Brent is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ray Stevens, and more.  He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.

Commercially-speaking, positive songs are in higher demand than negative songs.  (That’s not a surprise if you listen to the radio.)  But what if most of the titles you come up with are sad/negative?  I humbly suggest that most titles that sounds negative can be used for a positive song if you’re creative enough.

For example, “You Broke My Heart” could mean “You broke my heart out of it’s chains.”  I had an old idea called, “Minutes From A Memory” about a guy that knew his girl was about to leave him.  Thankfully, my cowriter (Jason Cox) saw it as a guy knowing he and his girl are about to make a great memory.  That’s so much more commercial!

I confess to being a negative-first kind songwriter.  Maybe pain just just more interesting.  Who knows?  But I’ve really worked on not settling for a negative idea just because it’s my first impression of a title.  Not only are those negative-title-positive-songs more commercial because they’re positive, they’re also more interesting because you have to dig deeper into your idea.  Win-win!

God Bless,

Brent

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