Maybe you already have a lot of ideas but you’re just stuck on the same ole topics like… love, breakups and partying. That’s cool, but maybe there’s a new way to deliver the message. This is where you can break out of your comfort zone and let your creativity shine.

Let’s explore some non-traditional ways to inspire hit songs by using numbers, letters or sounds.

Numbers
So you’re looking for a hit song right? Well fortunately (or unfortunately) it doesn’t even take thoughtful lyrics to make that happen. For example, if I sing “eight six seven five”.....what would you chime back with? That’s right…. (all in unison now…) three ohhh ni-e-i-ine. Or for those not lucky enough to have been around in the 80’s that’s code for the Tommy Tutone hit 867-5309/Jenny song. Who’s Tommy Tutone? I don’t know but I do know that he got a lot of notoriety with his hit song about a phone number.

Another number song was the Musiq Soulchild hit called 143 (I Love You). This hit the R&B airways and shortly thereafter ‘143’ was flying through the mobile world as the shortened text version of I (1 letters) Love (4 letters) You (3 letters). Even now Musiq is capitalizing on this song idea with his new relationship book titled “143: Love According to Musiq”. The way the industry is changing, writing songs with products in mind isn’t a bad idea!

I don’t know if there will ever be a year so anticipated than the new millenuim, but Prince sure did capitalize on this concept with his monster hit “1999”. This is just one more example of how you can use a number as the basis for your next record.

A few other personal favorite ‘number songs’ are 99 Luft Balloons (who even knows what this is about!), 8 6 12 by Brian McKnight and 24/7 by Kevon Edmonds. What are some of your favorite ‘number’ songs?

Read More: http://bandzoogle.com/blog/blogposts/songwriting-inspiration-tips—part-2-25228.cfm