@pyrex’s guide to a ~pretty~ good article

If you are thinking of writing a playlist, click here.

Artist Spotlights and Album Reviews.

Picking your artist: People have been asking and debating about whether or not their artist is small enough to be in the spotlight. I have gone back and forth deciding whether or not monthly listeners matter and in order to make this more exciting and easier for you guys, focus on an artist you are really passionate about. They can be big but also you should know what *big* is excessive. A great example of this was an article written by one of our writers, @sophia, on the band Peach Pit. A band that although has a lot of monthly listeners on Spotify, are what they call, fan attentive. Make sure you focus on this. This can give you the chance to be seen by those artists and there’s no better feeling than your favorite artist reading your piece. Also, I want to stress that if your artist has more than 800k million listeners on Spotify or has over 100k instagram followers, I would recommend finding someone else, after all, we want to showcase hidden gems in the music industry. 

Now, how do I write a good article?

• Address the artist, reference an album or two, and discuss a couple of songs.

  • To an extent what you’re writing is an analysis of the artist’s work, so feel free to use examples.
  • If you can include any producers, record labels, directors, or any other outside influences on the artist toss that in as well. (This part is very important).
  • Don’t kiss ass to the artists, just pretend they’re regular (except way cooler) people that make music on the side.

• Be eloquent, but don’t make it an english paper.

  • Don’t be afraid to engage in casual speech. These articles should be a conversation between you and the reader, don’t make it a lecture.
  • If you can add jokes, do it! Make sure they’re funny though…
  • I want to get to know you, even if I’ve never even met you. I don’t want to feel like I am being talked down and it’s just a conversation between friends.
  • Yes, cursing is allowed, but not excessively.
  • Drug paraphernalia is allowed. See any of @gabo’s articles
  • Please, please, please be balanced. A big part of making an article fun to read and engaging yet informative is mixing casual speech with very nice eloquent words but don’t be pulling a thesaurus. Whatever comes to mind.

• Do research!

  • If you really want to get a feel for the artist you’re writing about, knowing what they’re like as people can go a long way! 
  • In interviews artists will often talk about their inspirations, interests, reasons for making creative decisions, etc. so use that info! It’s always interesting seeing how an artist’s creative vision translates into their music.
  • If you know the content/person you’re writing about well, it shows.
  • Make sure you fact check yourself, there is nothing more embarrassing than wrong information on what is supposed to be a professional platform. 

• Make it personal.

  • Sometimes including anecdotes from your own life can take an article to the next level. We’re writing for people of our same demographic, sharing your story can make it relatable!

• Try to paint a picture.

  • Part of what makes music so fascinating is that despite it being auditory it can easily feel tangible. Music replicates feeling, so pinpoint those emotions and lay them out on the page. Write about how you feel! It will always be more compelling than stating facts.
  • A huge point of the website is to make your readers feel something, if you are not able to use words to paint a picture on the readers minds then baby girl wyd.

• Passion is everything.

  • If you aren’t passionate about your writing you can instantly tell. If you’re struggling to write an article or find yourself feeling unmotivated then stop! Redirect your focus and write about something that you are genuinely passionate about, a different artist, album, or even switch to making a playlist. At the end of the day, passion is the most important thing as it’s the reason we all keep contributing.

The beauty of this is that this isn’t a stern music blog website, this is just a platform to share music with your friends, except your friends are the whole internet. That’s why you gotta have fun with it, if you don’t, make it funny! Make it dramatic! Curse a little! Speak straight to your audience! Reference a popular event! HOOK YOUR READER.

Now, in order to make it a perfect article, just add yourself to the equation!