Song A Day Challenge (I wrote a song everyday in 2023)

In 2023, I decided I wanted to share more music. I also realized I needed to sharpen some skills. So I did a song a day challenge.

I wrote one song everyday for one year.

This post shares my top takeaways and tips and how I went about this songwriting challenge.

Alright, let’s get to it!

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Why I Did This Songwriting Challenge

So why did I do this song challenge anyways?

Besides the intuitive pull I felt in my gut, there were some practical points I was hoping to achieve.

Here’s why I wrote a song everyday in 2023:

To improve my creative discipline
To boost my self belief
To improve my singing, songwriting and music production skills
To improve my content creation habits
To launch the social media side of my brand
To inspire and reach more people
To meet and network with other musicians and artists
To find new and exciting song ideas (the quantity over quality strategy)

Recommended: My Top Songwriting Tips

Song A Day Challenge (my rules)

Writing a song everyday for one year is pretty self explanatory. But let’s lay some ground rules.

This is how I approached things, so feel free to copy my ways.

Songs need at least three things (a verse, a chorus and an intro/outro)
Everyday needs to be a different, new song (I mean, duh)
Cover songs are okay as long as they’re different from the original and have some unique take
You can use tech tools (like AI), but you’ve gotta add your magic
Collaborations are okay (as long as you do at least half of the songwriting)
Style, instrument use and tools are flexible — anything is fair game
Songs don’t need to include singing (instrumentals are okay)
You can use old ideas if you’re in a creative rut (just add to them and finish things up)
Song can be simple or complex (it matters not)
Songs don’t need to be professionally mixed (live acoustic recording are fine)
You can plan ahead and occasionally pre-write songs (e.g., if you’re traveling or are hella busy)

How I Wrote One Song Everyday In 2023 (6 tips)

I had a lot of fun doing this challenge. I definitely grew a lot from it.

Still, some days sucked.

So here are some helpful tips if you’re thinking about doing this challenge (or a similar one).

1. Don’t Be Perfect

You may have heard, but perfectionism destroys creativity (and the fun).

So my best advice is to stay aware of this trap. Whenever you find yourself thinking you suck or you’re not up to snuff (not true, by the way), just shine a light on those thoughts.

See them and acknowledge them. Then move on.

Everyday can’t be a W and you’ll never be able to write music that everyone likes. So try to stay in a place of having fun.

After all, this is a song-a-day challenge. Things don’t need to be fully produced or ready for release.

2. Have A Clear Why

Sometimes, I forget why I started doing something. This ruins my motivation and my drive to continue.

So to keep things inspired, I had clear goals and specific purposes for this challenge.

I covered these above already, but my core reasons for writing a song everyday included:

Improving my creative discipline
Getting better at music production
Improving my social media habits
Get more comfortable with sharing my music

So what are your goals? What do you hope to achieve with this songwriting challenge?

This is your North Star.

Write it down, think about it daily or put it somewhere you’ll see. Let this keep you motivated and on course.

3. Work Smarter

Writing a song everyday for a year is already a behemoth task. So let’s work smarter.

Working smarter means optimizing your songwriting to be more efficient and simpler. Here’s what I do:

Use a creative workflow
Use templates
Have your music-making space all setup and ready to go
Schedule daily time in to write your music
Avoid distractions while writing
Create workarounds for your songwriting bottlenecks
Play to your strengths
Take breaks

Using these tricks to work smarter reduces stress, improves organization and boosts your chances of success.

Recommended: My Music Production Workflow

4. Keep Things Simple

During the challenge, I definitely had some more produced songs with travel videos and patient edits.

But everyday? Definitely not.

Keeping things simple was way more sustainable. So don’t feel bad if all you can do is hit record on your phone and post a raw acoustic singing video for your daily song.

That’s still a green checkmark (for completed).

Actually, some of my favorite songs are the simple ones that don’t have too much complexity to them. So this is as much a musical challenge tip as it is a songwriting one.

5. Creativity + Motivation Follow Action

Some days (many days), I wanted nothing to do with writing music.

I was tired, busy with other things or experiencing a serious creative block. But I pushed through — I had no other choice.

These days often turned out to be my proudest moments. They forced me to strengthen my discipline and so often, on the other side of my complaining and hesitation, was creative gold.

Why?

Because creativity and motivation follow action.

This is a productivity hack that I’ve found rings especially true.

So when you inevitably experience those sh*t days, just focus on taking that first small step. Get excited by what’s on other side of your songwriting avoidance.

Creativity can pop up when you least expect it.

Recommended: Mood Follow Action (here’s why)

6. Plan Ahead (with “rainy day funds”)

Life gets busy.

So I planned ahead for this. For example, I knew that my travel lifestyle would create some occasional bottlenecks.

That’s why I would sometimes write a couple songs in one day if I knew I had an upcoming trip or felt a cold coming on.

And while I felt guilty doing this the first time, I realized it didn’t matter. I was still putting out 365 songs and staying active online everyday.

My goals for this challenge were not broken because of this “rainy day song fund”.

So my advice is to do the same thing. Because even if you don’t have anything to do, it’s super nice to just have a day off.

Conclusion (my biggest takeaway)

I’m absolutely stoked that I committed to writing a song everyday for a year.

Namely, I feel so much more confident as a songwriter and producer (which was one of my main goals). But there is one glaring (slightly negative) takeaway from all of this.

I found myself sacrificing creativity and rushing through projects.

This took away some of my creative spark and the patience required to make a good song.

For example, I love to step away and let ideas marinate. This gives me objectivity and allows me to come back with fresh ears.

But when you’re pressured to publish a song everyday, this wasn’t always possible. I found myself writing for the sake of just finishing the song — not always for creativity or songwriting quality.

This was especially apparent towards the end of my journey (in the last few months).

Maybe I was just getting burned out. But whatever the case, it’s one downside I wanted to share.

Still, I have zero regrets. It was an epic adventure and I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for an epic challenge.

So with that, happy songwriting!

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