If you’ve ever started writing a song with either a strong lyric or melodic idea, then you know that getting these two elements to agree can be like bathing a cat. Either our lyric has too many syllables to suit the melody, or our melody doesn’t fit with the lyric’s stress pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I listen to The 1975 hit \u201cGive Yourself A Try,\u201d I can almost hear from the writing room: \u201cScrew it. Just sing the lines and make \u2018em fit.\u201d The important idea here is that the flexible setting of melody to the lyric rhythms sound so misfit they feel absolutely intentional. I notice the lack of refinement, the dryness of the delivery as the lines end with a sudden lack of finesse. The melodic motif or theme repeats over and over again throughout the verse, as the rhythms adapt more or fewer syllables, while the pitches remain strictly repetitious. As a songwriter, I can take that tool and run with it, allowing inconsistencies in my melodic rhythm while keeping the pitches absolutely consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n