In a previous post on uniqueness, I defined being a unique songwriter as writing songs that reflect the inherent uniqueness you possess.

If that sounds abstract and lofty, here’s a much more concrete way of thinking about it: write a song that tells a personal story.

Once again, we have to remember that we are all unique.  There is no need to try to be unique, because there are no two humans with the same background, same life experience, same thoughts and opinions.  Even a pair of twins growing up in pretty much the same environment on their lives, end up being different.

Since each of our own life story is unique, we just have to start there, to write unique songs.

For example, one of my songs “Out of the Ocean” is literally my own story.  I happen to be a Japanese living in US, and this sentiment of being so far from home, and the longing that comes with it, is a feeling that I don’t often find among my American friends.  It’s not that unique, though, as I’m sure many of us immigrants carry it to some extent.  I just put my own feelings into my own music and words, so that I can listen to it and get that feeling.

Now, literally making a song out of your own personal story isn’t the only way.  ”Rusty Clipper” is an example of a song that was inspired by somebody else’s story — but yet, in interpreting, filling the holes and making up my own meaning, I made a song that is my own fable, containing my own feelings.  You don’t have to use your own story, to tell your story. Novelists, playwrights and screenwriters all do this.  They make up fiction that express something of themselves, in a way that perhaps real life stories can’t.

But words are not the only place where you can reflect your own identity — impactful songwriting is the marriage of words and music.   If the music packs an emotional punch, then words alone don’t have to carry all the weight, having to explain and express everything.

In my more recent song “Bleeding Redwood” I’ve been able to pack more articulated uniqueness than my earlier efforts.  It’s a song that contain strong emotions, so the music is dramatic, complex and long, yet it also contains a lot of momentum and urgency.  The big contrasts take you from intimacy/fragility to intensity and desperation, both an integral aspects of sharing a personal feeling.  Here the lyrics don’t tell a very concrete story, because the music contain a lot of drama.  To my sensibility, dramatic music and more abstract lyrics match better, because if they were both dramatic they can come across as heavy-handed.

This song is a stew that pack elements that are not often seen in this particular combination — rawness of modern rock, complexity of progressive rock, sensitive & poetic lyrics, and diverse stylistic influence (jazz chords, Latin-infused instrumental section, etc.).  In short, it’s unique because it reflects my uniqueness, both in its words and music.

So, use your own personal story, your personal feeling as the starting point of your songs.  Use your own words and bring in liberally your own influences and idiosyncrasies.  Pay attention to combinations of elements that seem more unusual, and do more of that.  That’s how you develop your unique songwriting style.