I think it’s such a powerful thing: Words and melodies, and you put them together. I couldn’t really picture a world without music. It would be quite boring.
When I started writing music on the guitar, it started off very folky because of my limited ability to play. It was slow, soft melodies. But then, as I got better on the guitar, I started exploring different sounds.
Most blues guitar players don’t concentrate on singing and melodies. And forget about the bridge – the bridge doesn’t exist. They go straight for the solo.
Well, what I love about ’80s rock music is the amazing, fantastic melodies.
On my first album nobody asked me for a lot of advice. It was a producer’s album. We were sent the same type songs with stock melodies. It was my first album and I was happy to do about anything they’d ask me.
I think Sia is a pretty good reference for me because her way of ‘singing and the way she composes the melodies and writes the lyrics is very similar to what I’ve always done.
I like Dej Loaf for her melodies, and I love her style.She reminds me of myself.
There is no roles. No one is keeping any roles. The drummer is also answering everybody and everything. So it is a constant conversation and communication between musicians on an extremely high level with extremely valuable material, motifs, and melodies.
The meaning of the word ‘remake’ has changed so much over the years that from being a channel through which the younger generation heard classic melodies, it has now become a formula, a business model.
Being a purely instrumental album, it makes a musical statement, not a religious one, and I hope that people can feel the emotion of the great melodies, even without the words.
It is very rare that I am just coming up with melodies off the top of my head. I usually am responding to something – it could be chains dragging on the floor – but I am usually responding to something.
‘Melodies’ is just about having fun! The song’s message is about being who you are and having a blast. I had such a great time recording it – I’m glad it’s my first single.
I’m obsessed with great endings and crazy intros and stuff like that. I think we all are from what we’ve listened to and stuff, so I’ve always focused on great bridge melodies that just kind of naturally fit, or like a crazy ending at the end of ‘Seize the Day,’ something like that.
I know that my passion is for opera, but sometimes I like also to sing songs, because there are many beautiful melodies.
People always talk about the lyrics of Leonard Cohen, but I like his melodies. They are very defined and original.
I used to write on pads with a pen but had trouble reading the words the next day. Years later, Bob Dylan taught me to just write and write on a laptop computer. Then I’d print that out. When it was time to write a song, I’d go through the pages and sing melodies to words that moved me.
I will never, never ever sing on stage, but when I’m in the studio, I do sing melody lines. When I’m working with singer-songwriters, and I hear melodies, I can guide them. I will be like, ‘Oh no, do this this this.’ But you will never hear my voice on a Martin Garrix track.
Beyonce did an incredible job of differentiating the sound of Destiny’s Child in her songs. When you hear Destiny’s Child, you know it based on the harmonies and the melodies.
There is some Eighties music that is just timeless. The melodies, the lyrics… I called it church. Church in club. You can shout and dance. The best of the Eighties was club church.
When I hear someone, instantaneously, I’m like, ‘Who’s singing?’ You’re giving people so much of yourself, and my voice is the most natural, distinctive tool I have. It’s up to me to express myself on a wider scale than just writing vocal melodies and lyrics.
In string theory, all particles are vibrations on a tiny rubber band; physics is the harmonies on the string; chemistry is the melodies we play on vibrating strings; the universe is a symphony of strings, and the ‘Mind of God’ is cosmic music resonating in 11-dimensional hyperspace.
I was drawn to love songs, but I was just drawn to great music – no matter if it’s hip-hop, pop, R&B or whether it’s rock n’ roll or country. It could be a Garth Brooks song, and if it’s a smash, then I’ll love the different wordplay and different melodies. That’s what I’m a fan of – great music.
I try to use a lot of rap elements but my main thing is melodies.
In country music the lyric is important and the melodies get a little more complex all the time, and you hear marvelous new singers who are interested in writing and interpreting a lyric and in all form of popular music.
Overall, Korean pop serves as the foundation of my musical upbringing. As a result, the melodies that I create just exude that type of vibe.
For me, the most difficult thing is that I am learning melodies on guitar from some songs whose melodies were not meant to be played on guitar. Ever. They were intended mostly for keyboards or melodic percussion.
With Schubert, a lot of the melodies are very simple, but he’s in this groove. He’s in touch with his heart.
Rakesh is very strict and he will never use suggestive words in a song. Yes, he wants modern melodies but he wants the lyrics to be clean.
I always wrote everything – I wrote all the lyrics, I wrote all the melodies, everything; it’s just somebody else sung it. And to me, the singer is nothing else than a different… like a bass player or a keyboard player – they’re not more important than any other musician.
I really like melodies that have a certain tension against the chords. I like writing things that are sort of insistent.
Unless you’re singing something that’s kind of in rhythm with the bass, the melodies, it’s just difficult.
That’s that Dungeon Family ethos: being able to reinvent yourself, stand out and stand alone. Having your own character and having your own image, no matter what they say about you. I want to show my versatility and how diverse I am, how I approach the track, my rhythm, my melodies. It’s something different.
I kind of write in a very classic way. I sit in the piano, working on some catchy, cool melodies and coming up with song concepts for those melodies. I kind of write in a very traditional way ‘- how people have written since the early ’40s.
I’m always writing; my phone is full of ideas – melodies and lyrics and stuff.
I just write… I follow the melodies that I can’t forget/the ones that pop up in my brain the most.
As far as melodies go, I could probably write 100 songs in a day – with no words of course – just because I love melody.
Jazz should be recognized as music of the people, based in a lot of accents and melodies. What is jazz but music that people danced to? Jazz has the dynamic thing. I don’t think you have to be playing only Charlie Parker licks on your horn or whatever the new version of that is.
No one wants the picture-perfect song anymore. I’m trying to keep the beautiful qualities of pop – nostalgia, melodies, and the feeling that a beautiful pop song can give you – but make it real. It’s not polished.
I’m usually pretty good at remembering the melodies that I wrote.
I’m always going to take an experience and a fire beat and marry it all together with adult melodies. I try to paint, just like Frank Ocean paints with his lyrics. I try in similar ways to paint my life into these songs.
I have always had problems with my voice, and the piano helped me believe the song could be bigger than my voice, and I could play with new melodies and things that I couldn’t on guitar. It was easier to make the sound fuller and easier to get away with not being as good.
Hip-hop is getting to the point now where they are going to start sounding like Al Jarreau or Bobby McFerrin or some of the other poets. Some of the better rappers can rap real fast without even melodies. It’ll get to that same point.
I usually sing a lot on my mixtapes. I sing a lot on songs that just really aren’t singles. Even my first single, ‘My Last,’ which I feel like is more pop than anything – I was originally singing the chorus on there. I’m used to that. I’ve always had fresh melodies.
I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra.’ He gets a bad rap; he’s very misunderstood. He’s a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers.
I love Bill Finn’s stuff. It’s so rewarding for an actor. It’s conversational but intricate. He writes some beautiful, simple songs and melodies, but he also writes this cacophony for people.
One of my biggest goals in writing the music for ‘Fantastic Beasts’ was to create memorable melodies. J.K. Rowling’s world has always had a great musical legacy and I was hoping to continue that tradition.
I’ve always really enjoyed sounds and alliteration and funny words and funny melodies.
What I can feel the most and what I can remember the most are the melodies I want to write to.
It’s a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That’s where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.
I would write poems and think up melodies to them later.
One of the things I really like about West African guitar playing is the way it makes harmony linear. They’re really spelling things out and turning chords into melodies instead of just letting them be these hanging blocks of color.
