I’ve started work on this week’s challenge from Rob Wells.  It’s a doozy for a songwriter like me who has been targeting middle-aged listeners with lyrics that deal with the complexity of relationships later in life.

Rob wants us to write an explosive pop hit aimed at a much younger audience with a female vocalist in mind, so I’ve spent time on Songza listening to selections from the “Teen Pop” genre.  It’s such formulaic music but it’s impressive for how the songwriters can come up such interesting hooks and themes within such tight constraints.

I noticed quite a few songs are simple one-word titles, like “Shower” or “Bright” or “Style“.  It’s always interesting leading up to the chorus to discover what approach the songwriter has taken with the word.  “Shower” by Becky G., for instance, is a smitten girl so happy about the guy that she’s sings in the shower when she thinks about him.  It’s a great image and one that will resonate with the audience.

For my part, I’m going with the flow.  A one-word title: “Choose”  as in “choose me.”  It won’t win any Grammys but it’s a start.  And I’ve got a draft chorus for it too based on a series of rhyming couplets:

Baby, it’s time to choose me-
you don’t want to lose me
not this time around

Our love is strong-
but if you wait too long-
I’ll be gone before you know it

You can make your move-
you know I’ll approve
I’ll love you over and over again

I can’t wait forever-
to be together
you don’t want to lose me-
it’s time to choose.

It’s simple but if I can come up with a decent melody and hook, then it might work as a chorus.  The verses will need to add detail and colour but I’m thinking it needs to revolve around the theme of choice.  Maybe something along the lines of having so many choices to make, or something like that.  Any ideas, suggestions for my list of choices, are all welcome!

It turns out (of course) that David Guetta has a song of the same title which actually takes an opposite perspective to the lyrics I’ve written.  I could imagine the two songs setting up a counterpoint between two opposing perspectives.