Wes,
Glad to hear you are talking to OD. He is not over here too much these days, but reads along and does talk to me a bit. He is a very good guy and actually very knowledgable. It is funny, that when I started working with him, four or five years ago, he was ready to quit and give up on writing. I forced him to stick with it, and over the years have seen a big change in him and how he views and able to do things. The last couple of songs we have done together, he has done a majority of the work. Makes my job pretty easy. He has helped other people around here but wants to stay largely in the background. I respect that.
There is this old saying that sometimes the "BEST COACHES" were not that good players. And some of the BEST PLAYERS don't make good coaches. I think OD, has developed a coaching sense about him. I have seen him offer suggestions to other people's work that are EXACTLY what I would tell them. He has been working hard to develop his songwriter sense and I think he is doing well. You would be doing well to listen to him. He can help you a lot.
If you got one of the "people to look for" articles, those are put together by promotion companies sponsored by the record labels. Part of the "Two point five million dollars" it takes to promote artists in the modern era. It will cost about $400,000 to $7 or -$800,000 to record an album, and the rest is spent on promotion, advertising campaigns and money to run the buses, the bands, the touring. It is HUGELY expensive. So they promote (HYPE) all these new artists, and you are seeing some of that. A little "special money" spent with a few well placed critics and you can see money going out all the time.
A record label will have 12-15 artists signed at any one time. All of those are getting the same money. Most of the time, artists have to come up with "matching funds", which means they have to come up with outside investors to pay part of their development costs. That is why it is important to find artists who have significant audience fan base where they are already making waves before record labels even get involved.
Out of those 12-15 are dozens like the ones you mention. They release songs in different markets, saturate that market with touring, radio advertising, and as much activity as they can. Those artists are working or traveling 14-16 hours a day, doing unlimited interviews, and logging thousands of miles. It's very grueling.
And then, around November, the PROFIT AND LOSS numbers start coming in, and all but about 2-3 artists on those labels are dropped. That is why I suggested you watch and see what those artists do in the months and year to come. My guess is that you will never hear most of them again. There are a LOT more ONE HIT WONDERS than there are long term careers. Most are flash in the pans.
Like that old Joke:
"KNOCK KNOCK.."
"WHO'S THERE?"
(NAME AN ARTIST FROM LAST YEAR)
???? WHO?"
TOUGH BUSINESS AIN'T IT?"
So yes, there might be some new "bro country" as well as some of the other influences you mentioned. Doesn't mean they are going to last past that press release.
On the "Syncopated" lyrics, it is a very delicate issue for newer or less experienced writers. More rapid fire lyrics mean more rhymes. More rhymes mean that it often will go "DR. SEUSS" on you quickly.
"I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them SAM I AM."
My personal problem with them is that for the most part they just sound stupid and forced rhyme. Most of the songs I looked at for you today, had certain rapid fire lyrics in them. Some were pretty decent, some were that stupid forced rhymes. But most of them were pretty clear in what they were talking about.
Those are the pros that do that.
In writing sessions they usually have an artist who will "da da..." his singing patterns. They are usually dummy syllables, just to determine a rhythmic pattern. Then, usually more experiened writers will work with the singer on what they want to say and then use their craft to fill in the "da da's" with "Real lyrics.
So if you do it, be careful. If you can't give your lyrics a "read aloud" test, where you actually READ the lyrics out loud to see if it would be natural in a conversation, you are probably not in the ball park. If you want to do some more song study, pull up each of those songs lyrics, and see how they read in the "speak out loud" test. Break them down and see how they flow, if they make sense or if they sound silly and superficial. My guess is that they will sound just like two people talking.
That is the craft.
MAB
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