Songwriting Craft & Inspiration
ROBIN FREDERICK TAKES YOU INSIDE TODAY'S HIT SONGS.
Every year thousands of songs are used in film, TV series, and commercials. Find out how to write a song that will work with hundreds of scenes by studying these successful film and TV songs.
Ingrid Michaelson has had over 90 original songs used in dozens of TV shows, films, trailers, and commercials, most them placed multiple times. And that’s excluding performances on competition shows—I’m just talking about episodic TV series, movies, and national commercials. I haven’t found any other artist who comes close to that achievement! Sounds like a record for song sync placements to me.
If you could ask a question of any successful hit songwriter, what would you want to know? You’d probably ask how they do it. In fact, you can ask that question and get an answer… just by taking an in-depth look at their hits.
Brandi Carlile is not only a Grammy Award winning songwriter and performer, she has also written and performed songs featured in a wide range of motion pictures—from Barbie: the Movie to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants—and hit television shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Ted Lasso. (Visit Tunefind.com for a long list.) “Carried Me With You” was written for the Pixar film Onward and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
There are two versions of this song, both released by the artist. This Song Guide refers to “Something in the Orange,” not “Something in the Orange – Z & E’s version.” There are differences in production and vocal performance.
“SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE” by Zach Bryan reached the top of the Hot Country music chart in 2022 and is currently nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance.
When it was released, it raced up the charts like a Rock star single even though the artist had never had a major label release before and the song was wildly different from anything else in the current mainstream Country genre.
How did that happen? Well, it’s a beautiful, emotionally moving ballad, but that alone wouldn’t put it on top of the Contemporary Country charts. Instead, I suspect it had something to do with this artist having eight song placements and a cameo appearance on the hit TV series Yellowstone, the most watched TV show of 2022. Although this particular song was not used in that series, it was featured in two others (Fire Country and Big Sky). Audiences were primed for more from this artist.
I know TV commercials can be a major pain. But if you’re a songwriter, don’t hit that mute button just yet. Instead, take a little time to listen to the kinds of songs that are being used in today’s TV ads. There are opportunities there that you don’t want to miss.
Don’t have time to watch TV? For a quick and easy way to see TV ads with songs without actually watching any TV, visit websites like iSpot.tv and TVadvertMusic.com.
Dermot Kennedy has written a great album. Hands down. No argument. That’s what it is. His debut album Without Fear was released in 2019 and has been hanging out on the Triple A music chart ever since.
There have been Film & TV placements, tours, and accolades for Kennedy’s unique blend of musical styles. He mixes a passionate Pop vocal sound with insightful Singer-Songwriter lyrics and Hip-Hop rhythms. So let’s take a look at a song from the album that shows off all three: “Outnumbered.”
