Reveling in guilty pleasures

How to put aside 'aesthetic anxiety' and create from a place of enjoyment

First up, I am knee-jerk against the idea of guilty pleasures. Why should any pleasure be guilty? Answer: it shouldn’t. And yet, when it comes to music there IS cool and uncool, and even if you choose not to buy into it … it’s kinda just in the air. As songwriters I think we’re particularly attuned. No-one wants to write music that might be considered a guilty pleasure.

I believe this desire to be seen as cool and/or having good taste can hold us back in songwriting and music-making. Culture is always moving. Sonic aesthetics go in and out of fashion. While I’m not saying it doesn’t matter at all, I am saying I think we could all benefit from thinking about the coolness of our music much less and much later in the process.

This week, I’m sharing an experiment anchored in connecting to your guilty pleasure music, and writing from that place.

Have fun, and keep that music-making brain awake!
Lucy

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Cheese Machine
A song starting experiment

Choose an album that is a guilty pleasure (2 mins)

This could also be an artist for whom you have to defend your fandom, or music you “know” to be cheesy, cringy, uncool in the current *zeitgeist*

Listen, and list what you love (15 mins)

Put it on shuffle so you don’t know what’s coming next, and revel in the elements of the record that hit juuust right for you. Make a big, long, hungry list.

Pick two elements from your list (1 min)

Go with the ones that feel most dangerous and delectable to try—elements you usually wouldn’t allow yourself to use.

Begin a new song with these elements! Have fun.

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