The Importance of lyrics

Josh Kinghorn, 31st Aug 2021
Tags: Music Blog Guvna B Rap

It is a little too easy for me to forget that I’m a musician when it comes to talking about music. Yes that means I’m perfectly able to talk in depth about what I listen to and what I hear going on in something new. 

However, that does involve me using terminology that non-musicians don’t know or struggle to understand/hear what I mean when I use it, which in turn can confuse the listeners completely or make them lose interest in a track. This is never good in my book. 

There are two main parts to a song that are really clear to any listener: there is the instrumental backing and there is the lyrics. The musicians are more likely to (obviously) focus on the music side of things, how well stuff fits together but that isn’t important to the average listener. 

The average listener is going to focus more on the lyrical side. This is what the song is saying. Whilst the instrumental backing can really set the mood of a track it’s the lyrics that deliver the story, and that’s what it is about. 

The lyrics are the way the artist tells the story.

The ability for music to tell a story is paramount to how the audience connects to the whole track. Sure there are some who will connect with the groove and whether it’s easy-listening or not but the lyrics are the way the artist tells the story. 

Let’s take a quick look at Guvna B and his track “Very Original”. He uses the backing that rolls under the rapping to set the tone, but through the lyrics he is able to convey a personal story that many people can connect to.

And this is just one of the many excellent storytellers on our playlist who are able to paint pictures and talk about issues in such a smooth and creative way.