Flip Method #2 – Magnifying
Consider the commonly known cliché “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. It’s very relatable because it’s known so well, but at the same time, that makes it predictable. And when something is predictable, it becomes boring. In this blog post, we’re going to discuss another method we can use to flip clichés, that is known as magnifying.
This blog post aims to summarise the second part of our video “The Crazy Easy Trick to Write Great Lyrics (The Flip Method)’’. Click here to watch the video for more details, explanations and examples.
What is Magnifying?
Magnifying a cliché involves focusing on a particular aspect or detail rather than using the cliche itself. This creative technique allows you to shed new light on familiar themes, thereby allowing your lyrics to resonate with listeners in unexpected ways.
If we listen to Roxy Music’s 1975 hit song titled “Love Is the Drug”, we can hear the line “Love is the drug and I need to score”. When we magnify a cliché, we don’t just outright say the line “Love is the drug”. Instead, we expand further on things like what kind of drug, what the drug does to us and how we feel our relationship with this drug is.
If you’d like to experiment with this method further, you can download this free PDF eBook entitled “The 5 Best Songwriting Exercises for Writing Great Lyrics”:
An Example of Magnifying
An amazing example of magnifying can be heard in Lorde’s song titled “Writer in The Dark”.
In this song, she uses the line “I still feel you now and then slow like pseudoephedrine”. Through this, Lorde is magnifying the love-is-a-drug metaphor in a unique way. Not only does she tell us specifically what kind of drug it is, but she also tells us the effect that the drug has on her.
By choosing pseudoephedrine instead of a glamorous drug like cocaine, it shows how she feels about their relationship, and paints this picture of her trying to recover from a fairly inane thing.
Conclusion: Flip Method #2 – Magnifying
Magnifying clichés presents a powerful tool for creating depth and originality in songs. By zooming in on specific details, songwriters can avoid clichés and instead write lyrics that stand out while being relatable.
This is only the second of six flip methods that we’ve come up with. Check out the full article for all 6 methods or watch the video here now.
And if you’re interested in more ideas, tools, techniques, and inspiration for your lyric writing make sure to check out this playlist that we have made just for you
Level up your songwriting with five radically practical exercises used by professional songwriters around the world
