourself and still trying
• A cheat sheet for adulting that melts under pressure
• Ghosting someone because you are afraid to be boring
• Celebrating the small wins like paying rent on time
• A balcony call at sunrise about nothing and everything
• Sending a voice note that you never follow up on
• Hiding a mixtape in a bookshelf for later
• Being cancelled online and learning to be okay with silence
• A love song to pizza when you are hungover
• The last good movie theater popcorn you shared
• Rent day rituals that feel like ritualistic sadness
• A crush who only exists when you are sober
• Calling your mom and learning you both are more similar than you knew
• Finding a song that used to hurt and now comforts
• Late rent, early gig, and the patchwork life
• Escaping a party to stare at the stars with an ex friend
• Post breakup clothing swaps as trauma therapy
• A city skyline that warms like a sweater
• Car stereo arguments about which era had the best songs
• A letter you never sent that becomes a chorus
• Small town secrets told under porch lights
• Finding a child version of yourself in a mirror
• Relearning how to laugh after something heavy
• Grief that lives in a pair of headphones
• Falling out with a best friend over a stupid rumor
• Leaving a voicemail and immediately regretting it
• An apology wrapped in coffee and a playlist
• Being awake at 4 AM and counting catalog numbers in your head
• A song written in the voice of your favorite teacher
• A weather report that mirrors your mood
• Your phone battery as a metaphor for your energy
• Job interview where you accidentally tell the truth
• Learning to trust someone after being betrayed
• Trading secrets in a laundromat
• Winning a small local contest and feeling like a star
• Going back to a place you promised never to return
• A cheat day where you eat all the carbs and regret nothing
• Meeting someone who knows your favorite obscure band
• A song that is just instructions for living in a tiny apartment
• The first time you felt seen on stage
• When your favorite cafe closes and you feel a real loss
• Buying a plane ticket to see someone after a year
• Being the person everyone calls at 2 AM and why
• A love letter hidden in a library book
• Wishing you could text someone with no consequences
• Spacing out during a wedding and remembering your own vows
• Sleepwalking to the kitchen and making cereal at night
• Turning your feelings into merch and calling it healing
• A fight that ends with five words and a slammed door
• Learning to cook for yourself after college
• Accidentally overhearing a conversation that changes everything
• Seeing your childhood crush at a grocery store and being a mess
• Being proud of a tiny creative milestone
• Canceling plans and feeling both relief and guilt
• The anxiety of checking streaming numbers
• A breakup played back as a series of receipts
• Getting a note in a book with someone else name on it
• The ritual of packing for a tour bus
• Finding an old playlist called Future Us and laughing
• Writing a song in a bathroom because the room had the right echo
• Waiting at an airport gate with a headache and hope
• Using a city subway announcement as a chorus hook
• A song from the perspective of your childhood pet
• An argument about favorite teachers turned into a love song
• Rewatching an old video and hearing your younger voice
• Being the person who forgives but never forgets
• Dating apps as a series of museum exhibits
• Living with someone who leaves all the lights on
• A postcard from your future self with terrible handwriting
• Burning a bridge in the most polite way possible
• A song about finding a coin you lost as a kid

How To Turn A Prompt Into A Song Idea That Actually Works

Picking a topic is only half the battle. Now you must shape that topic into a song with a promise, conflict, and motion. Use this template.

1. Promise. What is the single emotional promise? Example. I will stop waiting for you to change.
2. Conflict. What stops the promise from being obvious at the start? Example. You still leave your jacket at my door and it smells like someone else.
3. Resolution motion. Not always a happy ending. The resolution can be acceptance, temporary victory, or a question. Example. I phone less but I keep your jacket in the closet like an unfinished sentence.
4. Three scenes. Map verse one, verse two, and the bridge. Each scene reveals a different angle of the promise.
5. Title. Make it short and singable. Use a strong vowel for chorus hooks.

Example worked through. Prompt. Plant dies because person forgot to water. Promise. I keep trying to be responsible. Conflict. The plant failing is a mirror for how I keep failing at relationships. Resolution. I plant a new one and name it hope just to watch it grow or fail on my terms. Three scenes. 1) The plant's last day; 2) remembering a promise to water; 3) buying a new plant and singing to it. Title options. Water Me Later, New Leaves, The Lonely Monstera.

Writing from Different Points of View

Changing the point of view can turn a boring idea into something sharp. Here are options and why they work.

• First person. Intimate and direct. Use this for confessional songs.
• Second person. Addressing you. Feels like a direct call out or a love letter.
• Third person. Adds distance. Use this to tell a story or to make a song feel like a short film.
• Unreliable narrator. The singer lies or misremembers. This is great for twist endings.
• Object perspective. The plant, the phone, or the jacket speaks. This creates novelty and humor.

Real life example. Take a breakup. First person gets you sympathy. Second person slaps a direct line that listeners will quote. Third person lets you build a cinematic story where the chorus is the moral. Object perspective can be hilarious. Imagine your exs hoodie singing about smell memory. That is a TikTok gold moment.

Phrase Crafting Techniques That Make Topics Singable

Once you pick a topic, craft lines that make the chorus easy to repeat. Try these tricks.

Make a ring phrase

Use a short repeat at the start and end of the chorus to lock in memory. Example. Do not call me. Do not call me. That gives listeners an easy anchor.

Use a concrete verb

Replace soft verbs like feel with sharp verbs like hold, burn, flip, or drop. Sharp verbs create images. Example. Instead of I feel sad use My coffee turned cold on the counter.

Vowel choices

For high hooks pick open vowels like ah, oh, and ay. They are easier to belt and more radio friendly. For intimate verses use closed vowels like ee and ih.

Short title rules

Short titles are social media friendly. One or two words tops. If you must use more, make one word the emotional noun. Example. Title. Lost Keys. Subtitle. A small confession about leaving my life open.

Real World Scenarios For Millennial and Gen Z Writers

We will translate common modern experiences into song topics and give a tiny lyric idea for each. Use these as direct starts.

• Left on read. Lyric seed. I wrote a paragraph of apologies and your name glowed but you never typed back.
• Freelance grind. Lyric seed. My bank notifications read like an insult but my inbox says praise.
• TikTok fallout. Lyric seed. My chorus went viral and I still feel like I am backstage in the lobby.
• Climate anxiety. Lyric seed. I learned to plant trees like bookmarks in a book I cannot finish.
• Side hustle love. Lyric seed. We flip pancakes by day and trade harmonies at night for extra tips.
• Student debt. Lyric seed. My diploma is framed and my mailbox is full of rent notices.
• Queer coming out. Lyric seed. I practiced your name in the mirror until the mirror called me brave.
• Moving cities. Lyric seed. I gave my key to the skyline and it signed for me in neon.
• Therapy progress. Lyric seed. I fold my feelings like origami until the edges stop cutting.
• Dating apps. Lyric seed. We match like books on a shelf and ghost each other between chapters.

When Your Idea Feels Too Small Or Too Big

If it feels too small you expand it by adding stakes or an obstacle. If it feels too big you compress it into a single scene. Both are editing choices.

Too small example. Song about a missed train. Expand. Make the missed train the literal loss and the metaphor for missed opportunities in love. Add an obstacle like a suitcase that will not close and it becomes a scene full of image. Too big example. Song about climate change. Compress. Focus on one human scale scene such as a family picnic interrupted by ash in the sky. That scene becomes the emotional core.

Co writing and Idea Ownership

Co writing can save your life but also dilute your idea. Protect the original emotional promise on the page. Before you bring collaborators explain the single sentence promise. If you are open to ideas have them bounce prompts until one light bulb stays lit. Always confirm credit splits and talk about songwriting splits as the tune develops. Confirm ownership of lyrics and melodies early to avoid awkward texts later.

Term explained. Split. A shorthand for songwriting credit and royalty percentage. It refers to how you divide ownership between writers and sometimes producers.

Using Social Media to Test Your Topic

Social media can be a focus group. Post a two line lyric or a one line concept and observe comments. If strangers start tagging friends and commenting with emotional confessions you hit a nerve. You can also use short videos to test chorus snippets. If three people duet your clip and add a shared memory you found a cultural chord.

Warning. Viral does not equal meaningful. A viral meme chorus might not be a full song. Use social feedback but keep your artistic filter on. Test for emotional reaction not just meme potential.

Song Title and Hook Checklist

• Can you sing the title in one breath for the chorus hook
• Does the title have a strong vowel or consonant to land on a note
• Is the title repeatable by strangers after one listen
• Does the title reflect the promise and not the entire story
• Will the title work as a hashtag or search term on streaming platforms

Editing Your Topic Into Lyrics

Once you have a promising topic use this editing pass called the reality check.

1. Underline every abstract word. Replace at least half with an image.
2. Find the sentence that says Everything and delete it. Replace with a small scene.
3. Check prosody. Read every line aloud. Does the natural stress align with the strong beats of your melody idea? If not you need to rewrite the line.
4. Trim. Remove any line that restates without adding new information.
5. Ask one listener. Play the chorus and ask what they think the song is about. If they cannot say it in one sentence you are not clear enough.

Before and After Examples

Theme. Ghosting.

Before. You ghosted me and now I am alone.

After. Your name is still blue on my phone like a bruise I keep checking.

Theme. Moving on.

Before. I will move on from you.

After. I change the route home so your corner cafe does not know my shoes anymore.

Theme. Everyday victory.

Before. I paid my bills and I did it proud.

After. I stacked my rent like tiny wins and put a sticky note on the fridge that said you did not break this month.

Production Notes For Topic Selection

Some topics beg for certain production choices. A bedroom confession wants warm reverb and close mic intimacy. A petty revenge track benefits from tight punchy drums and a glittery lead synth for sarcasm. Thinking production early helps you pick a topic that can be expressed clearly in sound as well as words.

Example. If your chorus is a chant about friendship in a crowded bar think about adding a crowd vocal or a clapping loop to make it feel communal on production alone.

Common Questions Artists Ask About Topics

Should I write about what other artists want

Sometimes. Writing for sync placements or for a producer brief can be a career move. Still, projects done purely for others without your voice rarely inspire long term fan momentum. If you take a commission try to leave a fingerprint. Make the brief your canvas not the prison.

Can I write about the same subject multiple times

Yes. The trick is to change perspective or expand the scene. A breakup album can work if each song focuses on a different facet like denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance, and moving out. Each new take should reveal something new about the emotional journey.

How personal should I get

Only as personal as you can live with. Some writers use composite characters to protect privacy while keeping emotional truth. Others air it all and accept the consequences. Use the level that allows you to be honest and functional in daily life.

Will people steal my song idea if I share it online

Ideas are cheap and similar emotions exist in many heads. Execution is what matters. Melody and exact lyric are the parts that carry legal weight. If you are worried about theft document drafts with timestamps before you post and consider sharing partial lines in demos rather than full choruses.

Action Plan You Can Use Today

1. Do the five step choose method. Write a raw sentence. Add a detail. Pick POV. Make a title. Map three scenes.
2. Pick one prompt from the 100 list and write for 15 minutes without editing.
3. Do the reality check edit on your best draft. Replace abstract words, trim, and test prosody aloud.
4. Record a one minute demo with just voice and one instrument. Share with two friends and ask them to describe the song in one sentence.
5. If their sentence matches your promise you are ready to finish. If not, fix clarity and repeat step four.

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